Reflections from the Mayor of Katowice

The global digital transformation and the changes related to it result in a constantly increasing demand for specialists in the field of information and telecommunications technologies. Experts emphasize that the demand for employees on the IT market significantly exceeds their supply. It is worth highlighting that in the sector of modern business services -most -almost 50% of jobs were created by IT centers. Moreover, we constantly note the growing interest of new investors in locating their investments related to IT processes in our city. Being aware that the number of IT graduates and students in the future will not be able to meet the growing market needs, a year ago we decided to participate in the P-TECH pilot educational program. Currently, 73 students from two schools in Katowice participate in the program. We are already seeing the benefits of participating in a project where students acquire current industry knowledge and new skills. In the last year, many activities were carried out: from lectures, through workshops with Cloud and Mainframe, to meetings with business mentors. Such joint action of partners from seemingly two different worlds, business and education, gives young people a chance to get a job after graduating from high school, thereby increasing the human resources potential of both our city and the entire region. We should also put the accent on the fact, that P-TECH students also took part in another innovative project carried out in the city of Katowice -NOSPR AI, in which we use artificial intelligence to hold a conversation about classical music. This is another unique project -unique on a global scale, which aims to develop our awareness of changes taking place in the surrounding world and makes it easier for us to follow them. We are fully aware, that long-term, effective cooperation is a guarantee of development for all project partners.