Events & Features
Tuesday, May 7, 2013 (All day)
NEW YORK, May 6, 2013 – The Rockefeller Foundation is pleased to announce the inaugural Fellows for the 2013 Rockefeller Foundation Global Fellowship Program on Social Innovation. The Fellowship Program brings together a diverse group of 18 leaders who are committed to integrating social innovation into their work, and interested in addressing the root causes of problems affecting poor or vulnerable populations by transforming the systems we live in – political, economic, legal, educational,...
Thursday, February 21, 2013 - 17:30 - 19:00
MaRS Discovery District (Aud.)- Toronto, ON
In recent years there has been an explosion of interest in a variety of processes referred to as “labs.” Put very simply, labs are intense meetings of diverse groups of people who are searching for break-through solutions to serious problems. The SiG partnership is devoting a great deal of energy to lab processes recognizing their potential to affectpositive social change either more quickly or more effectively than isolated efforts would achieve on their own.
The development of a Social...
Wednesday, January 30, 2013 (All day)
Fort McMurray, Alberta
Social Prosperity Wood Buffalo (SPWB) is a five year community-driven partnership between stakeholders in Wood Buffalo, community leaders in Waterloo Region, the Suncor Energy Foundation and the University of Waterloo. SPWB aims to improve quality of life by building capacity in the nonprofit sector. This sector is critical to making the Wood Buffalo region strong and prosperous.
Social Prosperity is defined as one of the pillars of a thriving and sustainable community. It pertains to many of...
Tuesday, November 13, 2012 - 18:00 - 19:30
Watch Bryan's presentation at MaRS recorded for their Global Leadership Series
Helsinki Design Lab (HDL) uses strategic design to uncover the “architecture” of large-scale social challenges and develop more holistic, complete solutions for improvement.
HDL is an initiative by Sitra, The Finnish Innovation Fund, to advance strategic design as a way to re-examine, rethink and redesign the systems we’ve inherited from the past. Innovative and generous with their findings, HDL has become a highly...
Friday, November 9, 2012 - 18:30 - 21:00
Now in its tenth year, The Guelph Lecture - On Being Canadian has come to be known as a unique community event, inspiring a community conversation on what it means to be Canadian, through an evening of ideas, perspectives and cultural offerings. It is a night that also inspires individuals to think about what role our country could and should play in a changing world.
This year's keynote speaker was Henry Mintzberg, Canada's management guru, regularly called the world’s premier management...
Tuesday, September 18, 2012 - 19:00 - 21:00
Social innovation has no end point. We do not find the permanent solution to the complex problems that face society and our environment. Thus, we strive to increase our understanding of and our capacity to respond to such problems in continuously innovative ways.
Dr. Frances Westley, best-selling co-author of Getting to Maybe: How the World is Changed, share new insights into understanding complexity and transformative change, and the critical dimensions of “maybe.” presented a tthe University...
Monday, August 27, 2012 (All day)
Advancing research on social innovation continues to be a major part of SiG@Waterloo’s work. We have many ongoing projects within the University of Waterloo and with external partners, focused on both developing new theories, case studies and understandings of social innovation, and disseminating and putting into action knowledge on social change. We continue to probe the questions of where new ideas come from and how we can track their effects (particularly as social innovations) through...
Tuesday, June 19, 2012 (All day) - Friday, June 22, 2012 (All day)
How the World is Changed
A conversation with Vickie Cammack (SiG@PLAN), Tim Draimin (SiG National), Al Etmanski (SiG@PLAN), & Cheryl Rose (SiG@Waterloo)
People engaged in systems change recognize they are dealing with complex, interlocking systems which can’t be controlled but can be shifted and influenced. They look for patterns across the social, economic, and political landscape. They use their deep understanding and trusted relationships to connect innovative ideas and initiatives with...
Wednesday, May 16, 2012 (All day)
The first graduating class of the Graduate Diploma in Social Innovation wrapped up their journey with a recent celebration. To catch a glimpse into the graduating ceremonies, the thoughts of faculty and participants during this emotional moment, and what it means to have a diploma in social innovation, please read the University of Waterloo's article: Graduates Set to Change the World.
We are currently finalizing this year's cohort for the graduate diploma, and are very excited to see such...
Friday, November 25, 2011 - 15:00 - 16:00
Main Foyer, Environment 3 Building, University of Waterloo
To celebrate the new Graduate Diploma Program in Social Innovation, SiG@Waterloo will be hosting an official launch event in the new Environment 3 building, University of Waterloo.
This event is scheduled to take place on Friday, November 25, 2011 from 3-4pm with the following special guests:
Mark Weber, Director of the Graduate Diploma in Social Innovation program
André Roy, Dean, Faculty of Environment, University of Waterloo
Frances Westley, J.W. McConnell Chair in Social Innovation,...
Thursday, November 3, 2011 - 09:00 - 12:15
Federation Hall, University of Waterloo
Building on the successful launch of the School of Environment, Enterprise and Development (SEED), held in 2009, Waterloo's Faculty of Environment invites you to a provocative symposium featuring discussion by thought leaders on progress made towards global sustainability since the 1992 UN Rio Declaration.
9:00 Welcome - André Roy, Dean, Faculty of Environment
9:05 Welcome and introduction of Elizabeth Thompson, Neil Craik, Director of SEED
9:10 - 9:50 Keynote Address - The Honourable Elizabeth...
Wednesday, November 2, 2011 (All day) - Monday, February 13, 2012 (All day)
Social Innovation Generation is pleased to announce that the Inspiring Action for Social Impact Series is concentrating its next webinar events entirely on Canadian ideas in social innovation.
From November 2, we explore innovation through the eyes of our own SiG leadership team. It's rare that we focus on our own collaborative, but this gives us an opportunity to share with you the strength of this unique structure, and the great learnings that each Director has to impart. It's not so much a "...
