Canterbury ICT Celebrates TEC Funding Announcement

The Canterbury ICT community is celebrating the Hon Jim Anderton’s public announcement today of funding from the Tertiary Education Commission [TEC] for the ICT in Canterbury Growth Pilot Project.

Over the next four years, this $1.76 million grant from TEC’s Growth and Innovation Pilot Initiative aims to better match industry skill demand with the provision of tertiary education, so that ICT companies in the Canterbury region will have a sufficient number of skilled workers in the future.

“The ICT in Canterbury Growth Pilot heralds a new era of collaboration and cooperation,” says Marilyn Brady, CEO of ETITO, the organisation project managing the Growth Pilot. “This is a unique whole-of-industry, whole-of-region and pan-Tertiary-Education-Organisation [TEO] initiative.”

“The Growth Pilot was developed by the Canterbury ICT Cluster to ensure that we have the right people in place to grow the ICT sector in Canterbury,” says Michael Chick. Group Managing Director, Tait Electronics Ltd and Chairman of the Canterbury ICT Cluster.

The Canterbury region has a well-established base of ICT enterprises that collectively contribute $1.18 billion to the New Zealand economy, 60% of the total contribution of ICT firms in New Zealand . The ICT sector is growing faster in Canterbury than anywhere else in the country.
The Growth Pilot will assist the ICT sector in Canterbury to: Identify current and ongoing industry skill and talent requirements. Match the provision of education and training with these requirements. Provide on going mechanisms to enable this alignment. Increase the attractiveness of the sector to school leavers and skilled graduates; Increase the profile and attractiveness of Canterbury as a high tech centre. Assist to develop a self-sustaining ICT community in Canterbury.

The organisations involved in the Growth Pilot Project are ETITO, the Canterbury Electronics Group, Electronics South, Canterbury Software Incorporated, IPENZ, the Canterbury Innovation Incubator, the University of Canterbury, Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology, Christchurch College of Education, Lincoln University, Canterbury Development Corporation, TEC, New Zealand Trade and Enterprise [NZTE], Career Services and Ministry of Research, Science and Technology.

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