The fastest growing tech sector in the country should harness its growth to welcome more women into the workforce or risk costing the economy, according to an industry body.
Canberra's tech sector is booming with a 16.3 per cent increase in jobs in the past year, four times national growth.
Experts say the boom is primarily led by federal government departments making major digital shifts but as demand for jobs is expected to continue to increase diversity and increasing training should be high priorities.
The Australian Computer Society Digital Pulse report found ACT had the biggest proportion of ICT workers in the country at 12.8 per cent it is almost double the national share.
The sector is predicted to continue to grow by 5.5 per cent to 42,698 positions by 2026.
ACS ACT branch manager Vicki Gardiner said almost half ICT workers didn't have formal qualifications, making the sector ideal for women looking to get back into the workforce, change careers or increase their hours.
"If we're going to continue with that 5.5 per cent growth in Canberra itself there's huge opportunity for people to get back engaged in the workforce, especially women," she said.
Women make up just 29 per cent of Australia's tech sector and the ACS report warned without major steps to address the issue, the lack of women could cost the economy $11 billion over the next 20 years.
The report said there had been "minimal progress" to improve diversity since 2015, with women's representation increasing by just 0.75 per cent per year.
Dr Gardiner said Canberra had a chance to capitalise on the impact of the pandemic.
"They're expecting the industry admin and logistic support to be the biggest growing occupation group up until 2026," she said.
"Those kinds of occupations are really good for those who are coming out of other sectors, I thnk that's really an opportunity for women to get back into the workforce."
Although information technology is the fastest growing area for university domestic enrollments, the report warned of an "impending gap" due to a lack of training to meet the need for another 60,000 workers needed each year with only 7000 domestic IT graduates.
Australian National University senior lecturer at the Research School of Computer Science, Tom Worthington said without investment in more training the sector could face a shortage of specialist skills.
"The universities are educating people and computing has done quite well, in maintaining the number of students that we have ... But there is still a problem attracting enough experienced people," he said.
