By Dr Matthew Barr THE skills gaps that hinder Scotland’s economic growth are well documented. As noted in the Scottish Government’s Future Skills Action Plan, a shortage of technical skills can delay the development of new products, services, and technologies. Such shortages are fundamentally a result of a misalignment between supply and demand: we lack people with the right sorts of skills. This problem is particularly acute in the technology sector, where up to three-quarters of Scotland’s IT employers report difficulty in finding workers with the right skillsets. Whether through retraining existing staff or nurturing new talent, employers urgently require skilled software developers. Moreover, employers are eager to engage with a more diverse workforce, especially in the tech sector, where only 20 per cent of workers are women.