Wednesday, November 2, 2011 (All day)
SiG Social Impact Webinar Series
A Webinar with Frances Westley
Frances Westley is an internationally-renowned social innovation academic and co-author of Getting to Maybe: How the World is Changed. She is currently J.W. McConnell Chair in Social Innovation at the University of Waterloo and co-founder of the Waterloo Institute for Social Innovation and Resilience.
During this webinar Frances frames her discussion around Social Innovation & Resilience. Resilience is, like sustainability,...
Thursday, June 9, 2011 - 19:00 - 21:00
Open Source Economics Looking for Meaning in a Throwaway World with Stephen Quilley
For two hundred years, people have experienced the flip-side of material prosperity as a loss of meaning – alienation, the loss of a sense of self-sufficiency, the feeling of being a cog in a vast machine. Stephen’s talk explored the significance of this quest for meaning – a meaningful relationship with other people, with our environment and with the products that we make, use and consume. In his talk, he...
Wednesday, June 8, 2011 - 15:30 - 18:30
A conversation bringing together people who are interested in exploring innovative approaches to working with youth
Shel Silverstein’s brilliant and well known poem, “Where the Sidewalk Ends”, speaks to knowing that there is hope in a future that looks different than today. In his poem, Silverstein describes how children know where the sidewalk ends, but beyond the sidewalk, children enter into a world of wonder, imagination, creativity, knowledge, space, possibilities and wisdom. He reminds us...
Wednesday, May 18, 2011 - 19:00 - 21:00
Fostering Platforms for Youth Led Social Innovation
with Chris Kang and Violetta Ilkiw
As part of SiG's speaker series, we hosted Violetta Ilkiw, of the Laidlaw Foundation and Chris Kang, Executive Director of Schools Without Borders. Chris and Violetta are widely respected experts in designing, implementing, and evaluating award winning approaches to education, community health and youth engagement. Chris, co-founded Schools Without Borders, an organzation that has raised over $4 million,...
Monday, May 16, 2011 (All day) - Thursday, May 19, 2011 (All day)
We are excited to share with you that Frances Westley, the J.W. McConnell Chair in Social Innovation at SiG@Waterloo, led a discussion at the 3rd Nobel Laureate Symposium on Global Sustainability in Stockholm, Sweden.
The discussions at the Symposium culminated in a memorandum signed by key Nobel Laureates. This memorandum was communicated and handed over to the High-Level Panel on Global Sustainability appointed by the UN Secretary General to reflect on and formulate a new vision for...
Tuesday, May 10, 2011 - 15:00 - 17:00
Paul Martin Centre, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo
Just show up
SiG@Waterloo will be hosting a gathering for anyone interested in discussing the role of knowledge in society. This gathering will precede CU Expo 2011 in Waterloo where community-university partnerships will be explored as a vehicle for social change.
The Knowledge Commons refers to conceptual spaces where the boundaries between diverse locations of knowledge creation, forms of knowledge and uses of knowledge are diminished. This gathering will build upon past events and discussions including...
Tuesday, May 10, 2011 (All day) - Saturday, May 14, 2011 (All day)
Wilfrid Laurier University, 75 University Avenue West, Waterloo, Ontario, N2L 3C5
CU Expo 2011 showcased the exemplars in community-university partnerships worldwide, and explored and introduced creative ways of strengthening our local communities.
Who is attending?
The conference drew over 800 people from Canada and around the world who are passionate about the power of community-university partnerships as a vehicle for social change. Students, community leaders, researchers, educators, funders, policy makers and others invested in community-building were in attendance.
Why...
Wednesday, April 20, 2011 - 19:00 - 21:00
SiG@Waterloo's Innovators in Action Speaker Series will feature applications of social innovation on various issues within complex systems - this year's series focuses on education, youth social infrastructure, vulnerable populations, social technologies, community resilience and social finance. Each of the keynote speakers will share their experiences in working to identify and address the root causes of intractable social challenges. Each presentation will be followed by a discussion with...
Wednesday, April 20, 2011 (All day) - Thursday, June 9, 2011 (All day)
SiG@Waterloo's 2011 Innovators in Action Speaker Series featured applications of social innovation on various issues within complex systems - this year's series focused on education, youth social infrastructure, vulnerable populations, social technologies, community resilience and social finance. Each of the keynote speakers shared their experiences in working to identify and address the root causes of intractable social challenges. Each presentation was followed by a discussion with local...
Wednesday, April 13, 2011 - 17:45 - 20:00
Accelerator Centre, 295 Hagey Boulevard, Waterloo, N2L 6R5, Canada
Register at: http://cwrinvestingforimpact.eventbrite.com/
Register here.
INVESTING FOR IMPACT: Mobilizing Private Capital for Public Good
Join Capacity Waterloo Region and Social Venture Partners for Investing for Impact, a conversation with Tim Jackson and Bill Young about where social finance needs to head in Canada in order to grow a social economy that bridges profit and social good. Tim and Bill are members of the Canadian Task Force on Social Finance, a group that has set out to play a catalytic role in accelerating and raising awareness of...
Monday, March 28, 2011 - 19:00 - 21:00
Optometry Building, Room OPT 347
To register email: scienceevents@uwaterloo.ca or call 519-888-4567 ext. 31083
The University of Waterloo is holding a public talk to explore Japan's earthquake and tsunami disaster.
The effects and impact of the recent Japanese earthquake and tsunami disaster will be explored by a panel of experts in a public talk at the University of Waterloo.
On March 11, an earthquake measuring 9.0 Mw on the moment magnitude scale (the newer of two common seismic scales) rocked Japan in T'hoku, the northeastern area of the country. The earthquake triggered tsunami waves up to 10...
