The Social Innovation Institute is currently accepting applications for the Social R&D Ecosystem Mobilization Initiative.
What is the The Social R&D Ecosystem Mobilization Initiative?
The Social R&D Ecosystem Mobilization Initiative is part of Employment and Social Development Canada’s Investment Readiness Program (IRP). The IRP is a two-year program, launched in Spring 2019 developed to accelerate the ability of communities to develop, finance, measure and scale new solutions to pressing social problems. The IRP aims to improve shared understanding of the most effective approaches to building the social finance ecosystem and to establish or expand initiatives that address ecosystem gaps. The IRP is an important stepping stone towards ESDC’s Social Finance Fund, a 10-year commitment that will contribute $755 M into the social finance ecosystem.
Social R&D informs and drives social innovation, generating new ideas, novel institutional arrangements and testable hypotheses for improving outcomes – through such things as social enterprise incubation, policy innovation, and service design. It draws upon a growing number of group processes including solutions labs, scenario planning exercises and human-centered design – as well as more quantitative methodologies such as behavioural economics and data analytics.
The Social R&D Initiative will support Social Purpose Organizations (SPOs) in understanding and applying social R&D methods and approaches through an integrated program including: demonstration/keystone projects connected and supported by a network of Social R&D coaches; hosting communities of practice that build knowledge and strengthen relationships among practitioners and hosting a series of convenings bringing together IRP partners, practitioners, policy-makers, and corporate changemakers; the development of Social R&D knowledge products (i.e., tool kits, train-the-trainer workshops, case studies and research); and connecting and communicating innovators through a new digital platform and other shared storytelling opportunities.
