Ottawa, August 14, 2024—To improve efficiencies and environmental sustainability, Canadian supply chains are becoming more digitized, leveraging big data, artificial intelligence, advanced robotics, and the Internet of Things. This requires that supply chain professionals acquire new, in-demand digital and environmental skills alongside traditional competencies.
Read ICTC’s latest report: End to End: The Need for Green and Digital Skills in Canada’s Supply Chain Industry.
Key findings:
- To mitigate environmental harms, supply chain professionals will need to understand Canadian environmental business practices, environmental regulations and standards and possess skills related to ecolabels, sustainability ratings, circular economies, and eco-design.
- Wider adoption of digital technology across supply chains requires data-related skills, including obtaining, cleaning, and standardizing data from different sources and using data analysis and data science techniques to analyze and make data-informed decisions.
- Multidisciplinary education, reskilling, and upskilling are needed to capture the digital skills, environmental knowledge, and traditional supply chain competencies (sourcing best-value materials/products and tracking the movement of goods, etc.) required by supply chain professionals.
- Post-secondary education curricula need to expand to practical environmental solution offerings and take advantage of work-integrated learning opportunities. Employers need to provide training programs, workshops, and certifications to help employees develop their competencies. Employees can leverage online learning platforms and industry connections to expand their skill sets.
With the right workforce development programs and incentives—i.e., government and large private company supply chains incentivizing small and medium supply chain contractors to prioritize environmental sustainability—the supply chain industry can help Canada meet its environmental sustainability targets and goals.
Read the Report
End to End: The Need for Green and Digital Skills in Canada’s Supply Chain Industry
About ICTC
The Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC) is a neutral, not-for-profit national center of expertise with the mission of strengthening Canada's digital advantage in the global economy. For over 30 years, and with a team of 110 experts, we have delivered forward-looking research, practical policy advice, and capacity-building solutions for individuals and businesses. The organization’s goal is to ensure that technology is utilized to drive economic growth and innovation and that Canada's workforce remains competitive on a global scale.
To arrange an interview on this study or other media inquiries, please contact Anne Patterson at @email.
This project is funded in part by the Government of Canada’s Student Work Placement Program.
