Together with BeCode, Faktion launches the School of AI
Half of all Belgian companies report a lack of IT specialists they need to be able to innovate. To tackle the shortage of people with AI skills, BeCode, Faktion, Microsoft and four other partners (Cronos Groep, Delaware, KPMG, and Xylos) have jointly launched the first AI school in Belgium.
The aim is to open nine such schools in Belgium, training between 350 and 500 people per year. The AI School is open to everybody and free of charge in order to encourage diversity.
“At Faktion, we believe that lifelong learning is crucial to a successful career. And even a happy, fulfilling life. With our AI technology, we bring positive change to the lives of people and organizations. Spreading that love for technology and helping companies is our crucial motivation for founding the BeCode School of AI.” — Joeri Van Steen, managing partner at Faktion
The recent survey “AI in Belgium” states that 75% of Belgian companies have already taken their first steps in artificial intelligence. On the other hand, Belgian companies say that it is difficult to attract employees with the right AI skills. That limits innovation. The technology federation, Agoria, estimated the number of digital job vacancies at about 16,000, while approximately 23% of young people in our country are unemployed.
“Belgium is among the leaders in Europe in terms of investment in AI. So the technology is there, it is just the difficulty in recruiting that prevents us from joining the leading countries. With the right skills, Belgium can take better advantage of AI.” — Didier Ongena, General Manager of Microsoft BeLux
