On 12-13 October 2022, 125 stakeholders from higher education, the social sector, the municipal sector, national policy, and community nonprofits met at McMaster University for a series of catalyst roundtables, deliberative dialogues, and concertation workshops. The purpose was to determine zones of agreement and explore key actions for the purpose of creating alignment on policies and practices that leverage impact-first training and knowledge mobilization to build capacity for innovation in the social and municipal sectors. The results were shared in the form of a Consensus Report.
Building on this emerging consensus, over the last couple of years with the support o our team at The/La Collaborative, the Canadian Forum for Social Innovation collected a wealth of additional evidence (focus groups, sense-making, literature review, surveys, inventories) to articulate the challenge.
With the support of valued partners, the guidance of its advisory committee, and the stewardship of McMaster University’s Social Innovation and Action Lab, the Canadian Forum for Social Innovation is now gearing up for the third phase of the project: a national dialogue that will leverage prospective co-design and backcasting methodologies to generate a Roadmap for Canada’s Innovation Ecosystem. Four workshops will take place in April and May 2024 in Toronto, Ottawa, Montréal and Calgary, and the exercise will culminate with the second edition of the Canadian Forum for Social Innovation in Montréal on 11-12 June 2024.
