Last week on Laurier’s Brantford campus, the Schlegel Centre for Entrepreneurship
and Social Innovation hosted the grand opening of the Community Innovation
Hub. The hub is intended to be the “focal point for all entrepreneurship and
social innovation activities” on campus. In addition, the space is meant to act
as a location for the collaboration of students, staff, faculty and alumni
within the realm of social entrepreneurship and innovation. According to the
executive director of the Schlegel Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation
at Laurier, Joanne Benham-Rennick, the goal is to provide a space for
“trial-and-error approach in a low-risk environment” and to help those
interested in creating their own enterprise to develop the necessary skills
needed to do this.
Laurier received the AshokaU Changemaker Campus designation and Benham-Rennick
notes that the creation of a space for promoting experimental learning extends
this tradition. With the introduction of the LaunchPad program at Laurier
Brantford in 2015, there have been 48 participants within the program. In
addition, the Neighbourhood Changemaker workshop which began in 2016, and has
helped foster growth and innovation within the community. The Schlegel
Centre’s aim is to promote innovation and change at the grassroots level.
The Innovation Hub seems like a meaningful way to encourage the involvement of students and
faculty as well as community members as a whole, in the
entrepreneurial realm. Here at Laurier, there are many ‘options’ that students
can enroll in that offer the skills needed for entrepreneurship and social
innovation. For example, students can enroll in Social Entrepreneurship courses
as well as the LaunchPad program. All of these efforts are important because
they allow for students to develop skills which will foster their future
successes.
In terms of concepts discussed within our ‘Work Culture in Tech
Ecologies” course, we can think about innovation and how it is displayed here
at Laurier. In this sense, innovation is seen as going hand in hand with social
entrepreneurship. It is as if Laurier aims to create a sort of entrepreneurial
innovation ecosystem. Laurier has taken an interest in funding and fostering
development of knowledge and enterprise and the hub functions as a network of
people all with one common interest. Innovation.
I like the idea of the marriage of technology, entrepreneurship and the clout of capitalism working to solve social issues - whether new green energy, or even topics such as poverty and homelessness. How? Not sure..but those with ideas, given support in the early stages can - I think - make a big and positive impact.
ReplyDeleteDoes this post also refer to the CityStudio project launched last year involving Laurier students/staff and waterloo community members? I believe, the City of Waterloo launched a one year pilot in 2016 to partner with eager students interested in applying learnt classroom skills to the real world and help face challenges the city is currently experiencing. The CityStudio initiative actually began in Vancouver and made its way over here to Ontario. If you could comment with confirmation that would be amazing!
ReplyDeleteMy original post focused mainly on the innovation hub at the Laurier Brantford campus! However, the CityStudio program sounds like a fantastic opportunitiy for students in the Waterloo Region to practice skills in real-world scenarios much like the other opportunities mentioned!
DeleteYes! They did have many similarities so I wasn't quite sure if the Innovation Hub bloomed from the CityStudio project, or if they had established connections in some way.
ReplyDeleteI feel this is a stepping stone for Laurier as a whole. Students can gain direct access to opportunities that allow them think outside the box and this will give them a push to be more innovative and entrepreneurial. As for the school, it sets itself up to compete with other schools like University of Waterloo which also has a similar means to making students more innovative. This makes them more likely to attract future students. I feel this hub of innovation should be more developed and established for the betterment of both students and faculty.
ReplyDeleteI think it gives an opportunity for students learn and also reflect on how they are gaining knowledge about innovation and entrepreneurial practices. It is a great networking opportunity that offers students chance to dip their toes in a very interesting sector that is bound to continue growing.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great example of how the terms 'innovation' and 'economic growth' do not necessarily need to be mutually exclusive from 'ethical' and 'inclusive' growth. This is demonstrated through Laurier's commitment for supporting social entrepreneurship.
ReplyDeleteIn 2016, the Ontario Government via the Ministry of Economic Development and Growth / Innovation, Research and Science renewed it's Social Enterprise Strategy. The strategy committed to 'developing a social enterprise market' by making early-stage (risky) investments in start-up social enterprises as well as supporting the development of venture capital funds for social enterprises. The strategy also plans to embed business support dedicated for social enterprises in existing incubators (Communitech, MaRS, etc.).
Read more here: https://www.ontario.ca/page/ontarios-social-enterprise-strategy-2016-2021
I think it is great that Laurier is providing students with the opportunity to learn valuable skills in the subject of entrepreneurship and innovation. I agree that for students to learn these skills while they are in university would be extremely beneficial to their future success. It is also great that Laurier is involved in something like this as they seem to be adapting to the way things are changing, regarding how more people are beginning to take an entrepreneurial route with their careers.
ReplyDeleteAs we are well aware of, Laurier prides itself not only on our business school but the encouragement of entrepreneurship. In BU111, students are encouraged to create products or services that will succeed in the real world - and many have such as Awake Chocolate and MowGo SnowGo. These are the kinds of skills that are beneficial in the real world , if only there were even more courses that engaged and encouraged students to express their ideas. In my opinion, it is great to see that Laurier is adding more resources for their students to access, but as a student I wouldn't have known about this if it wasn't for this posting - id recommend they used some of those BBA marketing students to get the word out and inform students of resources that are available on campus. Overall, I think LaunchPad is a great idea and if I had a product or service I would want to launch I would use this resource. Thanks Bethany for making me aware of this Laurier resource! :)
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