“Amid disruption and crisis, there is an opportunity for organizations and societies to transition towards a more sustainable and equitable future,” explained Terry Irwin, Director of the Transition Design Institute at Carnegie Mellon University.
Irwin shared these insights and more at the latest virtual session of the Ivey Innovation Learning Lab on April 30.
Building on past sessions that looked at systems thinking and transformation, the Lab session focused on transition design. This approach to innovation suggests that organizations can intentionally change current societal pathways towards more desirable futures – for themselves and for society.
In the context of COVID-19, these ideas are especially salient. In small groups, Lab participants discussed opportunities to chart positive paths forward even as their organizations navigate the near-term disruptions caused by the pandemic.
Finding answers is not easy but it is clear that getting to a desirable future will require new approaches to innovation and collaboration across organizations within and across sectors. By bringing together a diverse group of some of Canada’s largest and most influential organizations, the Ivey Innovation Learning Lab has created a unique forum for advancing collective innovation in systems.
More about the Innovation Learning Lab
The Lab brings together 19 organizations from diverse sectors: 3M; Ashoka Canada; Bell Canada; Co-operators Insurance; CPA Canada; Georgian Partners; Interac; Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada; Maple Leaf Foods; Mattamy Homes; McConnell Foundation; National Research Council Canada; NGen; Ontario Teachers’ Pension Fund; Royal Bank of Canada; SAP Canada; Suncor; Triovest; and Walmart. Participants assemble every quarter to discuss the innovation process.
The Centre for Building Sustainable Value runs the Lab in partnership with MaRS Discovery District. Each session is animated by a world-class thought leader and includes discussion on the latest best practices and research, including Ivey’s own work on innovation and disruption.
Ivey Professor Tima Bansal created the Lab to bring together innovation leaders from the private and public sectors to improve their innovation process. The Lab deploys a cutting-edge approach to executive education, convening senior leaders and academics to co-create new insights on the frontier of knowledge.
