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

2. 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?
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3. 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)
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4. 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)
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5. 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
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6. 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
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7. Conclusion #3
There is tremendous potential for sustained collaborative
relationships between universities and other sectors to contribute to
social innovation and address social issues. In any collaborative
relationship, there are also significant challenges, however, that
must be recognized and addressed. Although universities,
government, industry and community organizations can benefit
greatly from collaboration and social innovation, the communities of
practice and particular needs in each sector differ from each other.
Strategies, policies, programs and plans to support and sustain
social innovation must therefore be adequately informed by an
understanding of the differences across sectors and the complexity
of the problems that social innovation aims to address.
• Break down barriers to collaboration
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8. 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”.
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9. 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)?
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10. David Phipps
dphipps@yorku.ca
http://www.researchimpact.ca
Allyson Hewitt, SIG MaRS
Johanne Provencal, York U
Naomi Nichols, York U