BioTalent Canada is an association that really supports the people behind the life changing science that Canadian companies produce. In the last four or five years, we found almost 10,000 people jobs. We work on labour market information to equip employers with a lot of the information they’re going to need to try to recruit and retain the best.
These are tough times and the industry is going through a real change. There is a huge lack of talent. And our forecasts indicate that by 2029, there’s going to be four jobs available for every one candidate. We’re going to be 65,000 people short of the number of people that we need to fill all of those jobs.
The Science of Talent podcast is dedicated to exploring the solutions. We talk with some of the industry’s best and brightest and see what they’re experiencing in their own jobs and what they’re trying to do to not only equip their organizations to try to bring in fantastic and exciting new talent, but what they’re telling their stakeholders, and how are they equipping those companies to be ready for the shortage of talent.
Join us on The Science of Talent. Available wherever you listen to podcasts.
Episode 11
Applied Pharmaceutical Innovation: Commercializing the Academic Research – and Managing Substantial Growth.
Applied Pharmaceutical Innovation (API) was launched to solve a big challenge: commercialization within the life sciences. There’s a general lack of understanding of the technical and scientific capacity needed for a life sciences company to commercialize in Canada. API sought to fix that. Part incubator, part R&D, API helps companies scale up here in Canada where they would normally have to invest tens of millions of dollars just to build out their infrastructure. And the model is working, with growth forecast to see 60 staff currently blossom to 150 in the next 18 months. In addition, the Government of Canada recently funded an $80.5 million investment in a key project API is involved in. But that success itself brings many challenges. How is API handling those? Guest: Andrew MacIsaac, CEO Applied Pharmaceutical Innovation (API)
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Episode 10
Bishop Water Technologies: Attitude is More Important than Technical Skills.
Bishop Water Technologies is rapidly growing in Canada. Dedicated to the development easy-to-use, low energy solutions for solids management, it’s a team that has worked for two decades to develop and optimize affordable technologies. So it may be surprising to hear CEO Kevin Bossy say technical skills have to take a back seat compared to attitude. But he firmly believes it. This attitude has helped Bishop Water grow ten-fold over the last 15 years. It’s heart and desire that help find the new innovations, and proof positive that low-energy solutions are often found by high energy attitude. Guest: Kevin Bossy, CEO of Bishop Water Technologies
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Episode 9
Glissner: Disruption to Make the World Better.
The entrepreneurial mindset was introduced early to Ronen Benin by his parents. They had moved to Canada with degrees that weren’t recognized. So they taught him, if you’re going to build something, make sure you are always build something for yourself too. He never forgot that. Today Ronen is the founder and CEO of a number of companies now such as Glissner which created the World’s first clinical-grade phone sanitizer. It uses UV light to kill all viruses and bacteria on any phone in a couple seconds. He’s also founder of Right Blue Labs which developed the Avail App that helps companies understand the psychometrics of employee wellness. In this episode Ronen shares his strategies for building businesses but more importantly, attracting and keeping the right talent. Guest: Ronen Benin, founder and CEO of Glissner
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Episode 8
Life Sciences BC: The surging growth of life sciences in BC.
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Episode 7
BIOVECTRA: Forward-thinking. Forward-acting.
PEI has become somewhat of a Mecca for the Bio Tech industry in Canada. And the biggest one is BIOVECTRA. It’s a company adding new team members seemingly every day having blossomed to over 600 in both PEI and Nova Scotia (and most of that growth during a global pandemic). For two consecutive years the company has been named one of Canada’s Top 100 Employers demonstrating high performance in areas like training and skills development,financial benefits, employee engagement, and health and family benefits. In this episode, Lester Wood, VP People and Corporate Culture for BIOVECTRA shares some its programs including financial support for people undergoing gender transition. Guest: Lester Wood, BioVectra
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Episode 6
Brunel- Recruitment and Diversity Strategies
If your job involves recruitment of talent, you know the name Brunel. In this episode, Angelina Brathwaite, a Senior Client Partner with global network Brunel, shares what their offices are seeing when it comes to recruitment of talent in the life sciences. Is it better to have niche skills right now or a higher education? Are employees being realistic with salary expectations? What are the soft skills employers are looking for that can make an employee stand out? At the same time, companies need to continue efforts to implement diversity and inclusion into their organizational strategies. The reality is it may feel hard for smaller companies to focus on diversity, particularly when jobs out number people almost four to one. But Brunel understands companies can’t afford not to act. Diversity leads to workplace satisfaction, engagement, and new ideas. Companies that don’t do this will be left behind.
