OTTAWA, ONTARIO -- In celebration of its 40th anniversary, Kinaxis® (TSX:KXS), a global leader in end-to-end supply chain orchestration, announced a $40,000 academic award to help students looking to pursue careers in supply chain. Kinaxis is strengthening its partnerships with Texas Christian University, University of Toronto and Carleton University to provide each institution with a portion of the award to go towards helping students currently enrolled in supply chain, AI or computer science programs to shape the future of supply chains.

The Kinaxis academic award comes at a time when the need for supply chain talent is growing. As validated by a recent IDC survey sponsored by Kinaxis, over 32% of global supply chain leaders stating the ability to attract and retain top talent with the right skills is a top concern for business continuity.

“As supply chains increase in scale and complexity, cultivating the next generation of leaders becomes essential,” said Gelu Ticala, chief technology officer at Kinaxis. “Celebrating our 40th anniversary by investing in these future innovators perfectly aligns with our legacy of making supply chains more innovative, reliable, and sustainable and I couldn’t be more excited to award them in time for the next school year.”

From building one of the first in-memory material requirements planning (MRP) engine in the 1980s which cut MRP run times from days to minutes, to adopting a SaaS model years before its peers, Kinaxis has been at the forefront of every major technological innovation within the supply chain industry for the past four decades.

Kinaxis recognizes the critical role that higher education plays in exposing students to the field, through its guest lectures, case study competitions, certifications and the Kinaxis Supply Chain Game, a live simulation demonstrating the complexities and challenges planners face. The Kinaxis Academic Program, which has reached over 12,000 students since its inception in 2020, is designed to help ensure the next generation has the ideas and skills necessary to propel the modern supply chain forward.