Algonquin College wins funding to support marketable social innovation research | So Good News

Friday, October 14, 2022

The Honorable François-Philippe Champagne, Canada’s Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, announced today that Algonquin College is the recipient of a new grant from the College and Community Social Innovation Fund (CCSIF). the so-called project “Social Procurement and Entrepreneurship Development (SPEnD)”Develops, conducts and disseminates research on the potential of Canada’s college sector for social ordering and social financing, and contributes to community wealth through research and development of market-based social enterprises.

“We appreciate the college and community’s support of the Social Innovation Fund and recognition of Algonquin College’s Social Innovation Lab,” said Claude Brûlé, president and CEO of Algonquin College. “We are excited to enter into this long-term research partnership that will leverage the skills of our students and faculty and contribute to the development of a new generation of professionals with the skills needed to meet the needs of Canada’s social innovation sector.”

CCSIF supports collaborative social innovation research projects and is managed by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada in collaboration with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

The $356,863 grant, which will be distributed over three years, focuses on business and economic aspects of the four main pillars of social innovation, namely social ordering, social financing, social entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship.

“Co-applicants Jaswinder Kaur (Professor, School of Business) and Kevin Holmes (Senior Program Manager, Office of Applied Research) are to be commended for the success of this innovative social enterprise project in such a highly competitive grant competition,” said Christine Dawson. , Algonquin’s vice president of experiential learning and innovation. “This new project builds on the success of the College’s Social Innovation Lab and formalizes a growing partnership with the Business School and IBM.” he said.

IBM Canada Advanced Studies, a founding partner and long-term supporter of the Algonquin Social Innovation Lab, will invest an additional $146,100 (in cash and in-kind) to support the SPenD project. This support will focus on SPEnD’s global research on successful social enterprise models, with a particular focus on the diversity of product and service models. Using this information, SPEnD uses IBM’s proven Enterprise Design Thinking approaches and Garage Innovation model to accelerate digital transformation to create and test new concepts and launch student-led technology-enabled social enterprises in the community.

The work of the SPEnD project focuses on increasing the well-being of the community and the role of supporting institutions in building a just society that uses its wealth to drive positive social change.

For more information on research and innovation at Algonquin College, visit: https://www.algonquincollege.com/arie/

For more information on IBM Canada Advanced Studies, visit:
https://www-40.ibm.com/ibm/cas/canada/

For more information about the SPEnD project, please contact:
[email protected]