Grant: College and Community Innovation Program

Conestoga's Secure Digital Supply Chain initiative is an industry-driven research program focused on the digital transformation of supply chains. The supply chain sector enables the movement of more than $1 trillion of goods each year and employs close to 900,000 workers. The secure and efficient movement of goods throughout the supply chain ecosystem has a huge impact on the overall cost of goods, quality of customer service, and the productivity of Canada's businesses across all sectors. Technologies such as robotics, automation and big data analytics are revolutionizing supply chains and changing the skills required of workers. Our research team brings together experts in supply chain management, digital innovation, and cybersecurity to engage with industry partners to improve their supply chain performance. Research projects focus on companies across a range of industry sectors that aim to increase their capacity to digitize and secure their supply chain systems. At least ten strategic industry partners will each engage in a series of research projects with our multi-disciplinary team, as they integrate knowledge and apply new technologies to create secure digital supply chain solutions. A total of 37 projects will be completed. Partner firms will achieve higher efficiencies, improved productivity, and better communication and collaboration internally and across channel partners. Professional organizations such as Supply Chain Canada, Automotive Parts Manufacturing Association, and the Automotive Industry Action Group will support knowledge dissemination. SDSC researchers will develop new curriculum that integrates digital innovations into college academic programs. Conestoga will train over 171 highly qualified personnel, including 141 paid students and 30 industry professionals as the next generation of intelligent supply chain specialists.