Social Innovation Generation (SiG)
Serious social problems can be solved. The Social Innovation Generation (SiG) national partnership, established in 2007, sought to address Canada’s social and ecological challenges by creating a culture of continuous social innovation in our country. Their focus was on social innovation with the potential for impact, durability and scale by engaging the creativity and resources of all sectors.
SiG was a collaborative partnership between The J.W. McConnell Family Foundation, the University of Waterloo, the MaRS Discovery District, and the PLAN Institute. Their ultimate goal was to support whole system change through changing the broader economic, cultural and policy context in Canada to allow social innovations to flourish.
Strategic Focus of SiG@Waterloo 2007-2015
Led by Dr. Frances Westley, the McConnell Chair in Social Innovation at the University of Waterloo, SiG@Waterloo used deep engagement in knowledge generation, dissemination, and facilitation to generate new knowledge about social innovations and the social innovation process in Canada and around the globe.
Knowledge has been disseminated through a wide variety of publications and learning opportunities that included the highly successful graduate diploma in social innovation, practitioner workshops developed for social sector organizations, government departments and the Innoweave initiative in Canada, as well as the international global fellowship in social innovation.
SiG@Waterloo also led research on global lab processes and has developed a social innovation lab process to specifically address complex problems.
The Future of Social Innovation Generation
Watch this video to hear what Frances Westley had to say about Social Innovation Foundations and Futures after being inducted to the Order of Canada in 2020.
Today, the Waterloo Institute for Social Innovation and Resilience (WISIR) continues the mission to generate inter-disciplinary knowledge about social innovations and their processes.