Innovation Hubs and Labs

What is an Innovation Lab?

Innovation labs are based on the idea that the competencies and mindsets needed for systematic innovation are not the same as those required for stable, daily operations and service delivery at the front line. Innovation labs seek to provide approaches, skills, models and tools beyond what most trained civil servants usually possess. This may call for the creation of dedicated ‘safe’ spaces and opportunities for collaboration on new processes, programs or policies across units, departments and sectors to assist the exploration phase of innovation. Labs typically involve key stakeholders, including end users such as citizens and businesses, in a process of co-creation. For governments this means crafting new solutions with people and not just for them.

With innovation labs, the hope is that the establishment of dedicated, cross-cutting organizational structures can strike a blow at vested interests, power plays, and organizational infighting. Labs do so by being permanent structures with a mission to temporarily unfreeze organizational embedded practices. (Powering Collaborative Policy Innovation: Can Innovation Labs Help? 2012.)

Innovation Hubs/Labs in the Government of Canada

• Updates and activities happening within the Government of Canada Innovation Hubs and Labs community can be found on GCcollab

Hubs and Labs within the Government of Canada (please add your group and update outdated info)

Department	Name of Group	Contact(s) [name, title-email]
Canada Border Services Agency	Border Technologies Innovation, Acceleration, Integration and Emerging Technology	Paul Sanderson, Senior Program Advisor - Paul.Sanderson@cbsa-asfc.gc.ca
Canada Revenue Agency	Accelerate Business Solutions Lab	Shannon Drew, Director - Shannon.Drew@cra-arc.gc.ca
Canada Revenue Agency	Research and Innovation Lab	Natasja Mackwood, Policy Analyst - natasja.mackwood@cra-arc.gc.ca
Canadian Coast Guard	Transformation and Innovation Unit	Harry Chadwick, Manager - Harry.Chadwick@dfo-mpo.gc.ca
Canadian Food Inspection Agency	Data Analytics and Modelling team
Canadian Heritage	Creative Marketplace Lab on Data, Skills and Technology	Joelle Paré, A/Director, Marketplace and Legislative Policy - joelle.pare@pch.gc.ca
Canadian Heritage	PCH Innovation Lab	robin.kilroy@pch.gc.ca
Développement économique Canada	Incubateur d'innovation	diego.dube@canada.ca
Environment and Climate Change Canada	Innovation and Youth Engagement Division
FINTRAC	Innovation & Change Network
Global Affairs Canada	Science, Technology and Innovation	Stéphane Lessard, Executive Director - Stephane.Lessard@international.gc.ca Dominic Jean, Senior Innovation Advisor - Dominic.Jean@international.gc.ca Thomas Cassart, Deputy Director - Thomas.Cassart@international.gc.ca
Health Canada/PHAC	Behavioural Science	Jorida Cila - jorida.cila@phac-aspc.gc.ca
Health Canada/PHAC	iHUB
Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada	Blueprint 2020
Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada	Operations Planning and Performance Branch, Research and Development Centre (OPPB, RDC)
Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada	Service Insights & Experimentation (Pier SIX)
Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada	Social Innovation Division, Settlement and Integration Policy
ISED	Innovative Solutions Canada	solutions@ised-isde.gc.ca
Natural Resources Canada	Policy Innovation and Experimentation
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada	Innovation Hub	IH-CI@nserc-crsng.gc.ca Creed Millman, Director - creed.millman@nserc-crsng.gc.ca Abdelbasset Hallil, - Abdelbasset.Hallil@nserc-crsng.gc.ca
Privy Council Office	Impact and Innovation Unit	Rodney Ghali, Assistant Secretary to the Cabinet - rodney.ghali@pco-bcp.gc.ca
Public Services and Procurement Canada	Innovation Secretariat
Public Services and Procurement Canada	Innovation Zone (Office of the Chief Transformation Officer)
Quebec Federal Council	Laboratoire d'innovation du Conseil Fédéral du Québec	Catherine Lovatt-Smith - catherine.lovatt-smith@dec-ced.gc.ca
Statistics Canada	Innovation Secretariat	Kathryn Stevenson, Director - Kathryn.Stevenson@statcan.gc.ca
Transport Canada	Innovation Centre
Transport Canada	Service Innovation Centre of Excellence
Treasury Board Secretariat	Canadian Digital Service
Treasury Board Secretariat	Centre for Regulatory Innovation	cri-cir@tbs-sct.gc.ca
Veteran's Affairs Canada	VAC Innovation Hub

