INTRODUCTION
We live in a time when discoveries in science and technology are happening at a pace that makes it difficult to stay informed. The full potential of these changes are continuously evolving.
Research by Susanto Basu of Boston College and John Fernald of the San Francisco Federal Reserve conclude that there is up to a 15-year lag between investments in information and communication technologies and improvements in productivity.
Discussions with the business community reflect concern that demand for innovators is greater than the supply. In Texas, we have discovered a leak in the pipeline between the number of students who enter into college and the number who exit, which results in costly loss of expenditures and leads to a loss of skilled workers.
Since 1987, North Central Texas InterLink has been the leader in labor market forecasting for the North Central Texas region to influence the future of career and technical education programs at the secondary and post-secondary levels, which prepare students for the workforce.
This report identifies future trends in Information Technology to help guide educators toward the next wave of technologies for inclusion in future programs. Subsequent reports will be published identifying the future of other industries.
Industry Thought Leaders and Futurists from the Information Technology Industry participated with this initiative. They were adamant that soft skills should be included in all curricula because entry level employees need to be prepared for the workforce in which they will enter.
They also imparted that the speed of knowledge and technological advances assures that the future of Information Technology will be reshaped beyond anything that is suggested in this report.
“ The whole concept of IT as something separate from business will disappear. For the digital natives, IT is just a part of life and when they enter business it will be just a part of the business as well.”
Charles Bess HP Fellow
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