Social Innovation Generation (SiG) is a group who believes that serious social problems can be solved. To that end, SiG and its partners help foster social innovation to achieve impact, durability and scale by engaging the creativity and resources of all sectors.

SiG seeks to address Canada’s social and ecological challenges by creating a culture of continuous social innovation. Our focus will be on social innovation that has the potential for impact, durability and scale.

In order to nurture the health, resilience and vibrancy of our linked social, economic and ecological systems SiG will work to develop a "living laboratory" of social experiments that have the potential to achieve system change and improve the well-being of Canadians.

The responsibility for addressing our social problems cannot be delegated to any one group or sector. Our aim is to search for solutions that engage the creativity and resources of all sectors. Particular attention is paid to innovations that engage vulnerable and excluded people, that encourage and benefit from the abundant natural, social and cultural diversity of Canada and its rich heritage of innovation.

We see SiG as its own living laboratory where we can experiment with a different way of telling a story, learning new practices for tipping or changing systems, and the creation of new possibilities for building resilience.

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.

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Social Innovation Generation Expert Directory

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Executive Director, Social Innovation Generation (SiG) National

Social Innovation and Finance

Social Enterprise

Social Finance

Cooperatives and Economic Development

Social Entrepreneurship

Private Capital for the Public Good

Public Policy Development

Community Revitalization

Enterprise Development

Ethical Investing

Director, SiG@MaRS and Director, Social Entrepreneurship

Social Innovation

Nonprofit Management

Fundraising

Community Development

Corporate Social Responsibility

Stakeholder Engagement

President and CEO – The J.W. McConnell Family Foundation

Non-Profit and Leadership

Social Innovation and Resilience

JW McConnell Chair in Social Innovation, University of Waterloo

Sustainable Development

Engagement and Social Change

Funding Social Innovation

Building Partnerships for Social Innovation

Senior Fellow (SiG National)

Philanthropy

Non-Profit Management

Sustainability

Grant Writing

Leadership in Non-Profit Organizations

President and Co-Founder – Planned Lifetime Advocacy Network (PLAN)

Human Rights

Director, Partnerships and Projects for SiG@Waterloo

Entrepreneurship and Community Development

Leadership for Social Innovation

Enhancing Individual and Organizational Resilience

Creating Effective Networks

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Tim Draimin

Allyson Hewitt

Stephen Huddart

Dr. Frances Westley

Tim Brodhead

Al Etmanski

Cheryl Rose