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SiG@Waterloo Innovators in Action Speaker Series 2010

The SiG@Waterloo "Innovators in Action" Speaker Series, will apply the ideas of social innovation to a number of specific sectors and issues - education, youth mentorship, inclusion, collaboration and cultural change. Each of the keynote speakers will share their experiences of operating at the national level to identify and address the root causes of intractable social challenges. Each keynote lecture will be followed by a local panel discussion who will share their reflections on the presentation and offer insight into their own experiences.

May 5 - Ric Young at The Museum, Kitchener, ON

May 19 - Cindy Blackstock at The Museum, Kitchener, ON

June 2 - Penny Milton at the Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery, Waterloo, ON

June 16 - Ilse Treurnicht at the Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery, Waterloo, ON

June 23 - Bruce MacDonald at the Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery, Waterloo, ON

All lectures are FREE to attend. RSVP required.
Spaces are limited. Register to attend below!

SiG@Waterloo presents Ric Young

SiG@Waterloo presents Ric Young

Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Time: 7pm-9pm
Venue: The Museum, 10 King Street West, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada

Ric Young - Architect of numerous campaigns for change and one of Canada's leading authorities in the field of social innovation.

Eric (Ric) Young was a pioneer in the field of social marketing. He cut his teeth on the early stages of the PARTICIPaction campaign, and was co-founder of Canada’s first dedicated social marketing agency. He left that company in the mid-90s to start E.Y.E. | The Social Projects Studio™ – a company dedicated to the creation and development of breakthrough social change initiatives. Working with leading government, corporate and not-for-profit clients, he became increasingly frustrated by the inadequacy of the tools, models and methods society has at hand for tackling our most complex problems. This led him, in the year 2000, to propose to DuPont Canada that they embark on an initiative “to foster new mindsets, new skill sets, and a new culture for social innovation in Canada”. He worked with DuPont over several years to develop the Social Innovation Initiative, eventually forging a partnership with McGill University to create one of the world’s first social innovation think tanks. This think tank gave rise to the best-selling book, Getting To Maybe. He is on the faculty of the Boston College Centre for Corporate Citizenship. His current voluntary roles include: membership on the board of Ecotrust Canada, the Canadian advisory board of Right To Play and the editorial board of the Social Marketing Quarterly. He is a fellow of The Royal Society of the Arts, a member of Massey College’s Quadrangle Society, and a fellow of SiG (Social Innovation Generation) at the University of Waterloo.

SiG@Waterloo presents Cindy Blackstock

SiG@Waterloo presents Cindy Blackstock

Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Time: 7pm-9pm
Venue: The Museum, 10 King Street West, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada

Cindy Blackstock - Executive Director of First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada.

A member of the Gitksan Nation, she has worked in the field of child and family services for over 20 years. Key interests include exploring the over representation of Aboriginal children in child welfare care, structural drivers of child maltreatment in First Nations communities, human rights and the role of the voluntary sector in expanding the range of culturally and community based responses to child maltreatment.

Current professional interests include serving as an Atkinson Economic Justice Fellow, J.W. McConnell Family Foundation Social Innovation Generation Fellow, co-director of the Centre of Excellence for Child Welfare and a board member of the National Aboriginal Youth Organization.

SiG@Waterloo presents Penny Milton

SiG@Waterloo presents Penny Milton

Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Time: 7pm-9pm
Venue: Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery, 25 Caroline Street North, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

Penny Milton - CEO of Canadian Education Association.

Penny Milton has been Chief Executive Officer of Canadian Education Association since 1996. She was past Chair of the Toronto Board of Education, Executive Director of the Ontario Public School Board Association, and served as Deputy Minister of the Ontario Premier’s Council of Health, Well-being and Social Justice. She has held several public appointments including current membership on The Minister’s Curriculum Council and Governance Review Committee for Ontario. She was a founding Director of the Toronto Community Housing Corporation and now serves as a Director of ArtsSmarts and Goodwill Industries. She is the author of several book chapters, numerous articles and presentations on policy issues in education.

SiG@Waterloo presents Ilse Treurnicht

SiG@Waterloo presents Ilse Treurnicht

Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Time: 7pm-9pm
Venue: Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery, 25 Caroline Street North, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

Ilse Treurnicht - CEO of MaRS Discovery District.

Ilse Treurnicht is the CEO of MaRS Discovery District, a leading innovation centre located in Toronto. She oversees both the development and operations of the MaRS Centre and its broad suite of entrepreneurship and innovation programs.

