Government Allocates 123 Million Euros to Reduce Shortage of ICT Professionals

The Dutch government is taking steps to reduce the shortage of ICT professionals on the labor market and has set aside a subsidy amount of 123 million euros for this purpose. The money will be available for 15 selected public-private partnerships.
The government believes that more skilled ICT professionals are needed to enter the labor market in the Netherlands. This is mainly due to the sustainable economic growth that the government wants to achieve until 2030. This includes the energy transition, training more young people for the regional labor market, and keeping employees employable in the regional business community through retraining or further training. In addition, more ICT professionals are needed to stimulate innovative power in SMEs.
The government is now allocating 123 million euros in subsidies for the training of ICT professionals until 2030. This amount will eventually be increased to the amount of 210 million euros previously allocated to public-private partnerships in vocational education. The money comes from the National Growth Fund, which has 20 billion euros available for sustainable economic growth.
The fifteen public-private consortia that are now allowed to divide the pot of 123 million euros have been selected on the important condition that their training plans, the so-called PPPs, are partly funded by funding from other sources. This includes municipalities, the business community, and education.
The government’s plan is expected to result in a total of approximately 1 million new ICT employees by 2030.