Digital Lift

How We Are Solving It

In response, the Digital Lift project is training and supporting a new wave of diversified tech talent to increase workforce availability and accelerate the growth and innovation of Canadian companies. This project is led by BC Tech Association in collaboration with tech talent solution providers British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT), Riipen Networks, SkyHive Technologies and Virtro Technologies. Corporate partners include AbCellera, Absolute Software, Amazon, Copperleaf, Change Healthcare, East Side Games, Finning, Jelly Digital Marketing, Providence Health Care, SAP and Seaspan Shipyards and Stemcell Technologies.   

Over its initial 3 years, this industry-led consortium sought to combat the tech talent shortage by:    

• Using AI to identify high-demand tech roles and the competencies required for the positions. 
• Providing 6-12 week rapid skilling programs for 120+ individuals impacted by COVID-19 that matches the in-demand tech roles and skills gaps of industry.  
• Offering 200 paid virtual internships with technology companies and tech-enabled corporates to help all Canadians land well-paying jobs – 150 internships will be filled by individuals from under-represented groups including women, Indigenous Peoples, members of racialized minorities, people with disabilities and LGBTQ2+ individuals. 
• Simulating virtual reality and AI-informed job interviews that align with program participant’s specific careers of interest.  
• Creating a best practice guide for managing interns in a virtual environment.  

 The highest return on investment for skills training happens when the skills match open roles in the workforce. Artificial intelligence from SkyHive Technologies was used to determine real-time movements in Canada’s labour market to assess technology roles that are in highest demand and the existing skills gaps.    

At the same, Virtro Technology delivered competency-based job interview simulations for virtual reality and browser-based platforms. The initial project also provided all participants with 10 AI-driven practice interviews, customized for the specific roles they’re pursuing.    

While many companies stopped taking on interns during the COVID-19 pandemic due to remote complexities, the project created a best-practice guide for virtual internships and share those learnings across the tech industry in Canada. This knowledge will not only helped during the pandemic, but also create more long-term career opportunities for people in rural and remote areas of the country.    

The long-term goal is to help grow Canada’s tech sector by developing a highly skilled and productive workforce from all regions of Canada. This is what it will take to build an equitable, inclusive and greener post-pandemic economy. 

The Result

In November 2023, we announced our continued co-investment to scale the Digital Lift project to provide inclusive rapid reskilling for 300 participants to provide them with in-demand job ready skills in the areas of data science, digital marketing, cybersecurity, web development and B2B sales.  This ongoing support successfully benefited over 315 participants; including increasing the knowledge of the tech sector with over 75 educators, supporting over 145 neurodivergent youth to learn technology and providing work integrated learning opportunities for 125 participants.