Happy New Year.
As we step into 2025, I’d like to once again take this moment to reflect on the incredible year that was 2024 and share our vision for the year ahead. TasICT, now 26 years strong, continues to be the backbone supporting the Tasmania’s ICT sector, and I am honored to serve as President as we embark on another year of progress and growth.
This past year was my first as President, and I entered the role with clear goals for what I hoped to achieve. I’m proud to say that, together, we’ve made great strides in these areas. One of my priorities was to facilitate a staff restructure, ensuring TasICT’s focus aligned with the evolving needs of our industry. I am pleased to say that this restructure has delivered the result we had hoped for.
Participation at our educational networking events continue to grow year on year as has our membership base. Our ICT advocacy focus has been restored and building out strong relationships with all Tasmanian MPs is progressing well. The engagement with media has also been invigorated and media are more than ever reaching out to TasICT for learned commentary on ICT matters.
As we look to the future, building ICT capability in Tasmania remains a top priority. The phrase “every business is a digital business” rings truer than ever, and TasICT is committed to driving skills development across our state. In 2024, we signed an industry skills compact in partnership with the Australian Computer Society (ACS) and the government. This collaboration will ensure clear pathways into ICT careers, promoting opportunities for growth and innovation. We are also strong advocates for the UTAS STEM campus initiative and will be doing everything we can to support this coming to fruition. Industry involvement in this will be critical and I encourage you to throw your support behind initiatives we bring to the table in this space.
TasICT will continue to ensure government understands the contribution our sector delivers to the economy and the opportunities that exist. We will be pushing harder than ever for increased government funding to support this.
As we move into 2025, I am filled with optimism for what we can achieve together. The opportunities ahead are immense and I am confident that with the strong team we have, on staff and our volunteers on committees, TasICT will continue to thrive and lead.
Here’s to a successful and inspiring year ahead.
Warm regards,
David Mills
President, TasICT