ŠAVŠ/TAČR Digital Czechia in a Digital Europe

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companies also participate in adult education – e.g. the Digital Eagles project started by BARCLAYS Bank, which includes training sessions at local libraries and other community centers (see above). Virtually all European Union countries face a shortage of ICT professionals, both in terms of current and future needs of their economies. Although various recruitment agencies have responded promptly to the demand for ICT professionals, it is clear that they cannot solve the systemic problem. Among the responses of the governments of European Union countries, we identified three strategies that could be adopted in the Czech Republic as well. The first approach is a supportive visa/permit policy. For example, the United Kingdom has succeeded in attracting top ICT professionals from around the world to the country through an initiative called Tech Nation Visa, which offers work visas valid for up to 5 years and 4 months. A similar approach is used in Ireland (with a plan to provide up to 2,000 work permits per year) and in the Netherlands. These initiatives are usually accompanied by an (international) promotional campaign disseminated through participation in foreign career and labor markets, the Internet, etc. The second effective strategy is to focus on the training and education of ICT professionals from a country’s own internal pool. For example, since 2014, the Irish government has been providing funding to universities on a regular basis each year to open 1,250 new ICT education positions. The results for 2018 suggest that the internal student “base” is able to “produce” approximately 1,000 new ICT professionals per year. A third stimulus project that combined the acquisition of ICT experts from internal and external sources was launched in Denmark in 2018. This is the so-called digital hub (Digital Hub Denmark), which should bring together government institutions (Ministry of Industry, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Foreign Affairs), private companies, researchers, digital entrepreneurs and Danish students to develop new digital products, services and business models. A detailed list of recommendations for the Czech Republic in this area is found on pages 59 and 60.