Social Innovation Generation (SiG)
Social Innovation Generation (SiG) is a group who believes that serious social problems can be solved. The SiG national partnership, established in 2007, seeks to address Canada’s social and ecological challenges by creating a culture of continuous social innovation in our country. Our focus is on social innovation that has the potential for impact, durability and scale by engaging the creativity and resources of all sectors.
SiG is a collaborative partnership between The J.W. McConnell Family Foundation, the University of Waterloo, the MaRS Discovery District, and the PLAN Institute. Our ultimate goal is 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
The role of SiG@Waterloo is to lead through deep engagement in knowledge generation, dissemination and facilitation. Lead by Dr. Frances Westley, the McConnell Chair in Social Innovation at the University of Waterloo, SiG@Waterloo generates new knowledge about social innovations and the social innovation process in Canada and around the globe.
We strive to disseminate new knowledge through a wide variety of publications and learning opportunities that include 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.
Most recently, SiG@Waterloo led research on global lab processes, developed a social innovation lab process to specifically address complex problems, and will share this widely as soon as beta-testing is completed.