A new series of reports has predicted that the UK will need more than 140,000 new IT and Telecoms professionals per year over the next five years.

The IT and Telecoms Insights 2008 reported that most of the professionals will need to be trained to a high level, half are expected to be experts from other fields, and one in five will be hired directly from education.

The reports are based on research conducted by e-skills UK, a not for profit employer led quango that will be presenting its findings tonight to John Denham, the secretary of state for innovation, universities and skills.

If the technology and telecoms skill base is improved and more businesses adopt technology and foster its innovation, then £35 billion could be created for the UK economy over the next ten years, the report said.

The research also found that a broader range of technical, business and communication skills are needed by IT and Telecoms professionals in order to succeed, while more IT knowledge is needed by the business workforce. The IT industry is also lacking females and the situation is worsening, the report stated. Only 18 per cent of the IT and telecoms professional workforce is female, down from 22 per cent in 2001.

The research was conducted using input from 4,000 employers and from Gartner Executive Programs, Auridian Consulting, Experian, Adroit Economic and Regeneris Consulting.

Vodafone’s chief executive, Nick Read, said “we need to transform technology-related education and capture in the curriculum the excitement that students already have for technologies in their daily lives such as mobile phones and the internet.”