About the Forum
Mission and Scope
A joint venture of the Canadian Science Policy Centre and The/La Collaborative, the Canadian Forum for Social Innovation aims to bolster talent and knowledge mobilisation and build capacity for innovation and social systems change. The Forum convenes cross-sectoral dialogues that benefit from the input of social sector organisation leaders, social Innovation practitioners, decision- and policy-makers, research and higher education policy stakeholders and social and human sciences researchers. Participants engage around deliberative dialogue workshops to create alignment on education, policies and practices and deliver concerted action plans.
This year’s gathering of the Canadian Forum for Social Innovation is the culmination of a national dialogue that started in October 2022. It builds on the results presented in the Consensus Report of the inaugural meeting, as well as input we have received and will continue to receive through a number of co-creative workshops over the next few months with leaders and stakeholders across sectors.
Over the next few months, the Canadian Forum for Social Innovation and the McMaster’s Social Innovation Ideas and Action Lab will be joining forces with key partners Social Innovation Canada, le Conseil de l’innovation du Québec and the University of Calgary to facilitate a series of deliberative workshops in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Calgary. The aim of the workshops is to leverage stakeholder input to define a path forward for Canada’s innovation strategy.
On 11 and 12 June 2024 in Montreal, Forum guests will participate in an immersive backcasting exercises aiming at creating a roadmap for Canada’s innovation ecosystem with the aim to formulate an agenda for Canada 2040 that revolves around collective action to increase talent and expertise for the social impact ecosystem and techno-social transitions.
Key Strategy and Policy Issues:
- Capacity for innovation in the social sector
- Campus-community relationships and the challenges of knowledge mobilization across the innovation ecosystem
- Needs around evidence-based policy for innovation and the research support system
- Contributions of Indigenous knowledge and decolonial approaches in an inclusive and diverse social innovation ecosystem
- The role of science advice and social innovation at all levels of government
– The Right Honourable David Johnston 28th Governor General of CanadaCANADA faces significant social, environmental and financial challenges. Such challenges – for example, poverty and homelessness, youth unemployment, demographic change and the marginalization of certain populations – require creative thinking and collaboration due to their complex, multi-layered nature. They call for social innovations that explore new approaches to building resilience, fostering inclusions and enhancing sustainability.