A little more than one in five techies in Britain is aged 50 or older, and enticing more of that demographic to enter the world of information technology could help alleviate a perennial skills gap.'We can only achieve the government's ambition for the UK to be the 'next Silicon Valley' by closing the digital skills gap and making this vital profession attractive to a far broader range of people," said Rashik Parmar MBE, CEO of the BCS.The age factor was most pronounced in the north-east of the UK where just one in eight programmers/developers was 50 or over, the research found – but didn't state why.- Bias toward office staff will cost you: Your WFH crew could walk, say execs- Bad news, older tech workers: Job advert language works against you- Apple exec sues over 'ageist' removal of $800k stock bonus- Dinobabies latest: IBM settles with widow of exec who killed himself after layoff- America's chip land has another potential shortage: Electronics engineers- IBM ordered to hand over ex-CEO emails plotting cuts in older workersIn terms of qualifications, the older IT crowd is less likely to have higher education qualifications – 64 percent versus 84 percent among those aged 16 to 49.The agency added that getting back into tech wasn't necessarily an easy move to make, as retirees might have missed out on qualifications and exposure to evolving technology."