TORONTO, ON, Aug 19, 2025 – We are excited to announce our collaboration with the Business + Higher Education Roundtable (BHER) to tackle one of Canada’s most pressing workforce challenges: the soft skills gap.
BHER is the only organization that brings together leaders from Canada’s top companies and post-secondary institutions to tackle the country’s biggest skills, talent, innovation, and productivity challenges. This partnership will bring together Knockri’s AI-powered assessments and BHER’s extensive network of work-integrated learning (WIL) programs to help early-career professionals strengthen the human skills that employers value most, and boost productivity across Canada’s evolving economy.
This collaboration is part of a broader group of 16 workforce innovation projects supported by DIGITAL, one of Canada’s five Global Innovation Clusters. Backed by funding from the federal government through Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED), DIGITAL is investing $15 million to advance Canadian talent development. More than 3,000 participants are expected to benefit, with a strong emphasis on equity-deserving communities and high-growth sectors such as clean energy, cybersecurity, healthcare, aquaculture, and manufacturing, industries that are rapidly evolving through digital transformation.
The Challenge: Skills Mismatch + Productivity Drag
Canadian employers have been clear: while technical expertise matters, non-technical skills like communication, adaptability, decision-making, and collaboration often make the difference between a good hire and a great one.
The gap in these skills isn’t just a hiring issue, it’s a productivity challenge. Teams with strong soft skills innovate faster, adapt better to change, and create more value for their organizations. Bridging this gap means equipping young professionals with the abilities to contribute meaningfully from their first day on the job.
Through the Knockri and BHER collaboration, early-career professionals will complete an AI-powered baseline soft skills assessment before entering WIL programs. Using Knockri’s proprietary scoring algorithm, the platform evaluates participants against the competencies needed to succeed in real-world roles. Based on these results, each learner receives a personalized development plan, which they can then apply and refine during their WIL experiences within BHER’s network of over 10,000 employers and 200 post-secondary institutions nationwide.
Embedding AI directly into the WIL process is an innovative way to accelerate skill development and workforce readiness. “The human skills that employers value most are also the hardest to teach in classrooms and to assess in real time,” said BHER CEO Val Walker. “WIL allows students to develop these skills through hands-on experience while AI-powered assessments provide personalized feedback, which helps both students and employers. BHER is excited to be piloting AI assessments in WIL. Our goal is to build a workforce that’s ready to contribute from day one.”
For Knockri, the project underscores AI’s potential to address one of Canada’s most persistent workforce challenges. “Closing the soft skills gap isn’t just about making graduates more employable. It’s about enabling them to drive real productivity gains for the organizations they join,” shared Knockri CEO Jahanzaib Ansari. “By providing fair, data-driven, and scalable assessments, we’re ensuring every learner gets the personalized roadmap they need to succeed, no matter where they start.”
As Canada navigates rapid shifts in industries from clean energy to cybersecurity, the demand for adaptable, well-rounded professionals is only growing. Our collaboration with BHER is one step toward ensuring the next generation is ready to meet that demand, and to help close Canada’s soft skills gap.
Want to see how AI can strengthen soft skills and boost productivity in your organization? Book a demo with us today.