Attracting international students and making sure they can enter the labor market after they graduate is one way that Canada can shrink the current skilled labor shortage. A new study released by Kitchener-based startup ApplyBoard suggests there’s good news on that front.
A lots of student visa applications have been processed by the Canadian government: a record 550,000 in 2021. And in ApplyBoard’s survey of 912 student recruitment organizations around the world, 97 percent said that Canada provides strong postgrad opportunities. This is a better showing than the US, Britain and Australia. Canada offers a special employment permit to foreign students who graduate from Canadian universities to encourage them to stay and find work.
“International students are great contributors to our labor force,” says Meti Basiri, co-founder of ApplyBoard. “Thankfully, a lot of students are taking advantage of that postgrad work permit, staying and gaining experience here.”
However, Canada’s approval rate for student visas has declined from around 70 per cent in 2016 to around 60 per cent today, while the US has moved in the opposite direction and now green lights around 80 per cent of applicants. If the trend continues, it could dent Canada’s attractiveness to talented young people. “We’re in an era of student choice,” Basiri says. “There’s a lot more opportunity for students now and they have more decision-making power than before.”
Toronto biotech firm lands Gates Foundation grant
Cyclica, a biotech company that uses AI to discover new drugs, has received a $2.4-million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The Toronto company will use the money to research nonhormonal contraceptive medicines.
Maple Leaf in space
Canada is going to the Moon. Bolton-based aerospace company Canadensys has been awarded a $43-million contract from the feds to build the first Canadian lunar rover. It may land on the Moon’s southern polar region in 2026 to look for ice in the lunar soil.
Rightsizing your wardrobe
It could soon be easier to find clothes that are the perfect fit. British startup Bodi.Me has created an online tool that helps users pick the correct size for them. It is working with MaRS to enter the North American market. It recently won an award for best innovative technology from the Professional Clothing Industry Association.
Next season’s on-trend color? All of them
Canadian material science company Trusscore has unveiled a concept for “digital paint” that could change the color of your walls and ceiling at the touch of a button. It works by using an ultrathin film layer that changes color when an electric current passes through it. But don’t put away your paint brush just yet, the technology is several years away from the market.
Hydrogen power is officially a game changer
Hydrogen is the power source of the future … according to judges at the decentralized Energy Forum, at least. Ayrton Energy, which is developing hydrogen-powered electric vehicle-charging and energy storage stations, won the sustainability conference’s competition for game-changing ideas. It walked away with a $25,000 investment.
By the numbers:
- $2.4 million: The federal government is investing $2.4 million in Waterloo’s P&P Optica to help it showcase its food-inspection technology to the meat-processing industry.
- $25 million: Six AI development projects have received a cumulative $25 million in investments from Scale AI, one of the federal government’s global innovation clusters, and private-sector contributors. Projects include efforts to use AI to match resources with patient demand in health care and to price goods shipments.
Disclaimer This content was produced as part of a partnership and therefore it may not meet the standards of impartial or independent journalism.
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