MaRS offers advisory services, market intelligence and entrepreneurship education to emerging companies in health care/life sciences, digital media/ICT, cleantech and social purpose businesses across Ontario. Ilse has worked closely with the leadership of Toronto's academic institutions and teaching hospitals to create MaRS Innovation, an integrated commercialization platform for 14 Toronto Institutions and served as the interim Managing Director for a year following its formal launch in early 2008.

Ilse joined MaRS in early 2005 from her role as President & CEO of Primaxis Technology Ventures, a start-up stage venture capital fund focused on the advanced technologies sector. Prior to Primaxis, Ilse was an entrepreneur with senior management roles in a number of emerging technology companies.

She is an active member of Canada's innovation community, and has served on the boards of private companies, industry associations and research organizations, and has been a member of several government advisory panels.

Ilse holds a DPhil in chemistry from Oxford University, which she attended as a Rhodes scholar.

SiG@Waterloo presents Bruce MacDonald

SiG@Waterloo presents Bruce MacDonald

Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Time: 7pm-9pm
Venue: Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery, 25 Caroline Street North, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

Bruce MacDonald - President and CEO, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada.

In 1995, Bruce joined the staff of Big Brothers and Sisters of Canada as Director of Marketing and Special Events. Three job titles and two organization names later, Bruce eventually moved into the senior staff position, becoming President and CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada in March 2004. Prior to BBBSC, Bruce was involved with the Hamilton-Burlington YMCA, Stoney Creek YMCA, Ontario Senior Games and the Kinsmen and Kinette Clubs of Canada. Bruce holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Sports Administration from Laurentian University and a Masters in Management in the Voluntary Sector from McGill University.

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Developing story: University of #Waterloo plaza on fire this morning #uwaterloo Photos taken by @LeviMcC

OMG... the plaza close to the University of Waterloo caught fire this morning. Heard on the radio that 8 business have been affected, from Mel's Diner all the way to Tabu

Not too sure of the cause of the fire, will update once I get more information.

Photos below of the fire, taken and posted by Levi McCulloch on facebook this morning, as he was making his way to campus at 6am (presumably to study for final exams).

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Edit: 9:50 AM April 22 2010

Thankfully, there are no reported injuries as a result of the fire earlier this morning.

From CTV Toronto

Police say the fire caused extensive damage in the area but that there are no reported injuries.

There are two universities in the area, Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Waterloo.  Dozens of students who live in the area have been evacuated from their residences.

The fire started at around 5:30 a.m. on a commercial block at Phillip Street and University Avenue. Several businesses were reportedly in flames.

Waterloo authorities say the fire is now under control though emergency crews will remain on the scene to put out any hot spots.

Edit: 10:45 AM April 22 2010

Amateur video shot by classic240 on YouTube

Edit 10:30PM April 22 2010

UW Plaza aftermath photos shared by Christine Lu on facebook, taken by Juliana Tsang (approximately 9am-12pm). Extensive damage to the premises, its a sad day for Waterloo.

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Edit 1:45PM April 24, 2010

Monika and I made our way to the plaza for dinner last night. We stopped by and took pictures of what's left standing of Mel's Diner - brings back some good memories of 3am "breakfasts" after the bar.

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Why I am supporting Jeff Henry for Waterloo City Councilor

Why I am supporting my friend and former colleague Jeff Henry, for Waterloo City Council

From the website campaign testimonial page

“During my time as the Vice-President, Administration and Finance for the University of Waterloo’s Federation of Students, I worked closely with Jeff Henry, and can attest firsthand to his skilled leadership and collaborative approach. Among Jeff’s broad set of advocacy skills, his in-depth knowledge of municipal affairs helped to ensure an optimal outcome when we worked with the Region of Waterloo to provide a universal transit pass for University of Waterloo undergraduate students. Thanks to Jeff’s leadership and teamwork skills, more than 24,000 students now have access to affordable and reliable transit that connects them more closely with the Waterloo community.

Even during the more challenging executive experiences that arose during our time working together – and there were many – Jeff showed an even temperament, well thought-out arguments, a team-focused mindset, and capable leadership. I am pleased to support him in his bid for city council, and believe he would serve as an excellent bridge between the community and university students.”

Please visit www.jeffhenry.ca to learn more about Jeff and the issues surrounding Central-Columbia Ward 6 in the City of Waterloo. 

Join the Facebook fan page, follow Jeff on Twitter, or subscribe to the campaign blog RSS feed to keep updated on the campaign as it progresses.
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Earth Hour March 27 830pm - Waterloo Public Square

Saw this as I was walking through Waterloo Town Square last night with Nick Petten.