Sunday, March 27, 2011 - 13:00 - 17:00
The Rotunda, Kitchener City Hall 200 King Street West Kitchener, Ontario N2G 4G7 Canada
A conversation bringing together people in the Waterloo Region who are interested in innovative approaches to working with youth.
Shel Silverstein’s brilliant and well known poem, “Where the Sidewalk Ends”, speaks to knowing that there is hope in a future that looks different than today. In his poem, Silverstein describes how children know where the sidewalk ends, but beyond the sidewalk, children enter into a world of wonder, imagination, creativity, knowledge, space, possibilities and wisdom...
Friday, March 11, 2011 (All day) - Wednesday, March 16, 2011 (All day)
Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
Resilience, Innovation, and Sustainability:
Navigating the Complexities of Global Change
Second International Science and Policy Conference, Tempe, Arizona, USA
March 11-16, 2011, Arizona State University
The aim of "Resilience, Innovation and Sustainability: Navigating the Complexities of Global Change'' is to advance understanding of the relationships among resilience, vulnerability, innovation and sustainability. It will do so by bringing together scientists to share their work on the...
Friday, March 4, 2011 - 12:00 - 13:00
Centre for International Governance Innovation, Seagram Room (57 Erb St. West, Waterloo)
For more information - Call: 519.885.2444 ext. 299 Or visit: policymakersshaxson.eventbrite.com
Recently policymakers have begun to recognize that Governments face ‘wicked’ challenges – complex problems without a clear ‘optimal’ solution because the issues are not well bounded and policy interventions often give rise to new (sometimes worse) problems. Recognizing these challenges is one thing, but are we equipping policymakers to deal with this increasing complexity? Using examples from her experience of working with policymakers throughout the UK Government, Louise will present a simple...
Thursday, February 17, 2011 - 12:00 - 13:30
EV1-221, Faculty of Environment, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, Ontario
The ENV Research Seminar Committee invites you to hear this week’s speaker, Dr. Mark Weber:
All groups, movements and organizations face a fundamental problem: They need cooperation but their members have incentives to free ride. Empirical research on this problem has often been discouraging, and economic models suggest that solutions are unlikely or unstable. In contrast, I will present a model and a series of studies that show that an unwaveringly consistent contributor can effectively...
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 - 14:00 - 16:00
Network science is an interdisciplinary endeavor, with methods and applications drawn from across the natural, social, and information sciences. In addition to theoretical developments, electronic databases currently provide detailed records of human communication and interaction patterns, offering novel avenues to map and explore the structure of social networks.
In this WICI event, Jukka-Petta Onnela spoke about the structure of a social network based on the cell phone communication patterns...
Sunday, January 23, 2011 (All day) - Thursday, January 27, 2011 (All day)
12849 Lagoon Road Madeira Park, British Columbia, Canada V0N 2H0
call PLAN Institute at 604-439-9566 or contact by email at inquiries@planinstitute.ca
"Watch for groups of fellow travelers with whom you can journey. Take the plunge, BE prepared to learn – to be disappointed, to be energized, to be up and down but most of all to learn – about what works for you, what engages you, what matters to you, where you feel you can make a difference." - Getting to Maybe, Dr. Frances Westley
This is a special event notice for a unique partnership between the PLAN Institute for Caring Citizenship & Social Innovation Generation (SiG).
Please join Dr....
Tuesday, November 30, 2010 (All day)
For more information, please visit the Social Finance website.
The findings of the Task Force on Social Finance were communicated with the public on November 30, 2010. The report is just the beginning of a new stage for social finance in Canada. It is anticipated that following the release of the report, there will be a number of informational and strategic workshops and working groups formed to facilitate cross-sectoral discussion and implementation of the recommendations.
At the November 30th...
Tuesday, November 23, 2010 - 19:00 - 21:00
Queen St. Commons Cafe, 43 Queen St. S., Kitchener
RSVP: general@communitybasedresearch.ca or 519-741-1318
Community Voices
Stories of Change and Innovation Through Community-Based Research
The evening included inspiring stories and discussion where we explored challenges and identified new opportunities for social action through community-based research.
Community Story Tellers:
Edwin Laryea
Debbie Wang
Alex Troeger
Facilitators:
John Lord and Tanya Darisi, from the Centre for Community Based Research
About CU Expo 2011 Roundtables
Starting in September 2010, there will be a series of Roundtable...
Tuesday, November 23, 2010 - 14:00 - 16:00
The Burgundy Room at The University Club, University of Waterloo
Please RSVP at http://wici-ellard.eventbrite.com/
In the final WICI seminar of the term, Colin Ellard will discuss connections between psychology and the design of the built environment. Ellard, is an experimental psychologist at the University of Waterloo, the director of its Research Laboratory for Immersive Virtual Environments and an international expert in the psychology of navigation.
In this talk, Ellard will describe how a scientific approach to the connection between human beings and the spaces and places they inhabit influences the...
Thursday, November 4, 2010 - 14:00 - 16:00
Tatham Centre, Room TC1112, University of Waterloo
FREE to Attend: RSVP with Eventbrite.
From DNA to Complex Cognition: How We Learn, Discover, and Create the World
Creating and discovering knowledge are the cores of our Cognitive, Social, and Economic worlds. Understanding and tapping the mechanisms underlying these abilities have been the driving force of research in my laboratory for the past 20 years. We have used a variety of methodologies, ranging from analyses of DNA polymorphisms and the changing of expression levels of DNA, to imaging brains (fMRI, MEG, NIRS), and to...
