ICT talent will accelerate Jordan’s future digital economy

Across the Middle East, ICT technologies have ushered historical transformation and enabled Arab leaders to diversify and strengthen economies. Next-generation technologies like 5G, cloud computing, IoT, and big data have significantly contributed to the development of the Jordan’s post-oil, digitally-driven economy and greatly enriched our society. 

The Intelligent World 2030 report predicts that by 2030, there will be more than 200 billion global connections and every enterprise, household and individual on this planet will have 10 gigabit connectivity. In line with Jordan's Vision 2025 and REACH2025, digital transformation is taking place across the country at an accelerated pace, the ICT sector contributing 12 per cent to the country's GDP.

Fuelling this tremendous growth of Jordan’s digital economy is its local ICT talent ecosystem. There’s undeniably a growing talent gap globally. According to Korn Ferry, there will be a global shortage of more than 85.2 million skilled people by 2030, causing a financial impact worth $8.452 trillion. Therefore, developing a robust pipeline of local ICT talent and building the ICT talent ecosystem in Jordan is vital for securing its future digital economy. 

At Huawei, we believe in a collaborative approach to ICT ecosystem development. We feel that promoting the development of local talent is best done in cooperation between the public and private sectors. In the past two decades, we’ve helped the Middle East cultivate more than 100,000 ICT talents, out of which more than 5000 were based in Jordan. In the Kingdom, we have worked with a vast number of educational authorities, universities, other educational institutions and partners to set talent standards, build alliances and demonstrate the value of talent. Some of our partners include the Hashemite University, Yarmouk University, Princess Sumaya University of Technology,Jordan University of Science and Technology),  and Al Balqa’ Applied University.

Additionally, we run many global and regional initiatives that help nurture future ICT leaders, including the Seeds For the Future program, Huawei ICT Academy, and Huawei ICT Competition. Currently, the 5th edition of Huawei ICT Competition is underway and we’ve witnessed a strong response from Jordanian students, with around 300 applications this year. To date, over 2000 students in Jordan have participated in the Huawei ICT Competition since 2017. 

We truly believe these young minds have the power, resilience, and imagination to unlock a world full of incredible possibilities for Jordan’s digital economy. Their imagination is the only limit on how far humanity can go, but it is the actions we take now that will determine how quickly we can get there. The best way to embrace the future is to build it ourselves.

Ethan Wang is CEO of Huawei Jordan