To boost tech talent, Arkansas launches data analytics workforce initiative

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson has proposed a new organization to foster tech jobs and provide digital education training for residents. Called the Arkansas Partnership for Data Analytics and Computing, the groups was announced on Thursday as a way to coordinate training for residents in data science, coding, machine learning, predictive modeling and computer skills. A report outlining the endeavor says the organization's staff and activities will be funded with up to $25.5 million from public- and private-sector stakeholders that have yet to be named. "My expectation is to set a guide for the state to respond to the needs of our business community, and in doing so, create career opportunities for our best and brightest young workers to remain in Arkansas and raise our overall state capabilities across industry, higher education and government to advance and apply the tools of data analytics and computing," Hutchinson says in the report. Hutchinson's administration cites predictions from Wikibon Research -- showing that the market for big data analytics and computing applications will grow from $18.3 billion in 2014 to $92.2 billion by 2026 -- to justify its investment.