Fuelling Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Higher Education

The J.W. McConnell Family Foundation

The J.W. McConnell Family Foundation engages Canadians in building a more innovative, inclusive, sustainable, and resilient society. The Foundation’s purpose is to enhance Canada’s ability to address complex social, environmental and economic challenges.

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A Radical View of Social Innovation?

Changing the system dynamics at the roots of social and ecological

problems

A social innovation is any initiative, product, process, program or design that challenges and, over time, changes, the defining routines, resource and authority flows or beliefs of the broader social system in which it is introduced. Successful social innovations have durability, scale and transformative impact. (Westley, 2010)

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Source: Westley and Antadze, 2010. After Westall, A. (2007) How can innovation in social enterprise be understood, encouraged and enabled? A social enterprise think piece for the Office of the Third Sector. Cabinet Office, Office of The Third Sector, UK, November.

http://www.eura.org/pdf/westall_news.pdf

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What is the purpose of RECODE?

- To offer college and university students the opportunity to

participate in social innovation and entrepreneurship, and in doing so

help their institutions become catalysts for social change, at the

local and national levels.

The Social Eight

Social Innovation

Social Labs

Social Finance

Social Technology

Social Entrepreneurship

Social Education

Social Purpose Media

Social Space

AGENCY

What power do individuals and groups have to catalyze systemic change?

Exploring New Possibilities

• Introduce disturbances to precipitate a release phase.

• question the broad strategic context) in order to understand reason for decisions,

• frame these for front line where innovation continues to occur,

• recognize innovations of interest to policy makers and

• sell these up to the decision makers

• Sensemaking activities such as branding mapping, surveying, sharing narratives and vision building

• Invoking new knowledge values & paradigms

• Identity and relational change• Non-directed/emergent convening

activities: open door town hall meetings, new connections between previously separate groups.

• Directed/designed convening activities: future search, scenario planning, whole systems engagement

Deliberate and strategic marshalling of connections and resources to support a winning idea set.• Building broad commitment

through storytelling & marketing • Leveraging polictical support for

policy change

• Entrepreneurial proposal of novel paradigms, solutions and ideas

• Brokering partnerships• Building umbrella strategies to link

competing knowledge and solutions

• Deal making between parties to achieve consensus or link novel ideas

• Finding capital for new ideas• Shedding ideas “without legs” Questioning/Disrupting

the Context

Convening/Framing/Sensemaking

Identifying/Brokering

Selling

Roles of a Systems Entrepreneur through Phases of Change

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(Westley, 2013)

Network or group levelA change in conversation A change in routine A change in resource commitment or influence

Institutional level

A change in culture A change in laws A change in resource distribution/availability

Organizational level

A change in strategies A change in procedures A change in resource distribution/availability

Individual level

A change of heart A change of habits A change of ambition

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Systemic Impact = Institutional Change

1) Formal governance: regulations and laws2) Informal governance and stakeholder rules3) Knowledge, practices and routines4) Cultural norms and discourse5) Distribution of power, authority 6) Distribution and control of resources

At what scale? Towards what values and paradigms?What’s the relationship between different dimensions?Where to engage?

A Collaborative Approach

For RECODE, working collaboratively is the process AND the solution to

addressing our complex, interconnected, and multi-

dimensional challenges

www.re-code.ca

@LetsRECODE #LetsRECODE