Thursday, October 28, 2010 - 17:00 - 19:00
Hub Theatre and Tannery Event Centre in the Tannery District (151 Charles St. W., Unit Number 20, Kitchener)
The NFB came to Kitchener-Waterloo to connect with you and your community
Tom Perlmutter, Head of the National Film Board (NFB), is traveling across the country to hear and share the diverse stories of Canadians. Join Tom for an intimate evening of exchange and storytelling, and discover how the NFB can be part of your community. In addition, Tom spent time with individual members of the KW community, including Dr. Frances Westley, J.W. McConnell Chair in Social Innovation, for a one-on-one...
Thursday, October 21, 2010 - 15:00 - 17:00
10 Carden Street, Guelph, Ontario
RSVP at researchshop@uoguelph.ca
Guelph Voices of Open Access
Visit the CU Expo Website for Roundtable 2
October 21st 3pm - 5pm
10 Carden Street, Guelph, Ontario
Should scholarly research should be freely accessible online to everyone?
Whether you imagine a researcher seeking to reach scholars in developing countries, a community practitioner needing up-to-date data, or a recent university graduate seeking scholarly information on a topic, it becomes easy to see how free online access to peer-reviewed scientific...
Tuesday, October 19, 2010 - 14:00 - 16:00
Location: Burgundy Room, University Club, University of Waterloo
FREE to Attend: RSVP with Eventbrite.
FREE to Attend: RSVP with Eventbrite.
Communities often face the following problem: to collectively achieve a ranking of their members according to some notion of merit using only the opinions of those members and without any pre-existing ranking. If a society wished to appoint only the most meritorious of its members to a particular set of offices --- for instance, the most trustworthy to decision-makers, the most fair to jurors, the most expert to policy-makers--- they would face an...
Thursday, October 7, 2010 - 08:30 - 16:30
Math and Computing, MC 2016, University of Waterloo
FREE to Attend: Enroll in course by contacting Catherine Mombourquette at info@wici.ca
Simulation-Based Engineering of Complex Systems
This introduction treats complex systems as interacting, concurrent processes and introduces a method, a graphical system description language, and a computer-aided design tool for analyzing them. It demonstrates the effectiveness of the approach through several illustrative examples.
The toolset used, ExtendSim with the OpEMCSS library, gives systems practitioners the ability to experiment with complex, context-sensitive interactions and...
Wednesday, October 6, 2010 - 14:00 - 16:00
Burgundy Room, University Club, University of Waterloo
FREE to Attend: RSVP by contacting Catherine Mombourquette at info@wici.ca
Simulation-Based Engineering of Complex Systems
This introduction treats complex systems as interacting, concurrent processes and introduces a method, a graphical system description language, and a computer-aided design tool for analyzing them. It demonstrates the effectiveness of the approach through several illustrative examples.
The toolset used, ExtendSim with the OpEMCSS library, gives systems practitioners the ability to experiment with complex, context-sensitive interactions and...
Monday, October 4, 2010 - 19:00 - 21:00
Skip to the audio podcast of the event
Skip to the presentation slides of the event
Social Innovation Generation was delighted to host Michael Quinn Patton, pioneer of developmental evaluation, in Waterloo Region on the evening of Monday, October 4th, 2010 for a speaking event to coincide with the release of his latest book, Developmental Evaluation: Applying Complexity Concepts to Enhance Innovation and Use (Guilford Press, 2010).
A Powerful Approach for Tracking and Adapting Innovations in...
Wednesday, September 22, 2010 - 19:00 - 21:00
75 King St South, Indoor Courtyard, Waterloo Town Square, Waterloo, Ontario
Partner This!
Research without action is _______; action without research is ______.
Visit http://www.CUExpo2011.ca
First in a series of CU Expo Roundtables...
Why should academic researchers partner with community groups?
Why would community groups want to partner with academic researchers?
At this roundtable Sean Geobey and Leigh Golden outlined their experiences with the challenges and opportunities in combining research with community-based action. The facilitated discussion following...
Wednesday, June 23, 2010 - 19:00 - 21:00
The SiG@Waterloo "Innovators in Action" Speaker Series, applied the ideas of social innovation to a number of specific sectors and issues - education, youth mentorship, inclusion, collaboration and cultural change. Each of the keynote speakers shared their experiences of operating at the national level to identify and address the root causes of intractable social challenges. Each keynote lecture was followed by a local panel discussion who shared their reflections on the presentation and...
Wednesday, June 16, 2010 - 19:00 - 21:00
Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery, 25 Caroline St North, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
The SiG@Waterloo "Innovators in Action" Speaker Series, applied the ideas of social innovation to a number of specific sectors and issues - education, youth mentorship, inclusion, collaboration and cultural change. Each of the keynote speakers shared their experiences of operating at the national level to identify and address the root causes of intractable social challenges. Each keynote lecture was followed by a local panel discussion who shared their reflections on the presentation and...
Thursday, June 10, 2010 - 12:00 - 15:00
Net Change Week is a week dedicated to exploring the intersection between social technology and social change. Hosted at the MaRS Discovery Centre in downtown Toronto, Net Change Week hosted some of the most renowned thought leaders in the field of social technology and social change that challenged, inspired and informed participants from diverse areas such as education, popular culture, childhood development and philanthropy.
In an effort to spread the ideas generated at this event in...
Wednesday, June 2, 2010 - 19:00 - 21:00
The SiG@Waterloo "Innovators in Action" Speaker Series, applied the ideas of social innovation to a number of specific sectors and issues - education, youth mentorship, inclusion, collaboration and cultural change. Each of the keynote speakers shared their experiences of operating at the national level to identify and address the root causes of intractable social challenges. Each keynote lecture was followed by a local panel discussion who shared their reflections on the presentation and...
Wednesday, June 2, 2010 - 09:00 - 16:30
SiG @Waterloo has been pleased to be part of a national collaboration with Community-Based Research Canada, the Canadian Alliance for Community Service-Learning, and Community-Campus Partnerships for Health over the last year to convene the Canadian Knowledge Commons Initiative. We are interested and supportive of emerging efforts to address such challenges and hosting spaces to have these important conversations
Visit the Knowledge Commons Networking Website
A knowledge commons refers to...
