The Landscape of Social Innovation in Canadian Universities: An Empirical Analysis

Abstract

There has been global growth in the number of social innovation initiatives launched in the university sector over the last decade. These initiatives aim to address complex social problems and to promote institutional change. This surge is occurring without a well-developed empirical knowledge base. This article provides a comprehensive description and analysis of the landscape of social innovation initiatives in the Canadian university sector. Findings show that nearly half of Canada’s 96 universities are associated with at least one initiative; many are interdisciplinary and emphasize collaborative problem-solving with sectors outside the university; and government agencies and charitable foundations are the most common funding sources. Findings suggest there is room for growth and for linking and clustering initiatives. The article concludes with directions for future research.
 RÉSUMÉLa dernière décennie a été marquée par une croissance mondiale du nombre d’initiatives d’innovation sociale lancées dans le secteur universitaire. Ces initiatives visent à résoudre des problèmes sociaux complexes et à induire des changements institutionnels et systémiques. Cette poussée de l’activité d’innovation sociale se produit sans une base de connaissances empiriques bien développée. Nous y contribuons en fournissant une description et une analyse complètes de toutes les initiatives d’innovation sociale auxquelles participe le secteur universitaire canadien, de leurs caractéristiques et du paysage qu’elles constituent. Résultats notables: près de la moitié des 96 universités canadiennes sont associées à au moins une initiative; de nombreuses initiatives sont interdisciplinaires et mettent l’accent sur la résolution de problèmes en collaboration avec des secteurs extérieurs à l’université; Les agences gouvernementales et les fondations caritatives sont les sources de financement les plus courantes. Les résultats suggèrent: il existe un potentiel de croissance de l’innovation sociale dans le secteur; il y a moins de liens internes et de regroupement d’initiatives que ne le recommande la théorie de l’innovation; l’accent mis sur la collaboration extérieure rejoint la «troisième mission» des universités, qui existe depuis longtemps, mais les innovateurs sociaux ont des objectifs, des méthodes et des processus distincts pour mener à bien cette mission. Nous concluons avec les orientations pour les recherches futures.
 Keywords / Mots clés: Universities; Higher education; Social innovation; Community engagement; Service mission; Social change; Canada / Universités; Établissements d’enseignement supérieur; Innovation sociale; Engagement communautaire; Mission de service; Changement social; Canada

Social Innovations in Educational Sciences: Analysis of Current Research and Policy Documents

“…Social innovation in higher education usually results from collective action and cooperation with institutional institutions (Kumari et al, 2019). The above mentioned demonstrates the importance of understanding the ways in which higher education institutions can ameliorate their networking capacity to foster shared social innovation (Kumari et al, 2019;Milley, Szijarto, Bennett, 2020).…”

“…Research suggests that the promotion of social innovation in higher education requires the development of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary cooperation while using innovative methods that help to engage and strengthen cooperation between higher education institutions and social actors (Milley, Szijarto, Bennett, 2020;Kumari et al, 2019;Benneword, Cunha, 2015).…”

Transformational spaces: educators discuss map the system and supporting Canada’s emerging generation of systems thinkers

“…Post-secondaries as social innovation hubs. While social innovation has been a subject of academic study for decades, even a century (Godin, 2012; Ayob et al , 2016; Edwards-Schachter and Wallace, 2017), its deliberate uptake into the academy as a program of teaching has been relatively recent and comparably fast (Milley et al , 2020; Hirst et al , 2020; Pitt-Catsouphes and Cosner Berzin, 2015)…”

“…Several studies exist, focused on cases in Finland (Lyytinen, 2011), Italy (Tardivo et al , 2017), Brasil (Almeida et al , 2012), among others, and in depth studies are rare. Yet, the Canadian Federal Government’s Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council has a periodic funding opportunity for colleges explicitly around social innovation (Milley et al , 2020), although traditional academic research and knowledge mobilization (i.e. peer reviewed papers, conference papers) are frequently not required or prioritized, biasing these projects in favour of community impact, not academic studies.…”

“…As places to address “Grand challenges”, Benneworth and Cunha suggest a nonlinear process model: idea generation; the creation of experimental space; building a demonstrator; expanding; building and mobilizing a collation; and codifying the resultant new social processes (2015; Juliani et al , 2016). This framing seems to have gained traction in both the global north and south (Milley et al , 2020; Thomas and Pugh, 2020; Juliani et al , 2016).…”