“Canada’s economic growth and competitiveness depend on the effective use of ICT.
To achieve this we must develop a high quality ICT  labour force that meets the needs of tomorrow.”

Stéphane Boisvert, Chair of the CCICT and President of Bell Canada - Enterprise Group

ICT is crucial to the innovation and productivity of every industry, be it energy, life science, media and culture, publishing, advertising, natural resources, financial services, construction, retail or education.

ICT is essential to the creativity, innovation, customer satisfaction, productivity, safety, and competitive advantage of Canadian businesses.

For these reasons, demand for ICT-based solutions will continue to outpace overall economic growth as we move out of the current recession. But meeting this demand depends on the continuing availability of the right kinds of professional talent.

Some facts:

• The ICT industry plus ICT professionals in other industries comprise nearly 1.1 million workers. More people work in IT than in agriculture, forestry, fishing, mining, oil & gas, utilities, and transportation industry (including auto) manufacturing, combined.
• Of that number, over 600,000 are ICT professionals.
• Canada’s ICT industries alone contribute $140 billion to our GDP.
• From 2002 to 2007, the ICT sector grew by an average of 5.1% annually, compared with only 2.7% for the overall Canadian economy.

The challenge is this: Employers across Canada cannot find the ICT professionals that they need – even in the midst of the recession.

This is partly due to dramatically declining enrolments in post-secondary ICT-related programs. More important, it is also because of a growing mismatch between the specific skills of ICT professionals in the workforce and the new kinds of capabilities that employers need.

Canadian organizations will need to hire 150.000 ICT professionals by 2015. However, these jobs are changing—in a good way.

ICT is decreasingly about traditional desk-bound programming and increasingly about exciting 21st century careers for professionals who display leadership and drive innovation:

• Business professionals who have the knowledge, skills and personal qualities to lead and support the effective, competitive use of information technologies.
• Specialized technologists –both IT-focused and multidisciplinary – who operate at the leading edge of innovation in every field, be it ICT product innovation, social media, health care and medical research, green infrastructure, or automotive design.

Our next economy is highly dependent on these people and the roles they will play in new and reinvented industries. The IT job market has grown through the past 7 years and is anticipated to exceed overall labour market growth coming out of the recession.

In every region of the country, employers can’t find enough qualified business-IT professionals. Over 40% of Canada’s future ICT jobs will require this hybrid skill set. Deep specialized IT-skilled technologists are critical to innovation and productivity in every industry as we reinvent the economy for the post-recession 21st century.

CCICT has a multi-pronged strategy to address this challenge, one that is critical to Canada’s economic performance in the 21st century.