Sunday, May 30, 2010 (All day) - Tuesday, June 1, 2010 (All day)
National Summit on a People-Centred Economy
Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario
May 30 - June 1, 2010
From May 30 to June 1, 2010, the National Summit on a People-Centred Economy will be an unprecedented gathering of leaders and representatives of the community economic development, cooperative and social economy sectors to build a common agenda and mobilize action for a secure, sustainable economy that puts people and the planet first. The Summit seeks to mobilize networks and organizations...
Wednesday, May 19, 2010 - 19:00 - 21:00
The SiG@Waterloo "Innovators in Action" Speaker Series, applied the ideas of social innovation to a number of specific sectors and issues - education, youth mentorship, inclusion, collaboration and cultural change. Each of the keynote speakers shared their experiences of operating at the national level to identify and address the root causes of intractable social challenges. Each keynote lecture was followed by a local panel discussion who shared their reflections on the presentation and...
Wednesday, May 5, 2010 - 19:00 - 22:00
The SiG@Waterloo "Innovators in Action" Speaker Series, applied the ideas of social innovation to a number of specific sectors and issues - education, youth mentorship, inclusion, collaboration and cultural change. Each of the keynote speakers shared their experiences of operating at the national level to identify and address the root causes of intractable social challenges. Each keynote lecture was followed by a local panel discussion who shared their reflections on the presentation and...
Wednesday, May 5, 2010 (All day) - Wednesday, June 23, 2010 (All day)
The SiG@Waterloo 2010 "Innovators in Action" Speaker Series, applied the ideas of social innovation to a number of specific sectors and issues - education, youth mentorship, inclusion, collaboration and cultural change. Each of the keynote speakers shared their experiences of operating at the national level to identify and address the root causes of intractable social challenges. Each keynote lecture was followed by a local panel discussion who shared their reflections on the presentation and...
Monday, March 29, 2010 - 08:00 - 18:00
Whistle Bear Golf Club Cambridge, Ontario
www.venture4change.com
A Summit for People with Powerful Ideas
REGISTER TODAY!
On March 29, we’re shining the spotlight on social entrepreneurs and the creative, commercial solutions they’re building to solve some of our most pressing social and environmental problems. Venture4Change is all about rolling up your sleeves and jumping in. Come to learn, share fresh ideas, make connections with like-minded people who are passionate about social change, and play a role in developing our social economy.
Join us for the...
Monday, March 22, 2010 - 14:00 - 16:00
Tatham Centre, Room TC2218, University of Waterloo
FREE to Attend: RSVP by contacting Catherine Mombourquette at 519.888.4567, ext. 84490 or cmombour@uwaterloo.ca
Testing Institutional Arrangements via Agent-Based Modeling: A U.S. Electricity Market
The recent economic crisis has led to calls for a comprehensive restructuring of U.S. financial, energy, and health care systems. Critics worry that the restructuring of these complex systems could produce unintended consequences, resulting in lower rather than higher efficiency and reliability. Given these concerns, pre-testing of proposed changes is eminently desirable, but also exceedingly difficult. This...
Thursday, March 18, 2010 - 17:00 - 18:30
295 Hagey Blvd., 1st floor, West Entrance Research and Technology Park, University of Waterloo
http://changeagentseries.eventbrite.com/
Tal Dehtiar survived the Dragon's Den on CBC and is coming to Waterloo to share his strategies and story of building social ventures. His company, Oliberté, is the first to market premium urban-casual footwear that is exclusively made in Africa. Africa is more than just poverty and Oliberté footwear demonstrates its pride, power and liberty.
Also the co-founder of MBAs Without Borders, Tal will tell you why Oliberté is not a charity and why he believes you can create change - and help build...
Thursday, March 18, 2010 - 15:00 - 16:30
Tatham Centre, Room TC1112, University of Waterloo
FREE to Attend: RSVP by contacting Catherine Mombourquette at 519.888.4567, ext. 84490 or info@wici.ca
Managing water quality and quantity in a changing climate: A wildfire case study in the Canadian Rocky Mountains
The contemporary increase in frequency and severity of wildfires in western North America can be considered a current manifestation of climate change in North America. The Southern Rockies Watershed Project was established shortly after the 2003 Lost Creek wildfire (> 210 km2) to describe both the early magnitude, and subsequent trajectory of recovery of a broad range of watershed...
Tuesday, March 9, 2010 - 14:00 - 16:00
Tatham Centre, Room TC2218, University of Waterloo
FREE to Attend: RSVP by contacting Catherine Mombourquette at 519.888.4567, ext. 84490 or cmombour@uwaterloo.ca
Information Technology and Resilience in the Anthropocene - Can Information Technology Really Help Save the Planet?
The possible implications of abrupt climate change, "planetary boundaries" and the failure of international institutions to deal with multiple interacting global crises have gained considerable scientific and political attention over the last years. Few sustainability scientists however, have elaborated another important global trend: the explosive evolution of, and cascading...
Monday, February 22, 2010 - 14:00 - 16:00
Tatham Centre, room TC2218, University of Waterloo
FREE to Attend: RSVP by contacting Catherine Mombourquette at 519.888.4567, ext. 84490 or cmombour@uwaterloo.ca
Open Source Democracy: Can collective intelligence, mass collaboration, and large-scale problem solving using open architectures redefine democratic engagement in the 21st Century?
Mark Tovey, Michael Nielsen and Hassan Masum will join WICI in exploring the possibilities that information and communication technologies are providing for the creation of new types of political engagement, problem solving and collective decision-making. We will be exploring issues such as collective intelligence...
