On November 24, MaRS is launching its new Work & Learning cluster, which will be dedicated to helping high-impact startups disrupting how people acquire data, and how they put it to use.
Krista Jones, the cluster lead of education technology at MaRS, said that MaRS created the cluster because the intersection of education and employment is already happening, with LinkedIn buying Lynda.com, Hootsuite University, and startups like Clearfit and Axonify as examples.
“Corporate training has always been part of both education and employment, but has now been diffused and become a very vital part of the solution to many of the existing workplace challenges,” said Jones. “The need for education to change to accommodate the needs of this technology-enabled world we live in is mirrored by the need in the workplace.”
The cluster will address the challenges of modern workplaces, which often requires workers to constantly revise their skills, while employers are trying to retain top talent. Startups working with the cluster will gain industry-specific advice, connections to customers, media, and investors and have access to stakeholders through MaRS’ business events.
To celebrate the launch, MaRS is hosting a two-part panel event featuring startups like Kira Talent, Desire2Learn, and Plum.
“We are bringing the innovators and entrepreneurs, millennials, companies, and institutions together to co-create and come up with creative ways of equipping workers and students with the skill sets and knowledge required for the workplace of the future,” said Jones. “Since we work alongside the other clusters at MaRS who are enabling leading edge technological innovation, we have a front row seat on how workers, skillsets, jobs, and the workplace are changing in realtime.”