Vanguard Magazine

www.vanguardcanada.com OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2019 31 AEROSPACE Here are the Six Key Priorities for Prosperity as identified in Our Report: 1. Increase our support for the world's most skilled workforce Our ongoing success rests on the strength of our highly educated, well-trained work- force. Aerospace's share of science, tech- nology, engineering and math (STEM) workers is two times the national manufac- turing average. Women hold nearly a quar- ter of all STEM-related aerospace jobs in Canada. But a massive labour crunch is looming. It is estimated that 50,000 new workers will be required to replace those retiring, and the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) and other technologies is reinvent- ing the world of work. Employees need to be supported in retraining and up-skilling programs and industry needs to bring new workers into the fold, including those from traditionally underutilized pools, in- cluding women and Indigenous people. Working together, industry and govern- ment can: • Create a national system to coordinate co-op placements and coordinate a large-scale recruiting campaign to attract students and new workers to aerospace; • Incentivize experienced workers to stay on the job; • Fast-track and adapt immigration for skilled aerospace workers; • Create national training facilities and centres of excellence equipped with the most current technologies. 2. Ensure small and medium-sized aero- space businesses thrive and grow Canada's aerospace industry is an ecosys- tem of large, national and global OEMs and more than 500 small businesses. Small firms need help to grow. Governments at all levels can help accelerate small busi- ness growth by being strategic in their procurement strategies and easing the burden on small and medium-sized firms who struggle to win government and de- fence contracts. The system is complex and stacked against them and one-size-fits-all approaches don't work. Ensuring contractors are paid in full, on time, every time, needs to be a priority, and having the Office of Small and Me- dium Enterprises (OSME) at the table as decisions are made will help ensure gov- ernment policies and programs recognize the unique characteristics of small firms. Building the capacity of smaller compa- nies will create highly skilled, well-paying jobs and allow bigger players to pursue ambitious agendas of R&D, manufactur- ing and global sales. Working together, industry and govern- ment can: • Establish a federal scale-up program for small aerospace businesses; • Provide funding to help aerospace SMEs pursue digital transformation; • Make government procurement SME- friendly with value propositions and ven- dor management systems; • Allow SMEs to compete for government procurement where appropriate and have government unbundle procure- ment so SMEs can compete; • Utilize OSME as a representative throughout government. 3. Use innovation to capture new oppor- tunities, including carbon-neutral flight and unmanned vehicles The global aerospace market is projected to grow at a rate of 4.7 per cent a year for the next 20 years; Commercial aircraft production by 25 per cent in the next 10 years. Worldwide defence spending could top US$2 trillion by 2022. At the same time, new modes of aerial transportation (including a wide range of unmanned aerial vehicles) are emerging. We have the opportunity to leverage our position and increase our economic and ancillary benefits. And while the industry leads the coun- try's manufacturing sector in innova- tion-related investment at more than $1.4 billion on average per year, aero- space investments in R&D are declining. The latest data shows R&D investments in Canada have declined by 23 per cent since 2014. On global greenhouse gas (GHG) emis- sions, developments in robotics, digital technologies, simulation, artificial intel- ligence and advanced materials can all contribute to carbon-neutral flight and be spun off for use by other industries. Indus- try needs strong, clear direction from gov- ernment to plan for the investments that will enable this kind of innovation. Working together, industry and govern- ment can: • Accelerate specific investments in car- bon-neutral aerospace, advanced manu- facturing and MRO development and commercialization; • Contribute to the development of au- tonomous or semi-autonomous personal vehicles/aircraft; • Use Canadian IP to Canada's advantage; • Expand and enhance the work of CAR- IC and GARDN; Employees need to be supported in retraining and up-skilling programs and industry needs to bring new workers into the fold, including those from traditionally underutilized pools, including women and Indigenous people.

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