Wednesday, January 27, 2010 - 19:00 - 21:00
Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), 57 Erb St. West, Waterloo, Ontario
The Waterloo Lecture on Social Innovation highlights world-class thinkers with new ideas on how to achieve significant, durable social change for our most pressing problems. Social Innovation Generation (SiG@Waterloo) and our partners, Centre for International Governance Innovation, Capacity Waterloo Region, Region of Waterloo, and Musagetes, were pleased to have internationally acclaimed facilitator and author, Adam Kahane, join us on January 27, 2010, as our featured speaker.
“Power properly...
Wednesday, January 27, 2010 - 19:00 - 21:00
Free Online Live Webcast of Waterloo Lecture on Social Innovation
SiG@Waterloo is pleased to announce that we will be live webstreaming the Waterloo Lecture on Social Innovation, featuring Adam Kahane, free of charge beginning 7PM EST, January 27, 2010.
The live webcast of the Waterloo Lecture on Social Innovation has now ended.
Video Archive of Waterloo Lecture on Social Innovation 2010
Video archive of the lecture is now available here.
Read introduction to Power & Love: A Theory & Practice of Social Change
Tech Requirements for Live Webcast...
Tuesday, January 19, 2010 - 14:00 - 16:00
Tatham Centre (TC1112), University of Waterloo
RSVP by contacting Catherine Mombourquette at 519.888.4567, ext. 84490 or cmombour@uwaterloo.ca
David Robinson, Ivan Filion, and Kirsten Robinson
A major restoration project for Georgian Bay calls for re-imagining the ecosystems management strategy and its relationship to the local economy. The problem is complicated, and the solutions are contested. It is an opportunity to apply complexity theory?
Slightly smaller than Lake Ontario, and entirely within Canada's boundaries, Georgian Bay is often called the Sixth Great Lake. The human-ecosystem interaction of the region faces challenges...
Tuesday, January 12, 2010 - 19:00 - 21:00
Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery, 25 Caroline Street N, Waterloo, ON
Call us at 519-888-4545 or email nicola@alternativesjournal.ca to reserve tickets - $10
On Tuesday, January 12, three of Canada's foremost "ecollectuals" will burn up the podium with a fast-paced discussion that will challenge your eco-ideas and test your eco-vocabulary. Thomas Homer-Dixon (UW), Robert Gibson (UW) and Stephen Bocking (Trent U) will face off in an epic environmental debate.
"Ecology will be the master science of the 21st century," is Homer-Dixon's unequivocal opinion.
To which Bocking cautions, "...a science too closely integrated with power courts its own...
Wednesday, December 9, 2009 - 19:00 - 22:00
River Run Centre Guelph Ontario
Tickets are available online at www.riverrun.ca or by calling 519-763-3000 or toll free 1-877-520-2408.
This year's keynote speaker is John Ralston Saul, whose most recent book -- A Fair Country: Telling Truths about Canada -- is certain to inspire debate about what it means to be Canadian. Saul describes our federalism as a "harmony through balanced relationships" -- and links it directly to what Europeans found when they arrived in Canada, and what they adopted for themselves in so many ways. In fact, he makes the case that we must re-integrate the Aboriginal perspective into the core of how we...
Monday, December 7, 2009 - 17:00 - 18:30
Accelerator Centre, Research and Technology Park, University of Waterloo
http://capacitywaterlooregion.eventbrite.com/
Ten years ago, recent University of Waterloo grads George Roter and Parker Mitchell saw the untapped potential of young engineers to help in the fight against global poverty. They founded Engineers Without Borders (EWB) by pushing their credit limits and working from a broom closet. In 2001 they sent their first volunteer engineering student overseas. Today, EWB is a global organization with thousands of volunteers and 35,000 members.
In 2001, Time Magazine featured Roter as a member of Canada’...
Monday, December 7, 2009 - 12:00 - 13:30
TC 2218, Tatham Centre, University of Waterloo
RSVP by contacting Catherine Mombourquette at 519.888.4567, ext. 84490 or cmombour@uwaterloo.ca
One thing that we can usually count on to get better with time is technology. But is the rate of technological improvement predictable? The problem of global warming makes this a pressing question: Over the coming years we are likely to invest trillions of dollars on green energy technologies. Understanding the rate of improvement of different technologies could potentially allow us to invest more wisely, save vast sums of money, and achieve a carbon neutral world more quickly. I will compare...
Monday, November 23, 2009 - 15:00 - 16:30
Laurel Room, South Campus Hall, University of Waterloo
RSVP by contacting Catherine Mombourquette at 519.888.4567, ext. 84490 or cmombour@uwaterloo.ca
The presentation will present field-oriented experimental architecture installations including the recent Hylozoic Soil and Epithelium series, composed of densely massed flexible networks fitted with interactive kinetic components. Drawing from the interactive behaviours of these installations, discussion about implications of interactive architecture will be offered. The argument pursues mutually dependent post-humanist relationships.
Speaker Profile
Philip Beesley is an associate professor in...
Friday, November 20, 2009 (All day) - Tuesday, November 24, 2009 (All day)
Colloquium and Workshops
Introductory Workshops: Friday, Nov. 20
Colloquium: Friday, Nov. 20 and Saturday, Nov. 21
Interaction Workshop 1: Sunday, Nov. 22
SiG Seminar: Monday, Nov. 23
Interaction Workshop 2: Tuesday, Nov. 24
All events are free and open to the public
Register to secure places in limited-space workshops (see details below)
Presented by :
Arch 692, Waterloo Architecture
Social Innovation Generation (SiG), University of Waterloo
University of...
