Locations
İstanbul International Centre for Private Sector in Development
Skills Development
The world of work is changing fast. New technologies and automation are reshaping the skills employers need, an estimated 30 percent of jobs are at risk from digital transformation and automation in the next decade, and 344 million new jobs must be created by 2030 to meet labour market demand. Skills development has to become demand-driven, inclusive and future-proofed, and the private sector is central to modernizing how skills are designed, delivered and financed.
ICPSD helps governments, UNDP Country Offices and partners build skills ecosystems that connect people, especially youth, women, migrants and other underserved groups, to employment, entrepreneurship and digital opportunity. A core emphasis is on digital transformation and the application of frontier technologies such as artificial intelligence, GIS and generative and agentic AI to skills development, innovation and inclusive socio-economic outcomes.
This work contributes to the UNDP Strategic Plan 2026–2029 objectives on prosperity for all and crisis resilience, and to Digital and AI Transformation as a core accelerator across UNDP.
Private sector engagement makes vocational and technical education relevant to what the labour market needs.
Equipping underserved groups with digital and entrepreneurial skills opens access to jobs, income and start-up pathways.
Providing skills to disadvantaged and vulnerable has a significant impact on development increasing access to job opportunities.
ICPSD conducts research on inclusive business approaches to skills design and delivery, and draws lessons and insights from field-tested models
Our Work
ICPSD provides research, advisory and partnership services that increase private sector participation in skills development and link training directly to economic opportunity: wage employment, platform and gig work, and sector-based entrepreneurship in areas such as climate technology, digital services, generative AI and the creative industries. Working with UNDP Country Offices and Regional Bureaux, the Centre supports governments, education providers and ecosystem partners to design and implement private-sector-led skills pipelines aligned with national priorities and the SDGs.
The SDG AI Lab is UNDP's applied AI and digital innovation platform, hosted by ICPSD and integrated into UNDP's Digital, AI and Innovation Hub. It delivers research, solution design, advisory and capacity building for UNDP units, governments and partners, from early warning dashboards and vulnerability indices to the Digital Technologies for SDGs course and the UNDP Data Science Fellowship.
Skills for an Inclusive Future (S4IF), established with EBRD in 2021, is a network of private sector, government and development partners building inclusive, market-aligned skills ecosystems focused on digital, green and entrepreneurial skills. Its first country chapter, in Türkiye, moved into implementation in 2026.
The Frontier Tech Leaders Programme, launched with the UN Technology Bank in 2023, provides intensive training in AI, machine learning, GIS and leadership for young people from Least Developed Countries. By the end of 2025 it had trained more than 460 tech leaders through bootcamps and over 1,800 through community trainings across six countries.
Through long-term partnerships with Samsung, HP and the HP Foundation, ICPSD delivers future-oriented technology and entrepreneurship training, including the Samsung Innovation Campus in Türkiye and new talent and employment pathways in the game development and esports industries.