Innovation for a better Canada
Innovation and Skills Plan
Coding is the building block of software. It is part of your everyday life. The GPS that gets you from A to B easily. The app that tracks your heart rate. All your music available wherever you go.
A coder made those things possible.
Knowing how to code will take you from being a consumer of technology to being a producer of it. Coding helps you gain the skills to compete for the jobs of the future.
Young Canadians are getting the digital skills they need to prepare them from an early age for the jobs of the future.
Digital skills for the jobs of the future
Two-panelled graphic showing a child on the left who is using a laptop to program a robot and a young adult on the right who is reading text on a virtual screen. The graphic illustrates how learning digital skills and coding at a young age can lead to a well-paying, in-demand job.
To give young Canadians from kindergarten to grade 12 a head start in life, we're investing $50 million in coding workshops, after-school coding classes and hackathons.
If you're a not-for-profit provider of these programs, you can apply for funding.
We are building a better Canada so that everyone has the jobs,
skills and learning to solve global challenges and strengthen communities.
An innovative and prosperous Canada for you, for your children and for all of us—
that's innovation for a better Canada.
And we've already started creating better jobs, better skills and better learning opportunities:
Faster processing times for work permits to help companies access global talent
Innovation Superclusters Initiative
Growing businesses into globally successful brands
Canada's Fundamental Science Review
Strengthening the foundations of Canadian research
Free trade for a Better Canada
$2B to accelerate infrastructure projects at colleges and universities
Bringing high-speed Internet for Canadians in rural and remote communities
Reinstatement of the UCASS survey
Supporting greater diversity and inclusion in Canadian universities
Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change
Keeping businesses competitive in low-carbon economy
Leading Satellite Technologies
$17.6M investment to expand Canada's leadership in satellite tech
Better positioning Canada to create jobs and compete globally
Supporting Women Entrepreneurs
$50M to help businesswomen access capital
Supporting the Indigenous Tourism Industry
$3.15M in support Indigenous Tourism businesses
Innovation Success Stories
It's already happening
It all started with a question:
How can we make Canada more innovative?
And, Oh Canada, did you answer…
10
leaders
We enlisted 10 engagement leaders to represent every sector of society—from the business community to universities and colleges, the not-for-profit sector, social entrepreneurs and Indigenous business leaders—because we can only do better together.
Senior Vice-President, Natural Resources, Industries and Consumer Goods at Fonds de solidarité FTQ
President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Calgary
Chief Innovation Consultant at The Pivotal Point
Distinguished visiting professor at the University of Toronto
Co-founder and CEO of Blockstream
Director of Entrepreneurship at Simon Fraser University
Executive Director and CEO of the Global Institute for Food Security
Founder of Brookmere Management Group
CEO of MaRS Discovery District
Co-founder and CEO of Sequence Bio
28
roundtables
Conversations across Canada
From Whitehorse to St. John's, our engagement leaders brought
400 of you to 28 roundtables.
1,752
ideas
It started with one question: "How can we make Canada more innovative?" We focused your answers into six areas of action. See what you had to say.
Entrepreneurial and Creative Society
Global Science Excellence
World-Leading Clusters and Partnerships
Grow Companies and Accelerate Clean Growth
Compete in a Digital World
Ease of Doing Business119,047
engagements
In the end, you visited, tweeted, emailed, called and posted over 119,000 times.
And it all comes down to this…
You've told us you want to see innovation for a better Canada.
We've reviewed all your ideas and focused them into three priority areas to spur innovation:
People
You told us we need better ways for more Canadians to get the skills the global economy demands.
That means:
- Helping young Canadians build coding and other digital skills
- Encouraging Canadians to develop science, tech, engineering and math (STEM) skills to prepare them for the jobs of tomorrow
- Making sure that we have diverse Canadians represented in STEM fields
- Developing our own talent, attracting international talent, and keeping it all here in Canada
Technologies
You told us we can do better in harnessing emerging tech that would create industries and jobs that never existed before as well as reinvigorate existing ones.
That means:
- Encouraging breakthroughs in science and tech that will enhance the well-being of all Canadians
- Creating and supporting globally competitive innovation networks and clusters that will benefit Canada and the middle class
- Taking more risks and sponsoring "moon shots" to keep Canada at the forefront of advancing science and tech
Companies
You told us we can do better in encouraging more Canadians to start and grow companies that are competitive in the global economy.
That means:
- Improving access to capital that will allow Canadian companies to grow and scale up
- Leveraging the Government of Canada's buying power to support innovative companies
Innovation: a Canadian tradition
Here's the latest
- Tab 1: Minister of Innovation Science and Economic Development Canada
- Tab 2: Minister of Innovation Science and Economic Development Canada
- Tab 3: Minister of Innovation Science and Economic Development Canada
- Tab 4: Minister of Innovation Science and Economic Development Canada
Young Canadians from all backgrounds and every part of the country have the opportunity to learn to code and get the digital skills they need to invent the jobs of the future.
Our newly-launched historic superclusters initiative will create well-paying middle-class jobs and help grow the economy.
We're helping homegrown companies become global competitors.
The Government of Canada is committed to maintaining and creating good middle-class jobs, growth and long-term prosperity by keeping Canada's automotive manufacturing sector globally competitive and innovative.
Ready to innovate? We can help.
For more services for business, visit Canada Business.
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