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Episode 5
Anessa – The Powerful Benefits of Diversity
Anessa is a software company specializing in biogas projects including anaerobic digestions. It’s headquartered in New Brunswick. They’re actively trying to recruit from the biogas side but in Atlantic Canada that’s a challenge.
One thing Anessa did right away was adopt the principles of diversity and inclusion into their recruitment practices. Co-founder Amir Akbari says there was a noticeable impact when it came to working with international markets – Anessa was able to understand client culture, even languages at times that competitors just couldn’t.
At the same time the internal culture of the company grew to become vibrant, creative – and led to a better product.
For Anessa, diversity is a secret weapon to success.
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Episode 4
Clean Slate UV’s Approach to Solving Two Staffing Issues – Attraction & Diversification
One of the founders of Clean Slate UV is a self-professed “Germaphobe.” It’s that kind of awareness that led to a company that created patented UV technology and intelligent software to solve, among other problems: Smartphones are the third hand we never wash! Clean Slate leverages the power of UV-C light to inactivate some of the most resilient bacteria and viruses without damaging devices. It’s good science that has attracted clients ranging from world-class facilities, to hospitals, to five-star hotels. They’re now in 13 countries. But like many in the biotech sector, attracting employees has always been one of the challenges. In this episode CTO Manju Anand shares the company’s approach to attracting the right people and diversifying at the same time. Guest: Manju Anand, CTO Clean Slate UV. CleanSlate UV provides sanitizer for mobile devices. The Company offers sanitizer that uses ultra-violet light to kill bacteria and viruses on cell phones and other devices, as well as allows hospital staff, visitors, and patients to rapidly sanitize multiple devices. CleanSlate serves customers in North America.
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Episode 3
Scientific (and Talent) Discoveries at Applied Biological Materials Inc.
In this episode, Ryan from Applied Biological Materials Inc. shares ABM’s approach to recruiting and retaining talent for the successful company. And he’s a poster board for the potential within the company having started as a co-op student and now serving as company COO. As the company grows, it looks for HR talent to help not only with recruitment and retention but performance management and mentorship programs for leadership. Guest: Ryan Saranchuk, COO Applied Biological Materials Inc. Founded in 2004, ABM has been catalyzing scientific discoveries in Life Sciences and Drug Development for over a decade. Based in Vancouver, it’s agility in developing and commercializing novel research tools and its portfolio of services has made it an invaluable partner to laboratories and research institutions around the world.
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Episode 2
Growing the Digital Ag Eco-System AND Leaving No One Behind
Episode two of The Science of Talent focuses on the Agri-Bio subsector with Jacqueline Keena of EMILI. The Enterprise Machine Intelligence and Learning Initiative is dedicated to accelerating the adoption of the digital agriculture eco system in Manitoba and across the prairies. It was created to prepare and empower the Manitoba economy to leverage digital disruption. EMILI was founded on two strategic pillars: To provide information, and support to industry as it considers the potential of intelligent technologies such as AI and machine learning.
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Transcription – Français
Episode 1
One part science, two parts human resources
Biotech companies are committed to the business of science. It’s what we do every day. But there’s another commitment they’re engrossed in… attracting and retaining talented people. It’s an industry undergoing dramatic change with forecasts indicating the number of jobs will soon outnumber candidates by a ratio of four. So, what are Biotech leaders doing to prepare and respond to this? In episode one, host Rob Henderson, the CEO of BioTalent Canada talks with Reg Joseph, CEO of Health Cities, a not-for-profit corporation working with clinicians, innovators, philanthropic organizations, and companies to develop new models of care to drive better health outcomes. Reg shares some of his strategies to respond to the talent crunch. Guest: Reg Joseph, CEO Health Cities, Chair BioTalent Canada. Reg has 20 years’ experience spanning the health, technology and investment sectors. At HealthCities, Reg is focused on developing new pathways for healthcare delivery to drive better health outcomes and economic growth for our region. Reg has a B.Sc. in Physiology and an MBA in Finance.
