It is predicted that existing government initiatives will boost economic output by up to £7billion per year by 2017 but O2 believes its recommendations in a report released at O2’s Campus Party tech conference in London by Development Economics will add a further £4billion to the UK economy necessary to sustain recovery and drive future growth.

The study suggests that the UK needs an extra 750,000 digitally skilled workers by 2017 to secure the extra billions per year that the UK will need to sustain recovery and support future economic growth. According to Development Economics, One-fifth of the jobs required to do so are “ideally suited” to the generation of “digitally savvy youngsters”.

To realise these aims O2’s report calls for greater cooperation between the public and private sectors to enable expansion of the number of jobs available in the digital sector which is estimated to create an additional 100,000 jobs in addition to the three-quarters of a million requirement, greater support from business and industry in the provision of digital skills education, and, support from government and businesses to increase engagement in digital skills exchange programmes.

Outlook rosy for UK economy