Thank You Social Innovation Generation
As Social Innovation Generation (SIG) sunsets after its 10-year run, I wanted to say thanks and express how much I’ve appreciated your resources, learning events and networks as a federal public servant in Canada.
Resources
Building shared understandings of shifting contexts, needs and opportunities is so important in what we do and SIG’s Social Innovation Primer has been a go-to resource over the years. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched and shared SIG’s “What is Social Innovation?” video. Something I’ll do again today to celebrate your impact and legacy!
SIG-curated resources for public servants here and here have helped me and others situate social innovation in the government context. In particular, the Waterloo Institute on Social Innovation and Resilience (WISIR) publications on Policy and Governance — the role of government in social innovation have been informative and helpful, and the Public Sector Policy and Strategies for Social Innovation (Moore & Westley) has shaped our team’s thinking and approach.
Other faves include those on the SIG Top 10 Resources, like the Social Innovation Lab Guide [PDF], the classic Thinking in Systems and Jamie Gamble’s Developmental Evaluation Primer.
Learning Events
Being in Ottawa, I took advantage of some of SIG’s virtual learning events, including most of the SIG-MaRS-Cisco co-created GovMaker: Public Innovation Telepresence Series. The series launched at an opportune time when a number of federal innovation labs and hubs were established following Blueprint 2020. I was participating from NRCan’s INspire at the time and continue applying lessons learned at the Office of Energy Efficiency (OEE) Social Innovation Unit. The line-up of presenters was impressive and the curated content framed engaging in-person and on-line discussions, including on topics like:
- Introduction to Social Innovation and Systems Thinking, with Dan McCarthy (SiG Waterloo) and Allyson Hewitt (Sr Fellow Social Innovation, MaRS)
- Communicating Innovation, with Stian Westlake (Director Policy and Research, Nesta, UK)
- Partnership Brokering, with Mary Pickering (VP Toronto Atmospheric Fund)
- Public Sector Innovation Teams with Phillip Colligan (Deputy Chief Executive of Nesta and Executive Director Nesta Innovation Lab, UK)
- Systemic Design with Alex Ryan (then Senior Systems Design Manager, Alberta CoLab)
Networks
I was blown away by Alex Ryan’s Alberta CoLab Story and the systemic design approach that his team was applying to build capacity for and advance policy innovation. I’m indebted to Ryan Hum and Meghan Hellstern, who mentioned some of the service design work that our team was doing to Alex, and Meghan was kind enough to introduce us via email. That initial exchange back in 2015 led to a cross-jurisdictional partnership between three levels of government to undertake a citizen-centred design project to inform and improve the experience and uptake of the City of Edmonton’s Spot the Difference residential labeling and reporting program.
That’s the power of networks. No one directed us to do it. It was bottom-up and evolved organically. Alex leveraged his networks in Alberta and I reached out to my colleagues to explore the opportunity. Together, via a few teleconferences and an on-line participatory process, we got to know each other and identified opportunities to work together that aligned with common interests and priorities. The City was gearing up its residential home energy labeling program and was using the EnerGuide label and reporting system, a federal tool that’s implemented by municipalities, provinces, and territories across the country. Bingo!
Our service design project operated via a separate, but interrelated, track along side the City’s program roll-out. Along with informing the City’s program, it provided my federal organization with an example of how collaboration and upfront policy/service R&D can inform opportunities to design, test and scale program improvements directly with citizens and stakeholders. The City was also successful in acquiring NRCan funding via a Call for Proposals process (now closed), which is supporting continued experimentation and the delivery of its residential labeling program.
I’m also grateful to SIG Fellow Jason Pearman, who opened a door for me to attend this past summer’s Social R&D gathering. It was an incredible experience. Seeing and hearing examples from other social innovation practitioners helped me make sense of what our own team was doing and what we could do with partners and stakeholders.
For example, Renuka Kher, founder of the Tipping Point Community’s T Lab, shared their R&D approach. She referred to T Lab projects as “micro-pilots” and “micro-trials” where multi-disciplinary teams obtain capability training and coaching (as necessary) in order to “research, prototype and test in partnership with our grantees and the Bay Area community at large.”
The premise is that grantees do not have the time, resources and capacity to undertake the social R&D in advance of project proposals, so it’s baked into the T Lab funding model. Funding is stage-gated as projects proceed and demonstrate progress and potential for further scaling (i.e. pay-for-performance). I thought this was really cool and got me thinking about what a Social R&D + contribution agreements model might look like for my organization in a policy and service context, learning from our experience with the NRCan-CoLab-Edmonton partnership. It’s similar to what T Lab is doing: we worked with a cross-jurisdictional team and supported the social R&D, which then informed a contribution agreement proposal that received funding to support further experimentation, delivery and results. Could we scale an approach similar to T lab?
Those are just some examples of how I’ve benefited from SIG’s resources, learning events and networks. It’s all about relationships, possibilities and actions.
Thanks for the relationships, possibilities and actions, SIG.
