Canadian Tech Talent Accelerator
Providing tech skills to unemployed and underemployed youth from communities underrepresented in the digital economy.
Project Overview
Updated January 28, 2025.
The Problem
The rapid increase in online work since 2020 has widened the digital divide and skills gap, contributing to higher unemployment – especially for more vulnerable Canadians.
Indigenous, Black and other racialized citizens, people with disabilities, LGBTQ2S+ youth, women and newcomers to our country face multiple barriers to employment. More than ever, digital skills training and resources are needed to ensure no one is left behind by the digital revolution.
How We Are Solving It
Launched in January 2021, the Canadian Tech Talent Accelerator (CTTA) initiative has been at the forefront of helping to bridge Canada’s talent gap by providing underserved jobseekers with essential digital skills, certifications, and job placement support.
Led by NPower Canada in collaboration with Microsoft Canada, CIBC the Government of British Columbia and Blueprint; the program leverages best-in-class educational resources developed by Microsoft and Google to deliver a 15-week online skills training programs in fields such as Data Analytics and Visualization, IT Service Management, Cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to participants across Canada. The overall CTTA curriculum aligns with employers’ required skills for in-demand positions and to be adapted as hiring needs evolve. Following the completion of the program, participants earned industry certification and received high-touch job placement support to find a technology position with employers within the NPower Canada network.
Since its start, the project has supported the scaling of NPower Canada as a pan-Canadian workforce development initiative, expanding to British Columbia, Nova Scotia, Quebec and Manitoba while growing its impact in Ontario and Alberta beyond urban cores.
Microsoft Canada and NPower Canada partnership with Blueprint supports strategic evidence road mapping and analyzing the outcomes of the CTTA initiative for job-seekers and employers, and to determine how best to scale elements of the program to increase its impact across the country.
The Result
Since DIGITAL’s initial co-investment in 2021, the CTTA program has put over 6,400 Canadians on the path to meaningful, in-demand employment within the tech sector since 2021. Over 80% of CTTA graduates continue to secure sustainable digital employment or enroll in post-secondary education within six months of graduation.
In 2025, we announced our continued co-investment with NPower Canada to scale the CTTA to launch another 2,850 job seekers across Canada into meaningful careers in tech. NPower Canada will continue to expand their impact across the six provinces where they currently operate, as well as exploring the feasibility of expanding their training offerings into new Canadian markets They will also expand their cybersecurity training pathway alongside updates to existing training, ensuring alignment with the skills demands of Canadian employers.
Project Lead
Project Partners
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"Microsoft and DIGITAL are as deeply invested in creating a more inclusive technology workforce as we are. That’s why working in close partnership with them is so very important to us."
Chief Operating Officer, NPower Canada Hear from CTTA graduates