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This week, we put a spotlight on the reskilling challenge in society. As the World Economic Forum estimates that 50% of the global workforce will need reskilling in the coming decade, it’s time to look at some of the most promising solutions.
Problem statement: Half of the workforce needs to reskill (learn new skills) in the coming decade, mostly in digital domains. Although online learning holds a lot of promise given the relatively low cost, it also has many problems. Users struggle with finding direction, can’t connect ‘one-size-fits-all’ learning material with their needs or dream job, and often lose engagement. MIT found that 95% of online students drop out of courses, and 52% never participate after signing up.
Scope for Innovation: The internet revolution established learning content aggregators, liked Coursera, Udemy and EdX in the 2010s. Today’s revolutions in big data, cloud computing and artificial intelligence will provide the next revolution: integrating user needs with content. Smart education that is adaptive and personalized will result.
The Solution of the Week is KIMO, a Dutch AI firm making breakthroughs on personalized learning. Engineers at KIMO have found ways to link learning directly to the jobs market. Mapping the inherent structure of knowledge domains (e.g. Finance) bottom-up from the web allowed them to calculate precise paths through content. These paths can be connected to jobs, allowing users to ‘travel’ from job A to job B. Want to try it out? The platform will be live for users in April, and will be free until June.