More info http://earthhourcanada.org/earthhour/

If you're in the Toronto area this Saturday, check out Earth Hour presented by the Young Social Entrepreneurs of Canada, featuring David Bornstein, Nathaniel Whittmore & Tonya Surman

http://revisionearthhourtoronto.eventbrite.com

Photo

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The 100 - Episode 2 on Social Entrepreneurship

Jennifer King (of Capacity Waterloo Region) and I, joined local community animators Hilary Abel and Brock Hart last Sunday, March 14 to record Episode 2 of The 100 podcast.

The 100 is a podcast on local events, politics, cafes, food, technology, arts, the music scene and a whole lot more, in and around the Region of Waterloo.

Jennifer and I were invited to discuss our views on social enterprise and social venture organizations.

Would love to get feedback and comments on our segment, especially when it comes to our perspective on social entrepreneurship and social innovation. Enjoy!

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TEDxWaterloo - February 25, 2010

Tedxwaterloo
Full disclosure: I am one of the lead organizers behind TEDxWaterloo, taking place on February 25, 2010.

If you are a big fan of TED and find yourself watching TEDTalks videos on a seemingly regular basis, why not come out to TEDxWaterloo on February 25, 2010 to experience a TED-like event in the company of like-minded, passionate individuals who believe in ideas worth spreadingApplications to attend TEDxWaterloo are now open and you can apply to attend here.

If you are not located in the Waterloo Region or surrounding area, you can still follow the proceedings of the day's events on Feb 25 by watching the live webcast on our website www.tedxwaterloo.com 

The theme for TEDxWaterloo is Tomorrow Started Yesterday, and will feature an amazing line-up of speakers discussing a broad range of topics and ideas touching on this theme. The speaker line-up for TEDxWaterloo will be announced in the coming weeks, stay tuned!



Why do I have to apply to attend TEDxWaterloo?

I have seen a number of comments to this effect on twitter as well as on facebook, following the announcement yesterday on the TEDxWaterloo twitter account and facebook fanpage. For the sake of openness and transparency, I wanted to clarify a few of the key issues that have been brought to our attention.

To provide a bit of background to the event itself, TEDxWaterloo is organized as an independently organized TED event. 

From www.ted.com/tedx

TEDx was created in the spirit of TED's mission, "ideas worth spreading." The program is designed to give communities, organizations and individuals the opportunity to stimulate dialogue through TED-like experiences at the local level.

At TEDx events, unique talks given by live speakers combine with TEDTalks videos to spark deep conversation and connections. TEDx events are fully planned and coordinated independently, on a community-by-community basis. 

There are some guidelines as well as recommendations that TED provides to organizers to help re-create a TED-like experience at TEDx events. For example, TED encourages prospective TEDx attendees to fill out applications forms in order to showcase their commitment to attending the event. 

From my own perspective as one of the organizers of TEDxWaterloo and discussions with other TEDx organizers, this approach also allows organizers of TEDx events to deeply and more meaningfully understand what motivates the audience members. Of course, there are also some practical considerations to this approach, such as capacity limitations of the venue (to be announced soon for TEDxWaterloo!) as well as budget considerations.

Taking the cue from the upcoming TED 2010 conference happening February 9-13, 2010 in Long Beach, CA, it seems to me the purpose of curating both the speakers roster as well as the audience members comes down to ensuring a rich and stimulating exchange of ideas among a diverse group of peers.  

There are major differences between actual TED conferences (TED 2010TEDGlobal 2010TEDActive) and local TEDx events held in cities around the world. I would like to note that it is free to attend TEDxWaterloo and the application process is open to all, everyone is invited and encouraged to submit an application to attend. We look forward to seeing you there!

N.B. If you're interested in reading more about this discussion, I would encourage you to check out this page on TED's website, that addresses a number of probing questions including, 'Is TED elitist?'
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Waterloo lecture presents ideas on social change for pressing social problems

Adam_kahane

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Waterloo lecture presents ideas on social change for pressing social problems

WATERLOO, Ont. (Thursday, Jan. 7, 2010) - An internationally acclaimed social innovator, once praised by South Africa's Nelson Mandela, will give a public lecture later this month and launch his latest book on how to effectively deal with pressing problems in society.

Adam Kahane, author of Power & Love: A Theory & Practice of Social Change, will deliver this year's Waterloo lecture on social innovation on Wednesday, Jan 27 at the Centre for International Governance Innovation in Waterloo. The event, which begins at 7 p.m., is presented by Social Innovation Generation at the University of Waterloo, Region of Waterloo, CIGI, Capacity Waterloo Region and Musagetes.

The annual lecture highlights world-class thinkers with new ideas on how to achieve significant, durable social change for increasingly complex social problems.

