Council of Canadian Innovators Announces Launch of Innovation Governance Program

On October 25, 2021, the Council of Canadian Innovators (“CCI”) announced the launch of its Innovation Governance Program (“iGP”), a new executive leadership program designed to train current and future board members in key areas of the intangible economy. CCI’s announcement comes amid record venture funding levels in Toronto’s tech start-up scene and the iGP states that the program is a response “to Canada’s need for qualified directors and increased diversity on corporate boards”.

The iGP will kick off its first of 10 sessions on November 4, and wrap up roughly a month later on December 7. In the inaugural fall 2021 cohort, the iGP intends to focus training on (1) intellectual property; (2) data commercialization; (3) cybersecurity and risk; and (4) compliance, finance and capital investment. iGP states that the program will help participants “be able to identify, describe and analyze modern governance issues facing innovation companies today”. Further, successful participants will be added to the roster of CCI’s referral program, the Board Member Advisory Program, that is used to help scale-up companies fill board vacancies. 

In CCI’s press release, Benjamin Bergen, executive director of the CCI, states “[t]he rate of growth at Canada’s leading technology companies outpaces the availability of qualified talent at every level” and that “[b]y equipping more aspiring leaders with the tools they need to steer companies throughout their growth journey, we will be able to help increase diversity on Canadian boards while supporting our country’s most promising 21st century businesses.”

Author: Zhiyao Chen, 2021/2022 Articling Student-at-law