innovation

Canada’s federal government recognizes the current and growing challenges faced by youth looking to secure and maintain employment. Across the country, young people are struggling to find meaningful work, even as employers report difficulty filling key roles. Youth unemployment is stubbornly high and the share of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) has grown.
The causes are complex: economic shifts, tariff impacts, the influence of artificial intelligence on entry-level roles and the lingering effects of the pandemic on mental health and foundational skills.

Polytechnics Canada’s recommendations to Employment and Social Development Canada include:

• Enrich student grants to help youth take refuge in post-secondary education during periods of economic uncertainty
• Remove structural barriers to work-integrated learning by reviewing the supports available for unpaid placements, particularly in high-demand occupations
• Expand access to short-cycle programs that integrate digital and artificial intelligence (AI) skills with experiential opportunities
• Improve apprenticeship completion using a whole-of-system approach
• Prevent prolonged disengagement from school or work by exploring a “Youth Guarantee” model

Canada has long been a global leader in artificial intelligence. Yet, despite strengths in theoretical research, businesses across the country have been slow to adopt and commercialize AI technologies. Weak adoption hinders economic growth and productivity, leaving much of AI’s potential stranded in theory rather than translated into real-world impact.

Polytechnics Canada’s recommendations to the Standing Committee on Science and Research include:

• Create an annual $100-million funding stream within the College and Community Innovation (CCI) program
• Expand the National Research Council’s (NRC) IRAP Interactive Visits program to support AI exploration
• Invest $30 million per year in dedicated compute resources for polytechnic Applied AI Research Centres
• Embed polytechnic applied research centres in Bureau of Research, Engineering and advanced Leadership in Innovation and Science (BOREALIS) investments

Canada’s innovation ecosystem continues to face a structural imbalance between strong research
performance and weak commercialization outcomes. The country ranks second among G7 nations
in higher-education R&D (HERD) spending yet remains among the lowest in business expenditure
on R&D (BERD), at roughly half the OECD average and showing little growth over the past decade.
The persistent gap between discovery and deployment can be addressed by better catalyzing the
applied research capacity of Canada’s polytechnics.

Polytechnics Canada’s recommendations to the Standing Committee on Science and Research include:

• Expand Canada’s focus beyond funding research activity to include funding research outcomes
• Integrate polytechnic applied research into national R&D and commercialization frameworks such as BOREALIS
• Embed intellectual property (IP) support into applied research investments to create a seamless pathway from early IP identification through to scale-up

Canada must tackle its persistent innovation, productivity, and technology adoption challenges. Despite significant investments in academic research, its ability to translate discoveries into economic and social impact is weak. Innovation underpins a competitive economy, yet Canada’s ecosystem remains imbalanced — strong research performance and weak commercialization outcomes.

Polytechnics Canada’s recommendations to the Standing Committee on Industry include:

• Increasing the baseline investment in the College and Community Innovation Program to $216 million per year.
• Extending eligibility to all federal research streams focusing on impact-driven partnered research to Canada’s polytechnics.
• Creating a seamless pathway from early intellectual property identification to validation and commercialization.
• Aligning with related federal programs to give firms coordinated, end-to-end commercialization support.