As an ongoing part of its commitment to tech-reskilling, Cognizant has joined forces with The World Economic Forum as a founding partner of WEF’s IT Industry Skills Initiative, SkillSET. Designed to meet the global skills gap challenge and address job displacement arising from automation and the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the SkillSET initiative is committed to reaching 1 million people with resources and training opportunities by January 2021.

The initiative was conceived by the Forum’s IT Governors community under the chairmanship of Chuck Robbins, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Cisco. The founding partners are Accenture, CA Technologies, Cisco, Cognizant, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), Infosys, Pegasystems, PwC, Salesforce, SAP, and Tata Consultancy Services.

SkillSET is a free platform of online tools to streamline the process of reskilling adults. Users will have free access to the most up-to-date, self-paced training materials from leading global IT companies, ranging from general business skills to introductory digital literacy to more advanced topics such as cybersecurity, big data, and internet of things. The portal will offer a tailored Skills Assessment developed by PwC that is based on the Fourth Industrial Revolution skills research. It will help users determine which coursework and/or learning pathways best fit their current skillset and learning goals.

In addition to joining SkillSET, Cognizant hosted a session highlighting the Center for the Future of Work’s most recent thought leadership on the 21 Jobs of the Future. The session focused on ways organizations can seize the new opportunities that will be unleashed by AI and automation. The interactive session highlighted 21 jobs that will experience significant employment growth as a result of AI—enhancing work, our lives, and our collective well-being.

Preparing today’s workforce for tomorrow’s challenges, Cognizant is on the leading edge of this paradigm shift. Last year, Cognizant and Per Scholas opened the Cognizant Bronx Training Center for Platform by Per Scholas in the South Bronx. The center provides tuition-free training and direct hiring opportunities to New Yorkers who are seeking new careers and professional advancement opportunities in Information Technology.

The World Economic Forum’s 48th Annual Meeting took place in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland. Three thousand leaders from around the world gathered in a collaborative effort to shape the global, regional, and industry agendas, with a commitment to improve the state of the world.

To read more about Cognizant’s contributions to this year’s WEF, click here.