Innovation Communities in the Government of Canada

• Impact Canada
• Grand Challenges Canada (Global Affairs Canada)
• ISED Innovative Solutions Canada
• Policy Horizons Canada - Horizons de politiques Canada Policy Horizons Canada
• Public Service Innovation Canada (ISEDC Service Lab)

Multilateral Innovation Hubs

• Observatory of Public Sector Innovation
• UN Global Centre for Public Service
• United Nations Global Pulse
• UNICEF Innovation Labs

Academia

Canadian

• Strategic Innovation Lab (sLab), OCAD University​
• McMaster University - Innovation Park
• Queen's University Innovation Centre
• Queen's University Ingenuity Labs
• Simon Fraser University Social Innovation Lab
• University of Waterloo Social Innovation Lab
• St. Paul University Social Innovation
• Pond-Deshpande Centre Social Innovation Lab at the University of New Brunswick
• Munk School (University of Toronto) Innovation Policy Lab

International

• Harvard Innovation Lab
• Stanford University - Center for Social Innovation
• University of Oklahoma - Innovation Hub
• University of Southampton - Social Innovation Lab
• University of Virginia - Hub of Innovation
• University of the Arts London - DESIS Lab
• NESTA (UK innovation foundation)

Municipalities

• Municipal Innovation Exchange (Guelph, London, Barrie)
• City of Ottawa - Service Innovation
• Bayview Yards - Your Ottawa Innovation Hub
• Calgary Social Impact Lab

Policy Think Tanks, Research Centers, and Consultancy Innovation Hubs

• The Brookfield Institute for Innovation & Entrepreneurship
• OECD Observatory of Public Sector Innovation (OPSI)
• Bridgeable - Service Design and co-creation
• The Behavioural Insight Team
• Cisco IoE (Internet of Everything) Innovation Centre - Toronto
• The Finance Innovation Lab
• IDEO: A Global Design Consultancy Firm 
• GovLoop
• Google/Government Innovation Lab
• The Gov Lab (NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering)
• GovLab (Deloitte)
• I-teams
• Nesta Public Services Lab
• Public Policy Lab
• ScotiaBank Digital Factory
• Canada2020
• Mowat Centre
• The Kauffman Foundation

Accelerators & Commercialization Labs

• GreenCentre Canada - Innovation in Chemistry
• Deloitte Innovation Lab
• MaRS Discovery District
• BCI
• InnovaCorp (Nova Scotia)
• Volta (Atlantic Canada)

National Government Innovation Hubs

Australia

• APS Innovation

Denmark

• MindLab

Finland

• Sitra

South Africa

• Centre for Public Service Innovation

Spain

• Barcelona Urban Lab

Sweden

• VINNOVA

United Kingdom

• Government Digital Service (GDS)
• Open Policy

United States

• 18F Digital Services Agency
• Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Innovation Lab

Civil Society Labs

• FutureGov - Asia/Pacific
• Citizen lab
• Civic system lab
• Grand Challenges (Gates Foundation)
• GovCamp
• Impact Hub
• InnovateSF
• La 27e Region
• Laboratorio Innovazione
• Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics
• Parsons DESIS Lab
• Social Innovation Lab
• Technology-Academics-Policy (TAP) Forum
• Social Innovation Canada
• New Brunswick's Social and Public Innovation Lab // Le laboratoire de l’innovation publique et sociale du Nouveau-Brunswick
• Nova Scotia GovLAB
• Alberta CoLAB (disbanded, but useful resources)
• Common Good Solutions (Nova Scotia)
• Tamarack Institute (community Innovation)

Resources

• Update on hubs/labs prepared for June 17, 2016 Deputy Ministers' Committee on Policy Innovation meeting
• Innovation Lab Backgrounder (GCPedia) from the June 2014 Policy Bazaar
• Innovation Labs: Bridging Think Tanks and Do Tanks (Policy Horizons Canada, 2012)
• i-teams: The teams and funds making innovation happen in governments around the world (Nesta and Bloomberg Philanthropies, 2014)
• Innovation Growth Lab-evaluates the impact of  innovations in your orgnization  
• Subscribe to Nesta's Lab notes, a monthly digest from a network of labs that bring together interesting tools and news from public sector innovators around the world.
• An Introduction to Policy Innovation, IPAC 2015
• The rise of policy innovation labs: A catalog of policy innovation labs across Canada. Bryan Evans, Ryerson University: August 2018

Common Hashtags

• #psilabs