Tuesday, November 10, 2009 - 12:00 - 13:30
Laurel Room, South Campus Hall, University of Waterloo
RSVP by contacting Catherine Mombourquette at 519.888.4567, ext. 84490 or cmombour@uwaterloo.ca
Cities can be thought of as analogues to peaks on a dynamic fitness landscape. Brad Bass will discuss this concept theoretically and illustrate this idea using a geographical analysis of the U.S. Patent Database. This analysis also illustrates networked, authoritative and chaotic search strategies and sheds light on the stability of the central place structure. It could lead to a revitalization of central place theory, a theory that while was once one of the cornerstones of a geographic...
Tuesday, November 10, 2009 - 09:00 - 16:00
MaRS Discovery District, Toronto
This conference brought sectors together for a conversation about social innovation and how it can change the way we support and interact with each other in the 21st century. Social change is increasingly dependent on collaborative action, as well as ongoing experimentation. In the face of constant economic and social uncertainty, meeting the needs of Canadians requires even more creativity to address current and emerging social issues. To explore the growing impact of the community sector and...
Monday, October 26, 2009 - 15:30 - 17:00
Laurel Room, South Campus Hall, University of Waterloo
RSVP by contacting Catherine Mombourquette at 519.888.4567, ext. 84490 or cmombour@uwaterloo.ca
"Is our Concept of Moral Responsibility Newtonian?" Briefly, I argue that while we have come to appreciate that certain issues facing us today are genuinely complex, not merely complicated, we therefore need to build and mobilize interventions, whether epidemiological, architectural or economic, which are themselves sufficiently informed by complexity and thus, able to "meet" their intended objects of concern. We have not put as much time and effort into rethinking the basic concepts with which...
Tuesday, October 6, 2009 - 17:30 - 19:30
RCH 103, University of Waterloo
Fairtrade is building new business models for international trade that respond to the urgent needs of our global society. Learn how simple purchase choices by consumers help shape the global economy for a better world.
About Ben Ramsden and Pants to Poverty
Ben Ramsden launched underwear brand, Pants to Poverty in 2005 off the back of the ‘Make Poverty History’ Youth Movement, which sold 11 thousand pairs of pants in just 5 months. Ben played an integral role within this campaign. He was also...
Thursday, October 1, 2009 - 12:00 - 13:30
Burgundy Room, University Club, University of Waterloo
RSVP by contacting Catherine Mombourquette at 519.888.4567, ext. 84490 or cmombour@uwaterloo.ca
Given increasing human appropriation of land, the alterations in land-based natural capital that result, and the subsequent decline ecosystem service generation that often follows, there is an increasing need for modeling tools to understand linkages between the drivers of land-use change and their socioeconomic and ecological impacts. Recognizing the complexity inherent in coupled human-natural systems, scientists have begun to apply theories and tools from complexity science to this modeling...
Thursday, August 13, 2009 - 18:30 - 21:00
Waterloo Memorial Recreation Complex
http://crewsolar.eventbrite.com/
Out Of The Dark: A Solar Information Night will teach homeowners how they can harvest free energy from the sun. Attendees will learn about an exciting opportunity in Waterloo Region: the Solar Initiative for Distributed Energy (SIDE).
The SIDE initiative, organized by local group Community Renewable Energy Waterloo (CREW), includes a bulk purchase of solar technology options which generate domestic hot water or electricity. This bulk purchase reduces costs paid by homeowners. Installations of...
Monday, June 8, 2009 - 18:30 - 20:00
MaRS Discovery District, Toronto
Ric Young, SiG@Waterloo Fellow and President of E-Y-E The Social Projects Studio™ speaks about profound social innovation and the shock of the possible, as part of Net Change Week, hosted by our partners at SiG@MaRS.
Eric Young, President, E.Y.E. | The Social Projects Studio™
For over twenty-five years, Eric Young has been at the vanguard of social marketing, a discipline focused on the development of strategies and campaigns to promote social change. He is the founder and president of E.Y.E...
Friday, May 29, 2009 - 15:00 - 16:30
Room 2002, Environment 2, University of Waterloo main campus (near Ring Road entrance)
The Local Economic Development Program in the Faculty of Environment at the University of Waterloo, in partnership WPIRG, and supported by The Working Centre, SiG@Waterloo and REEP, is proud to present the following guest speaker:
Jane Buchan on Transition Town Culture: The next step for building Sustainable Communities
You may have heard the buzz around local food that has arisen in recent years, but what would some of the broader “localizing” changes we could be making look like? There is a...
Sunday, April 19, 2009 - 13:00 - 15:00
The Wax, 25 King Street West, Downtown Kitchener
Tickets to the lectures are $10 per person. Purchase your tickets today! http://www.webstore.thechildrensmuseum.ca/
SiG@Waterloo is proud to support the Warhol Sunday Speaker Series, part of Andy Warhol's Factory 2009 hosted at the Children's Museum.
Tom Sokolowski, Director of The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, PA will speak about 'Andy Warhol: Camouflage Man'.
For a complete listing of the Warhol Sunday Speaker Series, please click here.
Speaker Profile
Tom Sokolowski is an art historian. He received his B.A. from the University of Chicago, and earned his master's degree and did doctoral work in art...
Tuesday, April 14, 2009 - 14:00 - 16:00
University Club, University of Waterloo
For WICI to realize its considerable potential it should strive to draw upon a cadre of people who are each familiar with several quite different approaches to understanding complex systems as well as specialists who are highly accomplished in particular complex phenomena of special interest to them. Together, they can begin to relate the variety of approaches, especially across the great divides between the natural science/mathematics and the social science/history contexts of the different...
Wednesday, March 18, 2009 - 14:00 - 16:00
University Club, University of Waterloo
In this talk I explain and study the basic model of neoclassical theory of market equilibrium, which is the Arrow-Debreu model. I raise the basic question that physicists ask when confronting a new system, which is what are the symmetries? I find a simple argument that many markets will have a large number of equilibria. I also motivate a principle of gauge invariance, originally introduced into economics by Malaney and Weinstein and explain some of its consequences.
