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Institute for Competitiveness

On 1 January 2018, the European Union, UN Women and ILO (International Labour Organization) kicked off the three-year WE EMPOWER programme. It aims to support sustainable, inclusive and equitable economic growth by focusing on women's economic empowerment in the changing world of work in the public and private sectors in G7 countries.

The WE EMPOWER team has partnered with the Institute for Competitiveness and Prosperity to discuss gender diversity and inclusion in Canada's innovation agenda for an interactive roundtable discussion. The Institute was the recent host of the 21st TCI Network Global Conference on clusters (TCI2018) that addressed the theme of gender diversity and inclusion and provided a platform to consider how clusters can be leaders in this thematic area of growth and have an impact on their industries.

The Government of Canada has embarked on an ambitious innovation agenda with the creation of five Innovation Superclusters:

  1. Digital Technology Supercluster
  2. Protein Industries Supercluster
  3. Advanced Manufacturing Supercluster
  4. Artificial Intelligence Supply Chain Supercluster
  5. Ocean Supercluster

Women tend to be under-representated in these STEM intensive industries and the lack of a focused strategy to increase women's inclusion could have serious and wide-ranging implications.

This roundtable will consider the opportunities and challenges for women's economic empowerment in Canada's innovation agenda and Innovation Superclusters.

OBJECTIVES of the session:

  • Examine how to increase women's participation in clusters and increase their role in innovation activities
  • Understand and overcome barriers to gender diversity and inclusion in innovation sectors
  • Build awareness of the Women's Empowerment Principles
  • Showcase best practices and lessons learned from G7 counterparts
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