Knowledge Mobilization and Social Innovation

Knowledge Mobilization and SocialInnovation are Integral Components of Innovation Strategies that Leverage Investment in Higher Education David Phipps, Director Research Services & Knowledge Exchange York University

Research Question How can university-based knowledge mobilization leverage investments in higher education R&D through social innovation as an integral component of innovation strategies that strengthen industry, governments, community organizations, and members of the public? 2

What did we say we would do? Literature Emerging Practices Literature and key informant interviews using Environmental Scan snowballing method to identify additional literature  Knowledge mobilization: national and international  ResearchImpact-RéseauImpactRecherche examples from ResearchImpact (Phipps & Shapson, 2009; Phipps, 2011; Phipps, 2011a) identifying leading  Knowledge Transfer Canada institutional supports for knowledge mobilization Knowledge Mobilization  Community Based Research Canada for  Examples of institutional structures to support campus literature on institutional support for campus community collaborations (Community Based Research community connections Canada) Literature and key informant interviews using Environmental Scan snowballing methods to identify additional literature  Background documents for Ontario Social Innovation  NESTA; Young Foundation Summit and CDN Task Force on Social Finance  Policy Horizons  Social Innovation Generation (SiG) environmental scan for Ontario planned for January-March 2012 Social Innovation  The Philanthropist (vol. 3, no. 23, 2010)  ResearchImpact contracted literature review 2011 (Levesque, 2010) 3

What did we actually do? Literature Emerging Practices 3 seminal books Environmental Scan (1) Knowledge Translation in Health Care: Moving  Knowledge mobilization: national and international from Evidence to Practice (Strauss et al, 2009); examples (book chpt 2012) (2) Knowledge Mobilization in the Social Sciences and Humanities: Moving from Research to  Examples of institutional structures to support campus Knowledge Action (Bennet and Bennet, 2008); and (3) community collaborations (Community Based Research Mobilization (3) Using Evidence: How Research can Inform Canada) Public Services (Nutley et al, 2007).  Tri‐council evaluation of Intellectual Property Mobilization KMb literature 2009-2012 program (2008) Campus-Community Collaborations Literature 2006-2012 Literature review from 2010 plus additional search Environmental Scan of academic and grey literature  Social Innovation Generation (SiG) environmental scan for Ontario planned for January-March 2012 Social Innovation 107 academic and grey literature references 73 foot notes (web sites) 4

Conclusion #1 There is a need to support knowledge mobilization and measure the outcomes of social innovation in ways that are useful to a diversity of stakeholders. • Build locally 5

Conclusion #2 Although there is much work being undertaken in universities, government, and industry and community organizations that contribute to social innovation and knowledge mobilization, there is a need for a systematic approach to coordinating those efforts and supporting sustained collaborations. • Share tools and best practices, network regionally and nationally 6

Conclusion #3There is tremendous potential for sustained collaborativerelationships between universities and other sectors to contribute tosocial innovation and address social issues. In any collaborativerelationship, there are also significant challenges, however, thatmust be recognized and addressed. Although universities,government, industry and community organizations can benefitgreatly from collaboration and social innovation, the communities ofpractice and particular needs in each sector differ from each other.Strategies, policies, programs and plans to support and sustainsocial innovation must therefore be adequately informed by anunderstanding of the differences across sectors and the complexityof the problems that social innovation aims to address.• Break down barriers to collaboration 7

Collaborate Collaborate Collaborate “Central to each section of this report is the pressing need for improved collaboration among Canada’s higher education institutions, governments, industry and community organizations.” ______________________________________________ May 26, 2012, echoed by The Community-Campus Collaborations Initiative “is quite simply a superb initiative. It will help us ensure that social innovation is a key component of Canada’s innovation landscape. This initiative also provides us with a catalytic vehicle to apply knowledge and develop experiential learning”. 8

Reviewer Comments• This is exactly what we are looking for. A true knowledge synthesis.• The paper rightly identifies social innovation should be a major element. Unfortunately most scholars assume innovation to be Schumpeterian. But innovation is also very much a social process, as has been pointed out by Everett Rogers in “Diffusion of Innovation”. Communication from the innovator to the inventor on one hand and the implementers on the other is paramount. How does this communication channel affect the structure of knowledge transfer in higher education institutions (HEI)?• Do HEIs include social innovation and social entrepreneurship in all of their R&D programs? How does this vary from say, the hard sciences, to the social sciences?• The paper looks at community-campus collaborations; are there other possibilities (perhaps with individual non-profit organizations)? 9

David Phippsdphipps@yorku.cahttp://www.researchimpact.caAllyson Hewitt, SIG MaRSJohanne Provencal, York UNaomi Nichols, York U

Knowledge Mobilization and Social Innovation

by KMb Unit, York University on May 31, 2012

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