Social Innovation Lab

The Social Innovation Lab provides opportunity for our students, staff and faculty to work with our community in the public good. The Lab is a key element of Algonquin College’s response to a 2017 report published by the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation’s RECODE initiative and Simon Fraser University entitled: “Maximizing the capacities of advanced education institutions to build social infrastructure for Canadian communities”. The foundation of the work of the Social Innovation Lab revolves around the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2030. The lab provides opportunities to the Algonquin College community to broadly engage in social innovation practices toward the global goals.

The inaugural program of the Social Innovation Lab is SLiDE (Service Learning in Design & Engineering) and is intended to harness the talents of Algonquin College students from the Schools of Media and Design and Advanced Technology. SLiDE provides support to community-based organizations (service agencies, charities, non-profits, social enterprise, etc.) in the area of digital technology.

The SLiDE program partners include representatives from IBM Centre for Advanced Studies, Impact Hub Ottawa, Centre for Social Enterprise Development (CSED), Ottawa Community Foundation, Carleton University and the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. The SLiDE program was established in part through a grant from the College and Community Social Innovation Fund funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (2018-2020).