FutureWave 2026
About this Event
As Canada invests in innovation and productivity, FutureWave 2026 asks a practical question: What will it take to build the workforce that delivers on those ambitions?
Under the theme Building Canada’s Tech Advantage – Turning Ambition into Delivery, this event moves beyond strategy to implementation, focusing on how Work-Integrated Learning, employer partnerships, and talent development can strengthen Canada’s competitiveness in AI, cybersecurity, digital infrastructure, and emerging technologies.
Throughout the day, participants will share real-world examples, identify barriers to talent development, and co-create practical solutions that help employers hire, educators innovate, and students launch meaningful careers in Canada’s growing digital economy.
Featured Discussions
- Building Canada’s Workforce Advantage: What talent will Canada’s fastest-growing technology sectors need over the next decade?
- Hiring for Growth: How can employers, especially SMEs, build successful early-career hiring strategies?
- From Campus to Competitive Advantage: How can colleges and universities accelerate innovation through stronger employer partnerships?
- Growth That Reaches Every Community: What does a truly national technology workforce strategy look like?
- Trust, Talent & Opportunity: Lessons in Building Community-Centred Workforce Development Programs
- Closing Session – The Tech Advantage Playbook: Participants collaborate to identify the highest-impact actions employers, educators, and policymakers can take to strengthen Canada’s technology workforce.
What You’ll Take Away
- Employer action: Practical strategies for hiring, mentoring, and retaining emerging talent
- Innovation partnerships: Stronger collaboration between industry, colleges, universities, and governments
- Regional impact: New ideas for expanding technology opportunities beyond major urban centres, including Indigenous communities, rural regions, startups, and small businesses
- The Tech Advantage Playbook: A shared set of recommendations to take back to your organization
Who Should Attend
Technology leaders, employers, HR and talent leaders, post-secondary educators and administrators, and policymakers working to build Canada’s technology workforce.
Agenda
🕑: 08:30 AM - 09:00 AM
Registration and continental breakfast
🕑: 09:00 AM - 09:45 AM
Welcome and Keynote
🕑: 09:45 AM - 10:45 AM
Building Canada's Workforce Advantage
🕑: 10:45 AM - 11:00 AM
Coffee Break
🕑: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Growth That Reaches Every Community
🕑: 12:00 PM - 01:00 PM
Networking and boxed lunch
🕑: 01:00 PM - 01:45 PM
Trust, Talent and Opportunity: Community Centred Programming
🕑: 01:45 PM - 02:30 PM
From Campus to Competitive Advantage
🕑: 02:30 PM - 02:45 PM
Coffee Break
🕑: 02:45 PM - 03:30 PM
Hiring for Growth
🕑: 03:30 PM - 04:00 PM
Wrap-Up - Playbook
Where is it happening?
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
CAD 0.00 to CAD 31.59
