21 Oct Education and the Economy Summit a Success
Education and the Economy Summit fosters increased collaboration between local government, education and business leaders to promote economic opportunity
Ottawa – The Education and the Economy Summit, held today at Ottawa City Hall, laid a strong foundation for ongoing collaboration between local school boards, postsecondary institutions, government and private sector partners, NGOs, and students, with the goal of generating more opportunities for students and increasing the long-term prosperity of the city with more start-ups and jobs.
“The Education and the Economy Summit is only the beginning of the conversation among the key partners from the education and economic sectors,” said Mayor Jim Watson. “This collaborative approach to education makes Ottawa an even more attractive place to receive an education and pursue a career, providing students with greater employment opportunities and the skill-set required in today’s workforce.”
Close to 250 students and stakeholders attended the one-day Summit, which featured remarks by His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada, Mayor Jim Watson, Councillor Riley Brockington, Chair of the Summit, and Jonathan Lister, VP Americas, Sales Solutions and Canada Country Manager at LinkedIn.
“The Summit highlighted the commitment of all key partners to provide students with opportunities to develop the skills and experience they need to excel once they enter our local workforce,” said Councillor Brockington. “The result for students will be greater access to training, internships and employment bridging opportunities, and our city will benefit from having an innovative and entrepreneurial workforce.”
“Our goal is to create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce,” said Mr. Lister. “With more than 60 per cent of the workforce on LinkedIn, we have a wealth of data insights into national and local labour markets. We are proud to be partnering with the City of Ottawa to encourage further collaboration between employers and educators.”
During the day, Summit participants attended workshop discussions on topics such as student attraction and retention, work integrated learning, entrepreneurship and pathways to employment.
Summit workshops were led by notable education and business community leaders, including:
- Dr. Jaswinder Kaur, Director, India and Emerging Markets, Kivuto Solutions Inc.
- Scott Bowman, Director, Government Relations, Futurpreneur
- Ritch Dusome, President and CEO, Centre of Excellence in Next Generation Networks
- Kathy McKinley, President and CEO, Ottawa Network for Education (ONFE)
- Dr. Malcolm Butler, Dean, Faculty of Science, Carleton University
- David Ritonja, Vice President, Broadband Access Business Unit North America, Nokia Networks
- Bruce Lazenby, Head of Business Development, Regional Group of Companies
- Christine Donoghue, Acting President, Public Service Commission of Canada
The Summit reinforced important components of the City’s economic development strategy for maintaining the growth and resiliency of our local economy:
- Drawing students and talent to the city from across the country and the globe
- Keeping talent in Ottawa
- Attracting business and financial investment
- Nurturing and supporting entrepreneurship and small business
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