Speaker Profile
Lee Smolin...
Wednesday, February 25, 2009 - 14:00 - 16:00
University Club, University of Waterloo
This presentation explores the applicability of self-organized criticality to the study of innovation in global governance. After introducing the concept of self-organized criticality, the discussion will turn to its utility for studying social systems. Matthew Hoffmann will present both an agent-based model of the evolution of social norms and empirical illustrations of innovations in global governance drawn from work on climate change and multilateral treaty-making.
Speaker Profile
Matthew...
Tuesday, February 10, 2009 - 14:00 - 16:00
University Club, University of Waterloo
Social innovation is an initiative, product or process or program that profoundly changes the basic routines, resource and authority flows or beliefs of any social system. Successful social innovations have durability and broad impact. Achieving durability and scale is a dynamic process that requires both emergence of opportunity and deliberate agency, and a connection between the two. Frances Westley will discuss how disruptive social innovations can address seemingly intractable social...
Wednesday, January 28, 2009 - 14:00 - 16:00
University Club, University of Waterloo
Keith Hipel will discuss his experiences using graph theory and conflict analysis to talk about problems in the environment and make some links to complexity theory. The key goal of this research is to employ a Systems Engineering approach to conflict resolution to clearly identify the ubiquitous conflict taking place at the local, national and global levels between the basic values underlying trading agreements and those principles providing the foundations for environmental stewardship. The...
Tuesday, January 13, 2009 - 14:00 - 16:00
University Club, University of Waterloo
Global warming. Emergent diseases. Infoglut. International financial instability. Mega-terrorism. Are the problems we are confronting as individuals, societies, and a species becoming more difficult? If so, can we solve them? Thomas Homer-Dixon will address these questions by drawing on his research on social adaptation to complex change. He will show how and why our requirement for solutions to our complex problems is soaring, and he will explore cognitive, scientific, economic, and political...
Thursday, December 11, 2008 - 14:00 - 16:00
University Club, University of Waterloo
Complexity science is impacting healthcare across the western world. In the UK, USA and Canada, the healthcare sector is looking to complexity for insights to address the clinical, public policy, and organizational challenges of healthcare. In this session, we will look at these three domains and outline how complexity science has been applied or, at least, discussed. In each domain, we will describe how complexity science has changed behaviours, decision making, and design. And we will compare...
Wednesday, November 19, 2008 - 14:00 - 16:00
University Club, University of Waterloo
Why have most scientists come to believe that global warming is caused by human activity? Why do some politicians such as Sarah Palin resist this conclusion? Belief, change and resistance can be explained by neurocomputational models of explanatory and emotional coherence. Minds and societies are complex, multilevel systems that can be changed by intervention on feedback loops at multiple levels.
Speaker Profile
Paul Thagard is Professor of Philosophy, with cross appointment to Psychology and...
Monday, October 27, 2008 - 14:00 - 16:00
University Club, University of Waterloo
In this seminar, Stuart Kauffman, one of the founders of the field of complex systems, will explain the principles which he proposes underlie innovation and economic growth. He will illustrate these principles with real world examples from his experience in industry and the academe.
Speaker Profile
Stuart A. Kauffman is a professor at the University of Calgary with a shared appointment between biological sciences, physics, and astronomy. He is also the leader of the Institute for Biocomplexity...
Thursday, September 4, 2008 - 19:00 - 21:00
City Hall, City of Cambridge, Ontario, Canada
Hosted by SiG@Waterloo and rare Charitable Research Reserve
David Buckland, UK artist, founder of Cape Farewell and international ambassador to rare, and Frances Westley, J.W. McConnell Chair in Social Innovation, shared a conversation with the 28 global youth participants who embarked on the Cape Farewell Voyage on September 7, 2008. Frances and David focused on the topic of the need for social innovation in order to alter established social systems to effect change in areas such as the...
SiG Social Impact Webinar Series
A Webinar with Cheryl Rose
Cheryl Rose is the Director, Partnerships and Projects for SiG@Waterloo
Really effective collaborations between communities and universities are of increasing interest to organizational leaders, policy-makers, students, teachers, and researchers. They have the potential to be a crucial source of social innovation in the 21st century. SiG@Waterloo has worked with five outstanding examples of such collaborations to find out what...
Twenty years ago, almost nobody recycled. Today, tossing a bottle in a trash-can is a recipe for dirty looks and scorn. Recycling is a great example of how society’s attitudes on something can change seemingly overnight. This is what is known as social innovation. Leading the charge for social innovation at the University of Waterloo is Dr. Frances Westley, Chair of Social Innovation at the School of Environment, Enterprise & Development (SEED).
Click here to see the article done on Frances...
The 2011/2012 SiG Social Impact Series examined the latest thinking by the SiG leadership team on social innovation and its related topics. A complete list of these webinars can be found on our SiG National site by clicking here.
The last two years has seen an explosion of interest in what have been called “Labs.” Labs emerged in response to our growing need to find new processes to support people in government, civil society and the private sector as they search for break-through solutions to serious social, economic and environmental problems. They come in many different forms, but most strive to offer a place for creative, cross sector and cross-disciplinary decision-making and innovation.
The SiG group sees Labs as...
Read the official Rockefeller Foundation press release here
WISIR is pleased to be working with the Rockefeller Foundation to design and deliver the Rockefeller Foundation Global Fellowship Program in Social Innovation. This program reflects both the realities of our rapidly changing, ever more complex world and the Rockefeller Foundation's goals to deepen understanding, sculpt new ideas, and enhance relationships in order to better address social and environmental problems affecting poor and...
