WGIC Industry/ Academia Roundtable

Future Geospatial People – Their Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes

The geospatial sector has experienced rapid technological growth, in line with the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). Geospatial knowledge on demand is taking advantage of these developments, and driving it even further. This is enabling the geospatial ecosystem to expand, and to intersect with many other ecosystems.

How well the geospatial sector provides for the benefits expected of it, and how well the users benefit from it, depends a lot on the knowledge, skills and attitudes (KSAs) of the people in the geospatial and user ecosystems. Also, with the rapid developments taking place, and new challenges facing the user, the KSAs of geospatial people need to be adapting and growing at the same pace. What are the future KSAs, and how are they to be acquired?

The World Geospatial Industry Council (WGIC), as a not-for-profit body of the private geospatial industry, has a specific interest in this matter to assist the industry to not miss any opportunities from the 4IR technologies and the growing demand for geospatial knowledge. As such, the WGIC Committee on Industry and Academia Collaboration has embarked on a process, together with representatives from academia, to try to address the demands for the future geospatial people:

• What are the knowledge, skills and attitudes of the future geospatial people, at the different levels, required by the geospatial industry?
• How do the range of institutions of higher learning meet the needs of industry?
• In what ways can industry contribute to these future needs?

Join in this open roundtable discussion to address these questions.