IN4 Group partners with Coventry University to launch green tech Skills Bootcamps to boost the economy in the West Midlands

IN4 Group, a leading provider of skills, innovation and start-up growth services, is partnering with Coventry University Group, to upskill digital talent in the green economy to future-proof jobs and support the West Midlands’ drive to become a net-zero carbon economy by 2041.

IN4 has ambitious plans for its Skills City operation, and with funding from the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), this collaboration will launch two new Skills Bootcamps in data analytics and cloud engineering with sustainability to support the emerging green economy.

Skills City comprises seven digital Skills Bootcamps and will initially support the university with delivering fully funded training to fast-track 90 local people, including the unemployed, career changers and career breakers into technology careers.

This builds upon an established partnership that is delivering the Unity on Campus programme, which trains academics to nurture industry-ready graduates into the immersive and gametech sectors. 

The West Midlands Local Skills Report highlighted the region’s skills shortages and included a strong recovery narrative around ‘green jobs’ and the increasing need for reskilling and upskilling in digital skills to help future-proof the workforce.

Skills City will be further extending its Accelerated Apprenticeship model, which connects and acts as a catalyst for level 2 adult education qualifications. These are delivered by local colleges into the Skills City digital bootcamps that are mapped to level 4 to 6 apprenticeship standards and provided by the University. This is an incentive for more local employers to recruit digital technology apprentices as they will be accessing the most diverse, qualified and motivated apprenticeship applicants.

Having already successfully established innovation and skills hub operations such as HOST, the Home of Skills & Technology in Salford, Greater Manchester, and IN4 Access with the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) in Preston, Lancashire, IN4 Group is extending its operations nationally through this latest collaboration.

There will also be a focus on supporting those from underrepresented and disadvantaged backgrounds with fair access to technology careers, particularly girls and women as only 19 per cent of the UK tech workforce are women. To readdress this, Skills City has committed that 50 per cent of learners will be represented by women to boost gender parity in the tech sector.

The Skills Bootcamps are designed to develop an understanding of the relationship between business activities and climate change, and to introduce the digital skills needed to manage and mitigate environment and sustainability issues in any modern industry.

Learners will be able to use these skills within the workplace to support and influence the environmental policy of their employer, so they can help them to reduce their carbon footprint and become more sustainable.

Mo Isap, CEO of IN4 Group, said: “The partnership between Coventry University and IN4 Group is an exemplar academic and industry collaboration, which has enabled us to expand and offer increased access to digital skills, talent development and career opportunities.

“The IN4 Group is on a mission to ensure the 4th Industrial revolution does what the previous three revolutions did not do, which was to provide fair access to all, and not just a few. Our blueprint at IN4 is focused on driving regional prosperity through innovation and the value this brings to key cities like Coventry, and its surrounding places in the West Midlands.

“The delivery of digital Skills Bootcamps in sustainability reinforces our commitment to giving people the skills of the future, and for industry to be a contributor to the benefit of humanity, and society. We may be about technology, but the benefits we bring are all about the people.”

Deepak Farmah, Head of Innovation, Coventry University added: “Digital skills acquisition has become a barrier to innovation for many organisations. Coventry University’s partnership with IN4 Group in delivering green tech technical bootcamps will look to build and give employers access to an exciting talent pool that will accelerate and drive new value creation for a clean and carbon neutral future. We are looking forward to see how this collaboration will create better futures and new opportunities.”