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
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 | Hc.ihub.sc@canada.ca + jenni.bennett-gilmour@tpsgc-gwgsc.ca |
Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada | Blueprint 2020 | maureen.collins@cic.gc.ca, tracy.godin@cic.gc.ca, bob.lanouette@cic.gc.ca |
Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada | Operations Planning and Performance Branch, Research and Development Centre (OPPB, RDC) | Serge Joly, A/Director - serge.joly@cic.gc.ca |
Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada | Service Insights & Experimentation (Pier SIX) | IRCC.CEPierSIX-PilierSIXEC.IRCC@cic.gc.ca + stephanie.jay-tosh@cic.gc.ca |
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 | Matt Naccarato, A/Manager - matt.naccarato@nrcan-rncan.gc.ca |
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada | Innovation Hub | IH-CI@nserc-crsng.gc.ca |
Privy Council Office | Impact and Innovation Unit | Rodney Ghali, Assistant Secretary to the Cabinet - rodney.ghali@pco-bcp.gc.ca
Chad Hartnell, Director of Operations - chad.hartnell@pco-bcp.gc.ca |
Public Services and Procurement Canada | Innovation Secretariat | Stephanie Kirkland, ADM, Pay Administration -
TPSGC.DGAPINNOVATION-PABINNOVATION.PWGSC@tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca. |
Public Services and Procurement Canada | Innovation Zone (Office of the Chief Transformation Officer) | TPSGC.dgsizoneinnovation-isbinnovationzone.PWGSC@tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca |
Quebec Federal Council | Laboratoire d'innovation du Conseil Fédéral du Québec | simon.morin@canada.ca |
Transport Canada | Innovation Centre | TC.Innovationcentre-centredinnovation.TC@tc.gc.ca |
Transport Canada | Service Innovation Centre of Excellence | irwin.bess@tc.gc.ca |
Treasury Board Secretariat | Canadian Digital Service | cds-snc@tbs-sct.gc.ca |
Treasury Board Secretariat | Centre for Regulatory Innovation | cri-cir@tbs-sct.gc.ca |
Veteran's Affairs Canada | VAC Innovation Hub | Elizabeth Douglas, Director General, Innovation, Strategic Oversight and Communications - elizabeth.douglas@veterans.gc.ca |
Innovation Communities in the Government of Canada
- Agora employee-led Innovation Network at Shared Services Canada (SSC)
- Business Process Modernization - Government of Canada
- the former Deputy Ministers' Committee on Policy Innovation is now the Board of Management and Renewal (BoMR), a senior Deputy Minister Committee chaired by the Clerk.
- ESDC Working Group on Policy Innovation
- Open Policy@DFAIT (now Global Affairs Canada)
- GC Design|GCDesign
- GC Entrepreneurs (no longer a program)
- Grand Challenges Canada (Global Affairs Canada)
- HRSDC Innovation, Strategy and Policy
- INNOVATION policy Innovation Policy
- ISED Innovative Solutions Canada
- Intelli: The Latest on Public Sector Innovation (Canada School of Public Service)
- International Policy Collaboration Portal/Calendar
- Policy Horizons Canada - Horizons de politiques Canada Policy Horizons Canada
- Policy Ignite
- Public Service Innovation Canada (ISEDC Service Lab)
- TBS Reducing Internal Red Tape Initiative
- Social Innovation Community of Practice
- Strategic Design
- Web 2.0 Practitioners Group
Multilateral Innovation Hubs
Academia
Canadian
- Strategic Innovation Lab (sLab), OCAD University
- McMaster University - Innovation Park
- Queen's University - Innovation Hub 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
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
Denmark
Finland
South Africa
Spain
Sweden
United Kingdom
United States
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