David Goodwin

Retired faculty

photo of Dave Goodwin
David Goodwin holds a Ph.D. in English from University of Toronto (1986).  His academic achievements include his tenure as a Izaak Walton Killam Postdoctoral Fellow, Fellow of Trinity College (U of T), and President of the Canadian Society for the Study of Rhetoric. His areas of research include the history and theory of rhetoric, visual design and communication, Arts-based innovation strategies, and research entrepreneurship as it relates to technology.

Professor Goodwin conducted over $2,500,000 in funded research for StatCan, iSchool, TorStar, RIM (BlackBerry), Christie Digital, RBC, DataTel, and the City of Waterloo, as well as being a co-investigator on a major SSHRC grant (Management, Business, and Finance), Canada Foundation for Innovation - Leaders Opportunity Fund grants, and the Ontario Innovation Trust, in projects that involved over 260 undergraduate students, artists, and professionals over nine years.  He was a co-founder of REAP (Research Entrepreneurs Accelerating Prosperity), an off-campus, open innovation lab – in partnership with Christie Digital and Quarry Integrated Communications – that encouraged and supported student entrepreneurship.

Recent Work

David Goodwin and Jill Tomasson Goodwin.Persist, Pivot, or Punt: The Role of Prototyping in Teams Involved in a Commercial Arts-Led Innovation Program, in Prototyping across the Disciplines: Designing Better Futures.  Edited by Jennifer Roberts-Smith, Stan Ruecker and Milena Radzikowska (Bristol, UK: Intellect Books, 2021), pp. 140-164.

REAP (2011-2016). A 5-year, fully-funded project involving Christie Digital, Quarry Integrated Communications, and CCAT (REAP research initiative), focusing on interactive display technologies and applications, and committed to commercializing Arts-based research.

The MicroTile Interactivity and Responsiveness Project. Canada Foundation for Innovation Grant and Leaders Opportunity Fund. (2010-2015). Government infrastructure grants to purchase advanced technologies to support research into new forms of interactive display environments and applications.

Seeding a Lead:  An Innovative Approach to Commercializing a Canadian Digital Technology in the Theatre Industry (2008-2012).  A 4-year SSHRC research project investigating how a new Canadian display technology might extend both artistic and business opportunities within the Canadian theatre industry.