CBJ JULY 2026

141 JULY 2026 « The Canadian Business Journal four-month paid work placements is a short- cycle solution in a sector facing dire shortages of long-term and home care staff. It also helps people who were displaced by the pandemic to jump-start their careers in high-demand roles. COVID-19 also prompted businesses across sectors to consider the adoption of new technology, making an already emerging need for enhanced digital skills even greater. While we embed digital skills across our programs, we are also using our new Digital Integration Centre of Excellence (DICE) to help industry partners solve a breadth of data challenges, including data integrity, transmission, analysis and storage. At the Centre, businesses and non-profit organizations can identify useful business statistics or explore opportunities to use machine learning and artificial intelligence. In addition to a team of specialists, industry partners have access to exceptional computational facilities, faculty expertise and talented student researchers. This same talent pool will propel digital adoption and awareness into the broader labour market. Maintaining this level of responsiveness relies heavily on close relationships with industry. That’s why we work with program advisory committees that include nearly 700 experts who understand where the labour market is headed and what skills graduates will need to succeed.