"Kahane will discuss power, our desire to achieve our own purposes, and love, our desire to heal the whole, as complementary drives that are both required to effect sustainable social innovation and change," said Frances Westley, a University of Waterloo professor who holds the J.W. McConnell Chair in Social Innovation.

In the lecture, Kahane will draw on his extensive experience with designing and leading complex multi-stakeholder change processes to offer practical guidance for effectively balancing power and love, two usually polarized drives.

Kahane, a facilitator and partner with Reos Partners, is well-known for a distinct approach to scenario thinking and development, which played a key role in moving South Africa from apartheid to democracy in the 1990s. He is also an associate fellow of the Institute for Science, Innovation and Society at the University of Oxford's Saïd Business School.

His earlier book, Solving Tough Problems: An Open Way of Talking, Listening, and Creating New Realities, earned high praise from Mandela. The former South African president called it: "A breakthrough book that addresses the central challenges of our time - finding a way to work together to solve the problems we have created."

Tickets for the lecture cost $25, and include admission, a copy of Adam Kahane's latest book and a reception. For registration and more information on the lecture, visit www.sig.uwaterloo.ca.

About Social Innovation Generation, University of Waterloo

Social Innovation Generation is a collaborative partnership between the Montreal-based J.W. McConnell Family Foundation, University of Waterloo, MaRS Discovery District in Toronto and PLAN Institute in Vancouver designed to foster a culture of continuous social innovation in the country. The SiG project is focused specifically on social innovations that have durability, impact and scale. SIG focuses on profound change processes and encourages effective methods to address persistent complex social problems on a national scale. For more information, go to www.sig.uwaterloo.ca.

About University of Waterloo

In just half a century, the University of Waterloo, located at the heart of Canada's Technology Triangle, has become one of Canada's leading comprehensive universities with 28,000 full- and part-time students in undergraduate and graduate programs. Waterloo, as home to the world's largest post-secondary co-operative education program, embraces its connections to the world and encourages enterprising partnerships in learning, research and discovery. In the next decade, the university is committed to building a better future for Canada and the world by championing innovation and collaboration to create solutions relevant to the needs of today and tomorrow. For further details, visit www.uwaterloo.ca

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Ignite Waterloo

Last Wednesday, we hosted the first-ever Ignite Waterloo at the Waterloo Regional Children's Museum in downtown Kitchener. It was certainly a great night, and from the numerous tweets, photos and blog posts that emerged following the event, it seems to have gone over well with the community in attendance.

For those of you who missed it, we've put together a three-minute video (see above) that I hope captures the spirit of Ignite Waterloo.

A slide deck of all the Ignite Waterloo presentations can be found below.

Ignite! Waterloo
View more documents from Ignite Waterloo.
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Quantum to Cosmos

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It's funny how I was at the ChangeMedium event at MaRS in Toronto yesterday, and today, I find myself face to face with a life-size replica of the Mars Rover at the Physica Phantastica Exhibit in uptown Waterloo, part of the Quantum to Cosmos festival hosted by the Perimeter Institute.

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Do you have a vision for this building?

Img_1089
I had a lunch meeting with a rather remarkable person this past week, Graham Whiting, an architect who graduated from the University of Waterloo School of Architecture several years ago. Graham runs a small design firm focused on sustainable design, and together with a business partner named Jeff, they also own and operate a number of business development properties in the Kitchener-Waterloo area.

What is remarkable about these two individuals is their approach to business property development in the local community. They have recently purchased a building in a prime location in uptown Waterloo (right across the street from Waterloo Town Square) and rather than renting out the 5,000 sq. ft. building to another business owner for commercial development, they are asking members of the community for their vision for the building. I believe they are going to be hosting an open design meeting this coming September, will post details once they are available.

This approach in itself presents a number of game-changing opportunities, and they have already received a number of ideas with an accompanying business plan, ranging from an artists co-op to a net-zero homeless shelter. 

Imagine what other possibilities might emerge if every property developer took this approach as well.

Co-Location, Co-Work Space in Waterloo Region?

As for a compelling idea that I had in mind, one enterprise that I would really like to see emerge in the Waterloo area, is a co-location, co-working space for social entrepreneurs and their respective projects and startup organizations. This would be similar to the Centre for Social Innovation in Toronto; or The Hub, with locations in Halifax, Toronto and numerous cities around the world. Other examples can be found in Citizen Space in San Francisco, as well as Treehouse and New Work City, both of which are located in New York City.

If you do have an idea or a vision, I am sure that Graham and Jeff would love to hear from you. You can get in touch with them via email at info@whitingdesign.ca

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(photos taken with my iPhone 3G)
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