David Ticoll

David Ticoll is a Distinguished Fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy.  

In 1994, Ticoll founded Digital 4Sight, Canada’s first global think tank on the digital economy. There, he led and published evidence-based research that predicted the structure and economics of the then-future platform economy. As an independent researcher and Globe and Mail columnist during the 2000s, he proposed a policy strategy for a globally competitive technology sector and workforce, focusing on advanced and hybrid technology skill-based innovation. Then, as executive director of the Canadian Coalition for Tomorrow’s ICT Skills, he actioned this framework with the creation of Business Technology Management, a hybrid post-secondary program adopted by universities and colleges across Canada in both official languages. Ticoll has also been a long time advocate for innovation in Canada’s labour market information system. He currently pursues this work as chair of the National Stakeholder Advisory Panel of the Labour Market Information Council. In that capacity, he served as a member of the federally mandated Future Skills Council. His 2020 report, Skilling Canadians for Leadership in the AI Economy, was the first to use high frequency labour market data to produce a skills-based strategy for economy-wide AI adoption.  

Updated July 2023