Social innovation in research

Social innovation is the product of collaboration on social issues between faculty members and stakeholders. It emerges from a desire to move beyond current practices to solve problems by mobilizing knowledge and skills. It involves active participation by potential end-users during the development and testing of solutions that are integrated into practices or applied by local stakeholders. 
Office of the Vice Rector, Research and Innovation (VRRCI) advisors are available to point you toward resources that will meet your needs.

Additional information on social innovation (PDF, French only)

Supporting members of the university community

VRRCI is committed to providing personalized support to faculty members and community stakeholders to foster knowledge development and co-construction of solutions and to adapt and implement these solutions in community settings to meet social needs. 

This support includes a range of activities designed to assist and guide professors at each stage of their funding, mobilization, and development efforts in tandem with faculty-based services. It includes:

Support for development and mobilization

• Monitoring, analysis, and strategic dissemination of funding programs
• Support for grant application preparation and submission
• Revision and guidance for letters of intent and grant applications
• Sourcing of in-house expertise to meet external partners’ needs
• Development of knowledge mobilization plans and knowledge transfer strategies
• Support for research management and related issues
• Guidance on searching for partners
• Drafting and negotiating contractual agreements with partners
• Representation before various public organizations (regional, national, and international) involved in social innovation
• Promotion of best practices, including for research ethics

Support for transfer and commercialization

• Support for drafting and negotiating agreements related to confidentiality, publication, and knowledge transfer between the university and public and private sector partners
• Advice on licensing and commercializing copyrighted works
• Formulation of development strategies and implementation and coordination of the resulting management activities
• Overseeing Fonds de soutien à l’innovation sociale (FSIS), a social innovation fund dedicated to supporting new initiatives around mobilization, interdisciplinary partnerships, and adoption of social innovations by local stakeholders
• Organization of networking events, including with liaison and transfer centres and any other organizations that offer social innovation services
• Recognition of research and partnerships at an annual social innovation awards event
• Collaboration with the Communications Department to promote social innovations developed by the university community
• Development of tools and indicators to measure social innovation and its impacts

Support for partners

UL professors study new and evolving phenomena to find workable solutions to complex social issues. In collaboration with various stakeholders they explore a range of topics including the organization of labour and labour relations, immigrant integration, approaches to sustainable development and improving physical and mental health, quality of life for individuals and communities, changing practices, educational success, and so on.

This hands-on support takes various forms during innovation projects, including: 

Connecting university experts with local stakeholders

• Assisting with letters of intent and the preparation and processing of partnership grant applications
• Drafting contracts that are mutually satisfactory for both partners
• Recognizing, in various ways, partner contributions to social innovation, including an annual social innovation awards event

Fonds de soutien à l'innovation sociale

The Fonds de soutien à l'innovation sociale is a social innovation fund that helps institutions, organizations, and communities adopt innovations co-developed with the local community in response to social problems. VRRCI uses the fund to support university community members in knowledge mobilization and transfer activities.

Examples of social innovation

Here are some examples of social innovations that highlight our expertise and lasting relationships with our partners.