The Science of Talent by BioTalent Canada

Commercializing the Academic Research – and Managing Substantial Growth

Applied Pharmaceutical Innovation (API) was launched to solve a big challenge. Commercialization within the life sciences. There’s a general lack of understanding of the technical and scientific capacity needed for a life sciences company to commercialize in Canada. API sought to fix that. Part incubator, part R&D, API helps companies scale up here in Canada where they would normally have to invest tens of millions of dollars just to build out their infrastructure. And the model is working, ...

Attitude is More Important Than Technical Skills

Bishop Water Technologies is rapidly growing in Canada. Dedicated to the development of easy-to-use, low energy solutions for solids management, it’s a team that has worked for two decades to develop and optimize affordable technologies. So it may be surprising to hear CEO Kevin Bossy say technical skills have to take a back seat compared to attitude. But he firmly believes it. This attitude has helped Bishop Water grow ten-fold over the last 15 years. It’s heart and desire that help find the ne...

Disruption to Make the World Better

The entrepreneurial mindset was introduced early to Ronen Benin by his parents. They had moved to Canada with degrees that weren’t recognized. So they taught him, if you’re going to build something, make sure you are always build something for yourself too. He never forgot that. Today Ronen is the founder and CEO of a number of companies now such as Glissner which created the World’s first clinical-grade phone sanitizer. It uses UV light to kill all viruses and bacteria on any phone in a couple ...

The Surging Growth of Life Sciences in BC

Life Sciences BC CEO Wendy Hurlburt remembers the surge started with a spirit of collaboration just as COVID was beginning to impact the world. Then came the talent crunch that forced many members in BC to find creative ways to keep their operations open. The Metro-Vancouver bio economy has some 1,300 organizations which collectively employ about 16,000 people. Three quarters of those companies have fewer than 20 full-time staff with the largest sub sector being bio-health (50%). The bigger comp...

Forward-Thinking. Forward-Acting. BIOVECTRA

PEI has become somewhat of a Mecca for the Bio Tech industry in Canada. And the biggest one is BIOVECTRA. It’s a company adding new team members seemingly every day having blossomed to over 600 in both PEI and Nova Scotia (and most of that growth during a global pandemic). For two consecutive years the company has been named one of Canada’s Top 100 Employers demonstrating high performance in areas like training and skills development, financial benefits, employee engagement, and health and famil...

Brunel Shares its Recruitment and Diversity Strategies

If your job involves recruitment of talent, you know the name Brunel. In this episode Angelina Brathwaite, a Senior Client Partner with global network Brunel, shares what their offices are seeing when it comes to recruitment of talent in the life sciences. Is it better to have niche skills right now or a higher education? Are employees being realistic with salary expectations? What are the soft skills employers are looking for that can make an employee stand out? At the same time, companies need...

The Powerful Benefits of Diversity

Anessa is a software company specializing in biogas projects including anaerobic digestions. It’s headquartered in New Brunswick. They’re actively trying to recruit from the biogas side but in Atlantic Canada that’s a challenge. One thing Anessa did right away was adopt the principles of diversity and inclusion into their recruitment practices. Co-found Amir Akbari says there was a noticeable impact when it came to working with international markets – Anessa was able to understand client culture...

The Science of Talent Podcast Trailer

Clean Slate UV’s Approach to Solving Two Staffing Issues – Attraction + Diversification

One of the founders of Clean Slate UV is a self-professed “Germaphobe.” It’s that kind of awareness that led to a company that created patented UV technology and intelligent software to solve, among other problems: Smartphones are the third hand we never wash! Clean Slate leverages the power of UV-C light to inactivate some of the most resilient bacteria and viruses without damaging devices. It’s good science that has attracted clients ranging from world-class facilities, to hospitals, to five-s...

Scientific (and Talent) Discoveries at Applied Biological Materials Inc.

There’s a song by Drake that goes “Started from the bottom – now we’re here.” That could be Ryan Saranchuk’s career theme song at Applied Biological Materials. In this episode Ryan shares ABM’s approach to recruiting and retaining talent for the successful company. And he’s a poster board for the potential within the company having started as a co-op student and now serving as company COO. As the company grows, it’s look for HR talent to help not only with recruitment and retention but performan...

Growing the Digital Ag Eco-System AND Leaving No One Behind

Episode two of The Science of Talent focuses on the Agri-Bio subsector with Jacqueline Keena of EMILI. The Enterprise Machine Intelligence and Learning Initiative is dedicated to accelerating the adoption of the digital agriculture eco system in Manitoba and across the prairies. It was created to prepare and empower the Manitoba economy to leverage digital disruption. EMILI was founded on two strategic pillars: To provide information and support to industry as it considers the potential of intel...

Biotechnology – One Part Science, Two Parts Human Resources

Bio Tech companies are committed to the business of science. It’s what we do every day. But there’s another commitment they’re engrossed in… attracting and retaining talented people. It’s an industry undergoing dramatic change with forecasts indicating the number of jobs will soon outnumber candidates by a ratio of four. So, what are Biotech leaders doing to prepare and respond to this? In episode one, host Rob Henderson, the CEO of BioTalent Canada talks with Reg Joseph, CEO of Health Cities, a...