Rolls-Royce is publishing its digital skills training programme free of charge to help people and businesses around the world prepare for a potentially digital-centric recovery from Covid-19. Bringing together the company’s training partners and platforms, the first suite of courses includes introductions to data science, artificial intelligence, machine learning, coding and digital culture. The courses range from ‘bite-size’ 20min sessions to extended (and fully certified) training programmes.

This release by Rolls-Royce follows its founding role in establishing the global Emergent Alliance — a voluntary group of technology companies and data science specialists working together to find new ways to ‘accelerate and smooth the path to economic recovery, as the pandemic passes’.

Manisha Mistry, head of the Digital Academy at Rolls-Royce, said: “The Rolls-Royce Digital Academy has trained 20,000 of our employees in the last two years, as it assists our transformation into one of the world’s leading industrial-technology companies, and these are the training courses that are helping to make that change happen. Many people and businesses are experiencing incredibly tough circumstances, and these free training packages are a tangible way for us to offer some help.

Many of them have been tried and tested by Rolls-Royce employees. They can help people to prepare for work and businesses to prepare for a digital future — just like we’ve been doing at Rolls-Royce for the last couple of years.”

This open learning programme includes: DataCamp, which offers an opportunity to experience the top data science, artificial intelligence and machine learning courses used by Rolls-Royce employees; edX, which is Rolls-Royce’s own CPD-accredited digital skills fundamentals programme; Google for Education, which helps teachers and students to learn practical digital skills, using the free project-based video curriculum; IBM, with its Machine Learning for Kids, which provides hands-on experience in an easy-to-use guided learning environment to the people who will be programming the machines of the future; Learning Tree; TeenTech; and TechWeCan.

Further details can be found at the Web site (www.rolls-royce.com/products-and-services/digital-academy.aspx).