As the economy moves further and further online, and e-business becomes a bigger priority for all businesses, the e-business workers of tomorrow are going to have to train somewhere.

Richard Johnston wants that somewhere to be Centennial College in Scarborough, Ont. To that end, Johnston, who is a former MPP and currently the president of Centennial, has launched the E-commerce Institute, which will offer a post-diploma one-year program in the new digital economy.

"The e-commerce program we have begun here is a landmark program with its business focus," said Johnston, addressing the crowd at the program's launch. "These students will drive our development in a world where e-business will continue to affect how we work and how we live."

This new initiative is, in part, an attempt by the college to increase the employability of its graduates, Johnston said. "Centennial College believes that e-commerce is and will continue to be a permanent part of the economic landscape."

Dianne Cunningham, Ontario Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities, was also on hand for the launch, and echoed Johnston's sentiment. "Eighty-nine per cent of college graduates have found employment six months after they graduate," she said. "The presidents of colleges often tell me that they want that figure to be even better, and that's what's happening right here in the e-commerce program."

Don Tapscott, chair of the Alliance for Converging Technologies, also spoke at the opening, praising Centennial for launching the new program. "The key to competing in this new industry is business model innovation, which is what they are teaching here," he said. "What you're seeing today is state-of-the-art for an educational institute, transforming itself for the new economy in terms of content, pedagogy and partnership programs."

Sholem Prasow, vice president, corporate business development and strategic planning at Teknion Furniture Systems Ltd., one of the sponsors of the new program, pointed out that being an e-business is more about electronic business models than having a Web page. "I didn't even know we were in the e-commerce business, but as I was sitting here, listening to the others speak, I did some calculations in my head, and about 85 per cent of our revenues come from electronic orders, so we're there and we don't even know it," he said.

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