Posts Tagged ‘Community Development’

Graduation of Social Intrapreneur Fellows

Saturday, March 11th, 2017

The School for Social Entrepreneurs Ontario (SSE-O) in collaboration with the League of Intrapreneurs Canada (of which we are proudly a co-founder) co-designed the Social  Intrapreneurs Fellowship to provide social intrapreneurs with the tools, network, and confidence to make social change at their workplaces in government, non-profits, and companies. 

Last month, the 2016-2017 cohort of Social Intrapreneur Fellows completed their fellowships. To celebrate this great accomplishment as these fellows embark on a new adventure SSE-O is organizing “Fellow-bration”, a celebration of the graduates 6-9 pm on Tuesday March 28th at the Centre for Social Innovation Annex.

You can register here.

The gathering will be an opportunity to learn more about the League of Intrapreneurs Canada’s ambitious plans for the future, and find out how you can get involved.

League of Canadian Intrapreneurs – An Update

Monday, February 20th, 2017

In September of 2015 we reported on our participation in founding the League of Intrapreneurs Canada (LOI). It’s time to report on the progress since then. One of the observations was that intrapreneurs were feeling isolated and frustrated. As a first measure to address this issue founding members of the LOI (such as the School of Social Entrepreneurs-Ontario and OCAD’s Resilience Design Lab) hosted gatherings of intrapreneurs. The purpose was to strengthen network links and show intrapreneurs that they were not alone and that many are facing similar challenges.

The next step was to start thinking about supporting intrapreneurs, particularly in the public sector, by providing adequate training and tools. While the School of Entrepreneurs (SSE-O)  is focusing on the training aspect, we are collaborating with the Resilience Design Lab (R-Lab) on developing and testing tools, including processes for visualizing complex data for decision support, and methods for influencing organizational behaviour. We’ll be reporting in future blogs on some of those tools and methods.

OCAD’s Yogya Team Competing in Hult $1M Prize

Thursday, April 9th, 2015

The Yogya team of students of the Strategic Foresight & Innovation (SFI) program at OCAD University is still competing to reach the finals of the $1Million Hult Prize. They are determined to help bring Early Childhood Education to 10 Million children in urban slums. Yogya means worthy as in “every child is worthy”. The team has engaged in the Hult on-line challenge and have put their project up for crowdfunding on Indiegogo. They need this seed money to prototype their solution and field test it. Now it’s a race against time. If they reach their goals in number of funders and in amount funded, they will get into the finals of the Hult Prize competition. Indeed, it is a project worthy of support. Please contribute what you can!

TRIEC Connector Program – Pilot

Monday, January 26th, 2015

TRIEC, the Toronto Regional Immigrants Employment Council, is launching an interesting new program called Connector. The program creates networking opportunities for skilled internationally trained professionals, and their established GTA counterparts. The idea behind the program is simple enough: business needs talent; talent needs opportunities. Connect offers to provide such opportunities through the network effect. We are thrilled to join the Advisory Board of this interesting project.  Its first meeting will be held on Thursday January 29, 9-11 AM at the offices of TRIEC in Toronto.

xClinic Stakeholder Meeting

Tuesday, November 18th, 2014

On Wednesday November 19th we are convening a meeting of all stakeholders in xClinic+, an evolution of the original xClinic concept integrating more clearly the cultural change agenda of the project. Since the original charette (collaborative design) of 2010 the ideas underlying the project have evolved and the spectrum of interested persons has broadened. In addition a team of graduate students of the Strategic Foresight & Innovation program at OCAD University has explored various models for sustainable operations of xClinic. They will be presenting their findings at the meeting, which is being hosted by the Strategic Innovation Lab (sLab). If you are interested in joining the project you are welcome to attend the meeting. Attendance is free but seating is limited so you have to register on Evenbrite.

Copenhagen Studio Summit 2014

Saturday, September 13th, 2014

Leveraging the 7th Art of Management & Organization Conference 2014 at the Copenhagen Business School (CBS), Stefan Meisiek from the CBS and Moura Quwayle from the Sauder Business School at University of British Columbia organized a “Studio Summit” with a limited number of participants (25-30) to explore the state of the art in using the studio method for education and how the envelope could be further pushed.

The 3-day conference was very rich in exchanges and learning so no blog can really do it justice. However, it might be useful to inform about some of the insights gained through the perspective of this one participant.

The first insight was that the studio method is being used in a very broad spectrum of variations and interpretations. There were examples of almost every medium from performing arts to film making to creation of art objects and strong interaction between learners and learning facilitators. What surprised many participants is the discovery that the use of the studio method is more widely spread in business and engineering education than previously expected. This included for example several programs at Harvard’s School of Engineering & Applied Science (SEAS), a film making approach to teaching leadership theories and emotional intelligence from Sacramento State University and an interesting use of art object creation for business students from ESCP Europe (École Supérieure de Commerce à Paris) France.

Second, there are may emerging developments and a strong appetite for developing the method further, which may indicate the increasing need that educational institutions face to “scale up” their programs that use the studio method. This need is also observed in corporations, governments and NGOs mostly stemming from the drive to innovate in order to maintain competitiveness. One of the outcomes of the Studio Summit is the creation of a LinkedIn group to host the network connections resulting from the summit.

