About the Project

The Productivity Project builds on more than a decade of research, policy development, and cross-sector collaboration focused on a central question: how can Canada better develop, recognize, mobilize, and renew human capital?

The project’s roots trace back to 2012, when a national team of researchers began examining how to improve the outcomes and value of postsecondary education. This work produced a wide range of studies on the relationship between higher education, employers, communities, and the systems that shape learning, work, and opportunity.

That research agenda evolved into a broader effort to bridge the legacy silos in Canada’s human capital ecosystem. In 2019, with partners including Calgary Economic Development, the City of Calgary, Calgary Arts Development, and Mount Royal University, we launched the LearningCITY Collective. LearningCITY became a cross-sector forum for researchers, employers, educators, community leaders, and policy partners committed to strengthening how people learn, adapt, and contribute in a changing economy.

Since then, the mandate has expanded through policy reports, academic studies, and applied frameworks on skills development, open learning, workforce adaptation, recognition systems, and human capital mobilization.

In 2024, amid growing concern about Canada’s lagging productivity, the Productivity Project was established as a multi-year research and policy initiative, supported by the Alberta Centre for Labour Market Research, Mount Royal University, the Canada West Foundation, and the LearningCITY Collective.

Its focus is straightforward: productivity is not only a matter of capital investment, technology, or business conditions. It is also a human capital challenge. Canada’s long-term prosperity depends on whether people can develop, apply, demonstrate, and renew their capabilities as work, technology, and economic conditions change.

The Productivity Project is now expanding as a national research and policy platform, with growing partnerships that include the Alberta Chambers of Commerce and Canada’s Productivity Initiative, led by the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy.

Since its launch, the Project has published twenty policy reports and accompanying briefs across four research series, translating evidence into practical insights for policymakers, employers, education leaders, researchers, and community partners.