Last week, University of Toronto President Melanie Woodin introduced the University’s Meet the Moment Presidential Commitments, calling on the University community to prepare future-ready graduates, advance responsible artificial intelligence at scale, and mobilize knowledge for social and economic impact. Framing this as ‘a consequential moment for Canada,’ she challenged the University to help shape what comes next at home and around the world. While travelling from Jeddah to Riyadh after participating in the Saudi Arabia–Canada Investment Forum during Prime Minister Mark Carney’s historic visit to the Kingdom, I found myself reflecting on those commitments through the lens of the Forum’s Workforce Development and Future Skills Collaboration Roundtable.
Sean Kennedy, President of Niagara College, Her Excellency Amal Yahya Almoalimi, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to Canada, and Dr Elisabeth Rees-Johnstone at the Saudi Arabia-Canada Investment Forum
When Every Sector Conversation Comes Back to People
Prime Minister Carney described Canada and Saudi Arabia as complementary economies with shared ambitions to expand trade, attract investment and diversify their economies. Those ambitions framed discussions on artificial intelligence, mining, energy, investment and economic growth, yet regardless of the sector, the conversation consistently returned to a more fundamental question: who develops the human capability required to realize these ambitions? AI quickly became a discussion about organizational adoption, mining became a discussion about developing geologists, engineers and specialized technical talent, and investment became a discussion about leadership, workforce capability and institutional capacity. Economic opportunity, it became clear, is rarely constrained by ideas alone; it is constrained by the capability to implement them.
The Honourable Anita Anand, Minister of Foreign Affairs; The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Finance; Prime Minister Mark Carney; and H.E. Fahad Al Saif, Minister of Investment of Saudi Arabia, at the Saudi Arabia–Canada Investment Forum, Jeddah, July 9, 2026.
This observation reinforced a pattern I have been watching throughout more than two decades working in workforce development across finance, transportation, technology and professional services. Organizations rarely struggle because knowledge is unavailable. More often, they struggle because evidence is difficult to locate, difficult to interpret within operational contexts and, perhaps most importantly, difficult to implement consistently over time. My work therefore became less about designing training and increasingly about helping organizations adopt new practices, strengthen leadership and create the conditions through which learning could improve performance.
Working within one of the world’s leading research universities has provided the complementary perspective. Universities excel at generating discovery, advancing evidence and deepening our understanding of learning, leadership and organizational change. Yet the defining challenge facing higher education is increasingly not knowledge production alone but knowledge mobilization. In an era in which artificial intelligence has dramatically expanded access to information and research continues to grow at an unprecedented pace, knowledge itself is no longer the primary constraint. The more important question is how knowledge becomes professional practice and, ultimately, capability.
Capability is more than knowledge or technical skill. It is the ability to apply knowledge with judgement, adapt to changing circumstances, collaborate across disciplines, solve problems in context and continuously improve practice. Workforce development, viewed through this lens, is no longer simply about preparing people for work. It is about continuously developing the capability of individuals, organizations and institutions throughout working life.
The discussions in Saudi Arabia reinforced another important observation. We continue to describe workforce development as though education develops knowledge and industry consumes it. That conception reflected the needs of a post-war industrial economy characterized by stable occupations and predictable career pathways. Today’s knowledge economy functions differently. Learning occurs continuously, professional practice evolves rapidly and capability is developed through the interaction of research, work and experience.
Universities, Industry, and a Shared Ecosystem
Listening to Canadian business leaders describe decades of partnership in Saudi Arabia, it became apparent that Canadian industry has become one of the country’s largest learning environments. Business leaders spoke not simply about projects or investment, but about mentoring professionals, developing technical expertise, transferring knowledge, strengthening leadership, supporting work-integrated learning and deliberately building local capability. These activities were presented not as ancillary responsibilities but as essential elements of successful partnerships that strengthen organizations, sectors and national capacity.
Dr. Elisabeth Rees-Johnstone and Sean Kennedy, President of Niagara College, in discussion at the Saudi Arabia-Canada Investment Forum
Seen in this light, universities and industry are not performing separate functions; they are making complementary contributions to the same workforce development ecosystem. Industry develops capability through professional practice, mentorship and continuous improvement. Universities contribute through research, learning science, evaluation, implementation knowledge and professional learning. Governments create the policy and investment conditions that enable both. Workforce development increasingly depends upon strengthening the connections between these systems rather than expecting any one institution to carry the responsibility alone.
President Woodin’s emphasis on mobilizing knowledge for social and economic impact feels less like an institutional aspiration than a reflection of the changing role of universities themselves. Universities will always generate knowledge. Increasingly, however, they will also be judged by how effectively that knowledge informs professional practice, strengthens institutions and contributes to economic and social prosperity. As Canada deepens its international partnerships and competes in an increasingly knowledge-intensive economy, our comparative advantage will depend not simply on the discoveries we make but on how effectively we mobilize them into capability. If universities are serious about mobilizing knowledge for social and economic impact, then we must think differently about where learning occurs. It occurs in classrooms and laboratories, but it also occurs in hospitals, mines, technology firms, schools, transportation systems and public institutions. The future of workforce development will depend less on strengthening one part of that system than on strengthening the connections between them.
Dr. Elisabeth Rees-Johnstone is Executive Director of the Office of Continuing & Professional Learning | InnovED at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), University of Toronto.
Further Reading:
Prime Minister Carney deepens partnership with Saudi Arabia across trade, education, technology, and critical minerals
Meet the Moment: University of Toronto’s Presidential Commitments