Several interesting models for the studio model were developed during the summit and will be highlighted in a number of places. We’ll only mention here the so-called “Chair” model (later also dubbed the “divan” model), which was the result of a break-out group led by Richard Blythe, Dean of the School of Architecture and Design at RMIT with Daved Barry (Copenhagen Business School), Hakan Ozcelik (Sacremento State), Sylvain Bureau (ESCP Europe), Jaclyn Wilson (ESADE Business School) and Nabil Harfoush (OCAD University). A special blog will be dedicated to that model soon.

 

Studio Summit at Copenhagen Business School

Sunday, August 31st, 2014

As part of the 7th Art of Management and Organization Conference 2014 of the Copenhagen Business School (CBS), Stefan Meisiek of CBS and Moura Quayle of University of British Columbia organized a summit dedicated to the studio teaching/learning method.

Stefan had started the Studio at CBS three years ago, and it has grown to become a space for education and industry interaction over time. The summit is meant to connect likeminded individuals, exchange experiences, and lift studio work to the next level, beyond the formulaic.

The first day was dedicated to exploring the various studio practices of the participants and understanding the current state of studio education and the use of the studio method in general. The format was that of a World Café with a synthesis in Plenum. It was encouraging to discover how may business schools were experimenting seriously with variations of the studio method.

On the second day we explored in 5 breakout groups how to push the envelope of the studio method, particularly into domains other than architecture, art or design. Some interesting frameworks emerged, which will be presented in a blog soon, so stay tuned.

On the last day the agenda is to synthesize the gained insights and findings and chart the next steps for this new community. It goes without saying that intense networking and peer learning is happening constantly even late night after a long day. It is what makes these small focused gatherings (25-30 people) such refreshing and learning intensive events.

International Certificate Course: Urban Food Challenge

Thursday, June 5th, 2014

Citizen Centred Innovation: International Certificate Course
Toronto – Barcelona
September 14 – 26, 2014


Complex social, environmental and business challenges need new thinking and new connections to come up with new solutions. Our rapidly urbanizing world faces evolving demands and threats. How can we prepare for a changed future?

We have partnered with Strategic Innovation Lab at OCAD U (Toronto) and Bau Design College (Barcelona) to deliver an exciting learning opportunity. Join other decision makers, influencers and passionate implementers who are building their skills to take on some of the biggest issues their cities are facing. This unique program brings international participants together for deep exploration in a two week immersion experience. The creative hubs of Toronto and Barcelona are emerging as global leaders in urban innovation and serve as the perfect backdrop for experimentation. One week in each city brings a diverse perspective to the challenges at hand.

You will receive intensive training in a range of disciplines including human factors, design thinking, system mapping, sustainable business models, and co-creation techniques and methods.

More importantly, you will apply your learning to find creative solutions to a complex problem: this time we will be focused on food waste in urban centres. In addition to lectures and hands-on practice, the program includes daily field explorations of food-related aspects in each city, including visits to innovative social food enterprises such as Not Far From The Tree, The Stop Community Food Centre, and a private Jane’s Walk in Toronto; participating in a Tapas Lab; going on a Hidden City Tour of Barcelona (unique guided tour through the old town led by homeless guides); and engaging with organic farmers to understand the inter-dependencies and trade-offs in the complex urban food system.

Download the course brochure with detailed program information by clicking here.

To register in the course:
https://citizen-centric.eventbrite.ca

For further inquiries:
T: +1 905 707 8956
F: +1 416 703 3885

Strategic Foresight for North-East Paris

Monday, November 25th, 2013

The town of Aulnay-sous-Bois in the north-eastern suburb of Paris, France, has signed a 3-year partnership agreement with l’École des Ponts ParisTech one of the most prestigious and selective French “Grandes Écoles”. The partnership, which extends until 2016, aims at defining the “territorial development” of the town and helping the town articulate its Master  Plan 2030.

The first phase of the project includes a survey of the Aulnay territory, its interactions with adjacent communities, and identifying the sectors or topics that should be given special attention in the planning activities. It also includes a review of other jurisdictions that faced similar challenges as Aulnay and have responded with innovative solutions.

As part of the project activities, the Department of Town, Environment & Transportation of the School is teaming up with the Paris- Est D-School to organize a series of workshops for elected town officials, town staff and graduate students to jointly work on some of the topics. We have been invited by the Paris-Est D-School to organize a 2-day workshop with their audience this December to introduce our own approach to strategic foresight and  planning, which is somewhat different from the rich and well established practice of foresight in France.

Looking forward to brush up on our French, interact with our French colleagues and learn from practicing in a different environment.

Toronto’s Lab Movement – An Opportunity for Collective Impact

Friday, November 1st, 2013

On November 6th OCAD University’s Strategic Innovation Lab (sLab) will be hosting the next meeting of Lab Practitioners in the series organized by MaRS SiG. The speaker for this meeting is Hal Hamilton, who will be sharing lessons learned from his decade of work with the Sustainable Food Lab.

The series has been successful in achieving a number of important objectives: It raised awareness about individual labs and their work; it highlighted lessons learned from the various practices in labs, and last but not least, it continued strengthening the links between the various members thus helping the emergence of stronger and more resilient community.

As the community matures, there is a sense emerging that the community is seeking something beyond the networking and learning about other labs. In conversations with a few of the regular participants, I sensed that a new need is emerging, a need to tackle something bigger, beyond the capabilities of the single labs. This reminded me of the collective impact approach described in a paper of Stanford Social Innovation Review. Could we find together one big challenge that we all apply our experimentation and our multidisciplinary collaboration capabilities to address? Or has the movement not matured that far yet and needs more time to get to that point? It’s definitely worth a deep conversation at the next gathering.