Australia risks missing out on $25 billion in economic growth by 2035 unless urgent action is taken to close a digital skills chasm, according to the national peak body for tech professionals.
The 2025 Digital Pulse report, released Wednesday by the Australian Computer Society (ACS), provides a new ten-point national action plan to tackle the country’s growing digital skills gap, warning that capability shortfalls are holding back up to 150,000 enterprises.
The report finds digital technology already contributes nearly $134 billion to the Australian economy and supports more than a million jobs.
The average worker now spends close to three hours a day using digital skills — nearly 40 per cent of their working time — highlighting the growth of tech-enabled work across industries.
But a national survey conducted for the report reveals widespread capability gaps across all sectors of the economy, with around half of C-suite executives reporting only basic competence in essential digital domains, such as assessing transformation project business cases.
“Digital skills are the foundation of Australia’s economic future,” said ACS chief executive Josh Griggs. “To compete globally, we need to ensure every worker, from frontline staff to the executive suite, has the capabilities to work with and lead digital transformation.”
“If we close these gaps, Australia stands to unlock billions in economic growth, improve cyber resilience, and position itself as a global tech leader,” he said.
The Digital Pulse report outlines ten national actions, including:
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A sovereign AI strategy to coordinate long-term investment, regulation and infrastructure to support AI development in Australia;
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A national innovation strategy that encourages entrepreneurship across the population and supports startups and scaleups, informed by the outcomes of the government’s Strategic Examination of Research and Development to align workforce readiness to innovation;
- Co-investment vehicles to help scale up local startups, particularly those led by women and First Nations founders;
- Greater R&D incentives for AI and tech adoption
- A digital skills health check for executives to address capability gaps at the top of organisations;
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A cybersecurity workforce pipeline with a focus on creating more entry-level roles;
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Fast-tracking a national digital skills taxonomy, aligned with the Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA);
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A national push to recognise alternative tech career pathways, such as industry certifications and vocational training;
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An “earn while you learn” scheme to incentivise mid-career reskilling; and
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The creation of a sovereign system layer for safe and effective AI deployment in government.
The report stresses that existing education and workforce systems are not equipped to keep pace with digital transformation, especially in fields like artificial intelligence and cybersecurity.
It calls for greater incentives for R&D in these areas and stronger pathways from training to employment, showing there is strong industry trust in certifications and VET pathways, whereas nearly 90 percent of tech job ads still require a degree.
The report said growing the talent pipeline will require broader hiring practices and recognising alternative pathways into the profession.
It also points to systemic risks of inaction, including a projected shortfall of 54,000 cybersecurity professionals by 2030 and Australia’s lagging investment in innovation R&D relative to other OECD countries.
The ACS is urging governments and industry to treat the report as a blueprint for coordinated national action — with Jobs and Skills Australia currently developing a national taxonomy for digital skills, ACS is calling for its integration with its skills profiling tool to help organisations map and align digital capability in real time.
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