The Newfoundland Workforce Innovation Centre is fostering future skills and driving better labor market outcomes through research and a thriving digital community of practice.
The Newfoundland Workforce Innovation Centre (NLWIC) was established in 2017 by the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador with a mandate to engage in research that addresses major challenges and opportunities related to workforce development.
Magnet collaborated with the NLWIC to launch a digital community of practice to host research project findings and deliverables, facilitate dialogue and knowledge exchange among stakeholders, and drive the adoption of best practices to support better labour market outcomes.
Magnet previously provided the digital infrastructure for the Future Skills Centre Community of Practice (FSC CoP), a pan-Canadian collaboration platform for skills development practitioners, educators, employers, labour groups, and policymakers across the workforce development ecosystem.
The FSC CoP offers a variety of tools to help users understand labour market-related trends and adopt effective practices in the areas of skill development, training, and recruitment. This existing infrastructure provided the basis of a sub-community for stakeholders in Newfoundland and Labrador to connect, share resources, engage in discussions, and access innovative models of workforce development produced through NLWIC’s research activities.
Users in this community also have access to the broader FSC CoP community, where they can engage in discussions and knowledge exchange with researchers, policy-makers, program leaders, industry experts, and other experts from across Canada.
Canada’s workforce development activities are developed and delivered by a complex ecosystem of thousands of organizations. Ensuring that these organizations are connected to research activities and can engage in discussions with their peers helps to drive informed, innovative, evidence-based policy and activity across the ecosystem.
The NLWIC community of practice builds on previous efforts to connect workforce development stakeholders through a digital community, providing a channel to drive the adoption of regionally specific best practices.