Buckinghamshire New University has partnered with tech company Multiverse to deliver training to 35 employees.

Analysis of 1,000 UK and US company reports finds skills and training are missing from the boardroom's top priorities in the face of technology growthAI doubles in mentions but its importance is not reflected in training initiativesYet technical reskilling and upskilling are on the rise in the wider workforceLONDON, March 17, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Many of the largest listed companies in the UK and US are underprioritizing skills development in relation to technology, according to Multiverse analysis of FTSE 100 and S&P 100 company reports spanning the last 10 years.Around seven in ten companies in the UK (69%) and US (76%) mention a strategic priority relating to technology in their latest reports. Yet only 7% (UK) and 8% (US) describe skills and training as a strategic priority.This proportion has not improved since 2013, while technology has shot up in importance, suggesting that boardrooms are not yet recognizing its sweeping impact on workforce skills requirements. With Goldman Sachs predicting that AI investment will rocket to $200bn this year, companies who do not act are putting record levels of investment at risk.To uncover this data, Multiverse's data science team worked with expert data analyst David Abelman (ex-Meta, Bain & Company), to build a Large Language Model (LLM) system to analyze structured information from over 100,000 pages of company documents. The resulting Boardroom Skills Agenda report provides empirical evidence on how people and skills are missing from the boardroom's top priority list based on findings from UK annual reports and US 10-K reports.1The missing skills pieceAccording to the report, companies are also not targeting skills development relating to the most consequential technologies that will shape the future of work.While nearly half (49%) of the UK FTSE 100 mention AI as part of their strategy, only 34% of companies referenced Artificial Intelligence (AI) training.In S&P 100 10-K reports 48% reference AI in their strategy, while 18% mention AI training.These findings follow the UK's Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) reporting , which confirms that the average number of days of workplace training received each year has fallen over the last decade. Employer spending on training has decreased over the same period, and there has been a fall in both public and private investment in training. The US' Training Industry report also reflects a fall in training expenditure among US companies in 2024 compared to years prior.Euan Blair, CEO of Multiverse, said:"Annual reports are a weathervane for the issues that are capturing the boardroom's attention