Some 346,000 information technology jobs for programmers, system analysts and computer scientist analysts, including 1,500 in Omaha, are unfilled nationwide. Panelists discussed the roles of government, education and private business in paying for the cost of educating students and retraining existing workers to fill information technology jobs. At the request of the National Science Foundation, the Omaha meeting was pulled together in less than three weeks by the university and the Peter Kiewit Institute , said Winnie Callahan , executive director of the institute's Board of Policy Advisors. Omaha's Peter Kiewit Institute of Information Science, Technology and Engineering , under construction near 72nd and Pacific Streets, was one reason for meeting in Omaha. People attending the meeting were to tour the institute's new building Friday afternoon.
Students are now in classes for the second year at other Omaha sites.
But it's not an immediate answer. It will take five to 10 years to produce people to fill those jobs. The business collaboration that is going on here is what impresses me most about Omaha. We can make this happen, but it won't happen on its own. It will take the partnership of government, education and private industry.