A Business Plan for Innovative Work-integrated Learning in Biotechnology
The Coronavirus pandemic was unprecedented and shocking to the whole world, forcing people to remain home in order to ensure their safety. As a result, many lost their jobs or/and found it difficult to find employment, specifically non essential workers, college and university students. Fortunately, Mads Kaern got in touch with the BioGenie program in order to procure coop students with placements for the summer. Thus, the uOttawa BioGenie program was created. The program is currently funded through BioTalent Canada, however it is slightly more complicated than that! Actually, the work study program pays 75% of the first $6000 of salary disperse, as well as 4% vacation pay and unemployment pay, until the end of the work term. Subsequently, they are reimbursed by BioTalent Canada whose source of funding is the federal government. For the next summer term, we are seeking the same support.
To understand the opportunity in the market for the uOttawa BioGenie program, it’s crucial for any reader to understand the importance of Canada’s bioeconomy, as well as what students are actually looking for in a job. On one hand, Canada is a good place to be a “leading force in the global economy” and must “continue to build on its competitive advantage”. In order to reach those goals, it is important “create new companies” and programs that “gain public awareness” and “attract investment to Canada’s bioeconomy”. The uOttawa BioGenie program seeks specifically to accomplish the former and the latter. On the other hand, other than people and culture fit, millennials are mainly looking for an employment opportunity in which they can expect growth and a career potential. Thus, the program helps students obtain job-readiness skills which allow students to attract future employers more easily.