Seaspan Shipyards Collaborates With BC Tech To Grow Diverse Tech Talent Pool In British Columbia

Dec 1, 2021 - 4 years ago

Seaspan Shipyards (Seaspan) has announced a collaboration with BC Tech to support the Association’s Digital Lift program. The new program provides skilled individuals including those from under-represented groups with reskilling and hands-on internship experiences.

Seaspan’s three-year $75,000 investment in BC Tech’s Digital Lift program will help grow and diversify the pool of tech talent in BC to meet the rising demand for technology skills across multiple sectors, including the marine industry. Advanced digital technologies and systems are a rapidly growing part of modern shipbuilding and ship repair/overhaul and are driving the need for more tech talent in the marine space.

The internships aim to help Indigenous people, women, rural youth, and mid-career transitioning workers gain real-world experience through a four-month paid, virtual internship at major technology and technology-enabled companies in the province.

The investment is part of Seaspan’s Value Proposition commitments under Canada’s National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS). The NSS is successfully re-establishing a robust domestic shipbuilding and marine industrial sector in BC and across Canada.

“BC Tech’s innovative, industry-led Digital Lift program is driven by the purpose and enthusiasm of our consortium partners, like Seaspan Shipyards,” said Jill Tipping, President & CEO, BC Tech Association. “We are thrilled to see that they are determined, as we are, to build a more diverse and inclusive tech sector by welcoming talent from under-represented groups into our industry with impactful programs.”

“Advanced digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, 3D visualization, and digital twinning are revolutionizing how we build and maintain ships,” said Dave Hargreaves, Vice President, Strategy and Business Development, Seaspan Shipyards. “Seaspan Shipyards is pleased to participate in the Digital Lift program, which will help develop tech talent that we will need in the future as the marine industry continues its exciting digital transformation,” he continued.

Quick Facts

Seaspan has invested more than $24 million to support education, learning, research, and skills development and is focused on reducing barriers for underrepresented groups, bringing a broad range of new talent into the industry and the trades, including more women and Indigenous people, and creating opportunities for youth through internships and apprenticeships.
The National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS) objectives are to develop a sustainable, competitive marine industry and to renew the federal fleet with ships built in Canada by Canadians.
Seaspan has become a major economic and job creation engine for BC while contributing more than $1.5 billion to Canada’s GDP and directing more than $1 billion in NSS-related contracts to more than 670 suppliers from coast to coast. (Source: Deloitte Socioeconomic Impact Study, February 2020).
BC Tech’s innovative industry-led Digital Lift program brings together a consortium of corporations and tech talent solution providers to provide reskilling and hands-on internship experience and expand BC’s tech talent pool. Digital Lift partners provide in-depth knowledge and expertise of BC’s in-demand tech roles and skills gaps across the marine, construction, mining, forestry, space, and healthcare industries as well as at some of the largest global players in the tech sector.

Source: Seaspan