Developing ICT capabilities in remote areas (Olavur Ellefsen, session 5)

Olavur Ellefsen, IT entrepreneur and Founder of Tökni, discusses the development of IT capabilities in remote regions, such as the Faroe Islands.

An accompanying video of the session in which this presentation was given can be found on the Arctic Futures Symposium VIMEO channel https://vimeo.com/147663907 . Mr. Ellefsen's presentation starts at 45:00.

Transcript

1. Developing  ICT  capabili1es   in  remote  areas   Olavur  Ellefsen   Faroe  Islands  
2. “The  availability  of  extensive  and   efficient  informa<on  and   communica<on  technologies,   accompanied  by  well-­‐developed  ICT   u<lisa<on  skills,  is  essen<al  to  enhance   the  development  of  remote  areas.”   OECD Territorial Reviews: NORA region 2011
3. ICT  is  essen<al  for  remote  areas  
4. Efficient   Innova<ve   Connected   Advanced   AGrac<ve  
5. Challenge   How  do  we  develop  the  ICT  skills   necessary  to  support  successful   21st  century  rural  socie<es?  
6. OilSim  
7. 2000   First  licensing  round  
8. Faroese  par<cipa<on   Competence  development  
9. Eni  
10. Create  a  business  game  for  high  schools   To  enhance  their  understanding   of  oil  and  gas  explora<on  
11. Local  company  
12. Collabora<ve  effort  between   Eni,  schools  and  Tokni/Sansir  
13. Interna<onal  event   supported  by  NORA  
14. Intellectual  property  transferred   to  the  local  company  
15. Local  venture  capital  funds  invested  
16. Founda<on  for  a  successful   educa<on  and  training  soSware   business  
17. Sold  to  Schlumberger  in  2014  
18. Schlumberger  soSware   development  con<nues  in  the   Faroe  Islands  
19. Competence  development  
20. Students  and  teachers   Local  IT  company   Faroese  society  
21. Learning  by  doing  
22. Norwegian  oil  and  gas  industry  
23. 1.  Do  it  for  me  
24. 2.  Show  me  how  it  is  done  
25. 3.  Watch  me  do  it  
26. Result   Best  managed  petroleum  sector  in  the  world    Worldwide  provider  of  oil  and  gas  services  
27. You  must  do  it  
28. IT  company  Elektron   founded  in  1965    
29. Faroese  banks   and  insurance  companies  
30. One  of  the  first  IT  companies   in  the  Nordic  region  
31. 1982   Full  integra<on  between   the  banks  and  the  tax  system  
32. A  pioneer  and  role  model  
33. 2005   Things  started  to  go  wrong  
34. Insurance  company   Ini<ated  a  development  project  
35. ...abroad  
36. Result  
37. 10x  cost   A  lot  of  headache  for  the  employees   Financed  a  standard  system  ...abroad  
38. No  insurance  soSware  development   capabili<es  retained  
39. The  Faroese  banks   Decided  to  scrap  the  old  banking  system   and  use  a  foreign  service  provider  instead  
40. Their  own  analysis  said  that  the  best   solu<on  would  have  been  to  implement   and  adapt  a  standard  system  
41. (but  they  were  too  wrapped  up  in  trying  to   build  a  banking  business  abroad)  
42. Promised  to  use  the  released  resources   to  export  specialized  solu<ons   from  Elektron  
43. Result  
44. Abandoned  the  export  adventure   Huge  reduc<on  in  staff   Lost  the  capability  to   develop  and  maintain  banking  systems    
45. The  Faroese  Government  is  now   inves<ga<ng  how  the  banking   systems  can  be   “brought  back  home”  
46.  -­‐          1.0      2.0      3.0      4.0      5.0      6.0     IT professionals % of total workforce
47.  -­‐          1.0      2.0      3.0      4.0      5.0      6.0     IT professionals % of total workforce
48.  -­‐          1.0      2.0      3.0      4.0      5.0      6.0     IT professionals % of total workforce
49. Times  are  changing  
50. Talgildu  Føroyar   Digital  Faroe  Islands  
51. 1.  Digital  services  for  ci<zens  and  business   2.  Digital  iden<ty   3.  Interoperability  framework  
52. Develop  from  scratch   vs   Buy  canned  services  from  abroad  
53. Third  way   Applying  proven  solu<ons  to  the   Faroese  IT  environment  
54. Estonia  
55. Workshops  with  Faroese  IT  companies   Foreign  experts  support   Locals  assess  technology   Develop  capabili<es  
56. Everything  will  be  adapted  and   implemented  by  local  capability   Makes  us  capable  to  maintain,  further   develop  and  –  in  the  future  –   export  more  ICT  solu<ons  
57. Challenge   How  do  we  develop  the  ICT  skills   necessary  to  support  successful   21st  century  rural  socie<es?  
58. Do  it!