Canadian innovation has a blind spot: Workers

We studied 400 “Future of Work” initiatives from around the world. Here’s the takeaway for Canada. (This is a condensed version of the article. A longer version with more detailed descriptions of the companies profiled can be found here.)

While the Canadian technology scene is hot, and the government is pouring money into superclusters and venture capital funds, very little of this is showing up for workers. As work changes to become less about traditional full-time jobs and more about freelance, temporary and gig work, we need innovative solutions now more than ever.

At Social Capital Partners, we started a search almost two years ago for Canada’s best innovations that will help people adjust to changing work conditions. We came up almost entirely empty. So, we started looking elsewhere and partnered with the Royal Society of the Arts in the UK on the Future Work Awards — a massive search for the world’s best worker-focused innovations. We profiled over 400 initiatives and a global committee of judges chose 34 winners at a recent event in London, UK.

None of the 34 were Canadian. Only a few made the first cut.

And that’s not because there’s no need. Of the winners, I think there are at least 12 that would solve problems in Canada right now. I’ve listed them here. From better gig platforms to modern unions and to better credit ratings, they are similar in their commitment to making work better.

And this is the tip of the iceberg — so many of the 400 initiatives we looked at were solving challenges that Canada faces. Others have also done great work: MIT has recently had two challenges: Solve and the Inclusive Innovation Challenge and Jobs for the Future recently announced 7 finalists for their $1B wage gain challenge.

The great news is that very little investment would be required to either bring these to Canada, or provide incentives for Canadians to build our own versions of them. As Canada launches the $225M+ Future Skills Centre, and as the “future of work” discussion heats up, there’s no need to start from scratch.

On to my list:

Bob Emploi (France) — AI-powered career coaching. A creative partnership between a civic-oriented tech non-profit and the government of France has resulted in a very successful on-line coaching tool for unemployed French workers.

Catalyte and Pursuit (United States) — Low barrier high-tech training. With different approaches, both provide blue-collar workers with intensive high-tech training and a clear path to employment with no or deferred tuition.

Credly (United States) — Digital credentialing.  Credly is one of the leading companies in the nascent digital credentialing space, which validates skills from alternative sources like on-the-job training.

Organise (UK), WorkIt (USA) and Independent Workers of Great Britain (IWGB) (UK) — Next generation unions. With the decline of traditional unions, it has become harder for workers to organize and fight for better conditions. This is even more so the case for non-traditional workers. These three organizations are changing that. 

Portify (UK) — Better credit scoring. Portify uses actual banking data and user behaviour information to give a more complete picture of the creditworthiness of freelancers and gig workers, who don't score well on the antiquated credit rating system used by most lenders.

SMart (EU) — Freelancer support. SMart provides wrap-around services to creative freelancers, like debt collection, insurance and a workspace. 

WeMind (France) — Insurance and support renting an apartment. One of the least talked about challenges for people in non-traditional employment is how hard it is to rent an apartment. WeMind provides insurance for freelancers that guarantees the landlord that rent will be paid (among many other things). 

Hogaru (Latin America),  Up&Go and Alia (United States) — Fairer gig platforms. All three companies provide a much better deal for domestic cleaners using a technology platform.

Initiatives like these aren’t just going to pop up in Canada on their own. Despite all of them showing traction and success, many still struggle for funding. Only four of the 12 have received venture funding (Hogaru, Catalyte, Portify and Credly), as many are targeting markets in which people can’t afford to pay very much, or they have a limited path to scale. These aren’t exactly the “Uber of Dry Cleaning!” type of investments that quicken the heart of venture capitalists. Instead, they are often ideas generated from the communities they serve, prioritizing the community’s needs over profits.

A relatively small worker-focused investment fund and the active support of governments would go a long way in this space. The people behind these companies are committed, mission-oriented leaders and if we can find creative ways to fund them, their initiatives could help thousands of Canadians. To date, the government’s support for innovation has been very “founder” focused: how do we support underrepresented entrepreneurs? While this is great, we should also be “client” focused — which underrepresented Canadians are not being served by the innovation economy today? Why? How could a different approach to funding or other kinds of support help change this?

My suggestion? Let’s figure out how to get these 12 over here and go from there.