Canadian Nuclear Isotope Council and Ontario Tech TALENT Partner to Increase the Available Data on the Nuclear Isotope Industry’s Workforce Needs

[Toronto, November 8, 2023] – The Canadian Nuclear Isotope Council (CNIC) and Ontario Tech TALENT (TALENT) are pleased to announce a new partnership to gain an understanding of the workforce needs of Canada’s medical isotope industry. The partnership will involve the co-design and development of a survey to be distributed to the CNIC’s membership. This partnership is undertaken to gather skills intelligence to ensure Canada’s nuclear isotope industry has access to a diverse and job-ready workforce for all stages of the supply chain.

TALENT has a bold vision to reimagine the future of work in Canada by focusing on skills intelligence, delivering innovative workforce training, and fostering industry-wide cross-collaboration opportunities to better understand workforce dynamics.

As a coalition of science, healthcare, nuclear, and radiopharmaceutical members, the CNIC is committed to securing Canada’s position as a global leader in producing life-saving isotopes. By raising awareness and advocating for long-term policies at both the domestic and international level, the CNIC strives to support healthcare innovation and save countless lives for decades to come.

In July, the CNIC held its 2023 Leaders’ Summit, an annual event that brings together leaders from Canada’s isotope community and abroad to discuss common issues and strategic opportunities in the isotope industry. As an objective of this year’s Summit, the event focused on staffing a growth future for Canada’s medical isotope industry, and featured the launch of a new report entitled Securing Canadian Medical Isotope Talent and Expertise. The report explores the staffing needs of the Canadian isotope industry and finds that future labour shortages may be a limiting factor to growth and innovation. This new partnership with TALENT marks the second phase to the CNIC’s work to better understand the industry’s needs and how to create a thriving isotope workforce.

“We believe that collaboration is the key to unlocking the full potential of Canada’s workforce,” said Rachel Sumner, CEO at TALENT. “By working alongside the CNIC, we can gather skills intelligence that will enable us to purposefully target any skills gaps to create a diverse, job ready pipeline of talent for the nuclear isotope industry. This partnership exemplifies our ongoing commitment to shaping the future of work in Canada.”

“As demand for isotopes grows exponentially, Canada must ensure that a potential lack of labour does not stand in our way of achieving global leadership in the production, research, and development of isotopes,” said James Scongack, Chair of the CNIC. “We are excited to partner with TALENT to identify the skills and training necessary to build a strong medical isotope workforce.”

The CNIC and TALENT are excited to embark on this joint endeavor and look forward to leveraging their respective strengths to inform future training opportunities for the nuclear isotope industry.

About the Canadian Nuclear Isotope Council

The Canadian Nuclear Isotope Council (CNIC) is a coalition of science, healthcare, and nuclear-sector organizations dedicated to maintaining Canada’s position as a global leader in the production of life-saving isotopes. The CNIC raises awareness and advocates for long-term policies that support health-care innovation and will save countless lives for decades to come.

For more information about the Canadian Nuclear Isotope Council, please visit http://www.canadianisotopes.ca/

About TALENT

TALENT is committed to reimagining the future of work in Canada. Through skills intelligence, innovative workforce training, and industry-wide collaboration, TALENT aims to grow the skilled workforce and transform Canada’s regulated industries. By 2026, TALENT envisions becoming the leading skills intelligence organization in Canada, working closely with employers to shape and enhance the workforce.

To learn more about TALENT and their mission to transform the workforce, please visit https://ontariotechtalent.ca/