Association for British Columbia Marine Industries print

7 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 10, ISSUE 4 In addition to the aforementioned partners that ABCMI works with are others who bring value- added workforce development and training activities to the industrial marine industry in Western Canada. One is LearnSphere, a company based in New Brunswick specializing in supplier development and supply chain training that Ruben and his team use to provide online learning. Another is Oceans Network Canada (ONC) an ocean sensing and observing facility hosted and aligned with the University of Victoria, and managed and operated by the ONC Society, a not-for-profit established in 2007. ONC delivers ocean data from its cabled, mobile, and community-based observing networks that represent an essential component of Canada’s ocean observing science capacity. Furthermore, ABCMI has developed partnerships with the University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, the British Columbia Institute of Technology, and Camosun College for vocational and apprenticeship programming, industry- focused training, and post-secondary education. “These and other partners are working to help our companies acquire training and education that they will need for their employees to grow and sustain a highly skilled workforce that meets the needs of today and tomorrow, “ Rueben says. The attraction and retention of professionals to the industrial marine industry are and will remain a paramount goal for the association. Rueben also wants to further increase his work with the governments – both federal and provincial entities – to support industry growth and opportunities. Another initiative is to support innovation and industry knowledge and adaptation in the use of new technologies.. This includes looking at ways alternative fuels, artificial intelligence, and Big Data where it can support the industry. There are many ways for employers to become more efficient in their operations using such technologies, Rueben says, and he wants the ABCMI to be a resource that helps them realize the possibilities. “ And we want to help our members stay abreast of advances in the digitalization of the supply chain and how they can prepare for them.”