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UCalgary's SI Ecosystem

Navigate programs, services, courses, and events to advance your social innovation.

Social Innovation Collaborative

The SI Collaborative is an inclusive group of people across UCalgary faculties, centres, hubs, and institutes that convene and formally engage regularly as an ecosystem that supports social innovation. 

With the purpose to identify strengths, understand gaps, and address common challenges, the collaborative fosters a culture of awareness and collaboration to advance social innovation-based work by connecting individuals to appropriate touchpoints within our ecosystem to drive positive change.

Leads across UCalgary faculties, centres, hubs, and institutes are welcome to join.

Join the SI Collaborative

Programs, Services & Courses

Social Innovation Initiative

Translate Research to Action. A coaching service that explores the multiple paths for knowledge mobilization, including social venture creation, co-creation with community, and more.

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Knowledge to Impact

Connecting researchers and community to build collaborative partnerships that create knowledge with impact.

Key areas of support include partnership matchmaking, knowledge mobilization planning, and capacity building.

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Social Innovation Hub

Connecting changemakers with community-led programming, cross sectoral networks, coaching, mentorship, and access capital to help launch or scale social innovation.

Services provided include social entrepreneurship development programs, grant navigation, social enterprise development and more.

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Hunter Hub for Entrepreneurial Thinking

A hub for activities that support entrepreneurial student experiences, enable faculty to lead in innovation and expand a growing community of entrepreneurial and innovative thinkers.

Map the System 2024
Join a global movement committed to systems change.

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W21C - SPARK

SPARK Calgary is a one-year program supporting evidence-based digital health innovations within UCalgary and other local academic institutions. Social impact is a key driver of SPARK, aiming to bridge science and clinical practice to ensure that important ideas and discoveries make into practice to benefit patients.

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Trico Foundation Social Entrepreneurship Centre

Creating a flourishing social entrepreneurship ecosystem, the Trico Foundation Social Entrepreneurship Centre provides experiential learning opportunities to students, community engagement, and an annual conference that celebrates Canadian social enterprises and social entrepreneurs.

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Werklund School of Education

Collaborative Creativity for Social Innovation and Strategic Design is a transformative four-course, online graduate program in education for those looking to develop collaborative cultures of creativity in their workplaces, classrooms, and across connected networks.

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The Hive - Faculty of Nursing

UCalgary Nursing Health Systems Transformation Initiative empowers innovators and change agents to enhance health and health-care delivery.

The HIVE engages academic colleagues, community, and industry partners to co-create innovative solutions through transdiciplinary collaboration.

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Global Community Challenge YYC

Organizations must demonstrate the ability to pivot and respond to issues as they arise in order to continue serving their target communities. The University of Calgary has engaged students and provided them with the opportunity to identify potential solutions to challenges faced by local organizations in the Calgary community that have an impact globally.

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Fellowships & Funding

Parex Resources Innovation Fellowships

Parex Resources Innovation Fellowships provide researchers and students resources to focus on how their expertise will positively impact society and solve some of the world's most complex challenges.

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Mitacs - Social Innovation

Organizations of all types can create positive social and environmental outcomes. Whether you are working for a community-based not-for-profit organization or trying to create change from within a multinational company it is important that you minimize harm and create meaningful impact. 

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UCeed Social Impact Fund

UCeed invests in social enterprises that are working to solve pressing social and human problems with innovative and tested solutions. This could include, but not limited to, poverty alleviation, education, financial inclusion, health and wellness, re-skilling and up-skilling the next generation workforce, innovation to promote social, gender and economic equity, and innovation in the arts and cultural sectors.

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Featured events

Creating Positive Change

Our Sustainable Campus

Our Sustainable Campus

UCalgary Campus Textile program was started by students wanting to decrease the harmful effects of fast fashion and textile production, and to promote responsible consumption.

UCalgary has diverted more than 15,000 lbs of textiles from the landfill.

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Community Mental Health and Well-Being

Community Mental Health and Well-Being

UCalgary's commitment to the mental health and well-being of our community focuses on promoting and embracing the understanding of our mental health as holistic. This means looking at the various aspects of our lives that contribute to our well-being.

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Work-Integrated Learning for Neurodivergent Students

Work-Integrated Learning for Neurodivergent Students

The WIL ND Initiative builds on activities that support equitable pathways for neurodivergent students transforming work-integrated learning towards neuro-inclusive change.

Tactile toolkits are available in offices across campus. 

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