Collaborating to Develop Workforce and Workplace Capability for Employee-Led Innovation
Channel: eCampusOntario
Date: 16/12/2021

Collaborating to Develop Workforce and Workplace Capability for Employee-Led Innovation / Collaborer au développement des capacités professionnelles au travail et sur le marché pour une innovation menée par les employés

Presented by:

Anahita Baregheh
Associate Professor, Nipissing University

Thomas Carey
Co-Principal Catalyst, Workplace Innovation Network for Canada, University of Waterloo

In this session, we will explore collaborative initiatives to co-create this future, by engaging higher education learners and institutions with learners and partners in leading-edge workplaces. The examples will come from Canada and beyond, and will be of particular interest to Ontario institutions seeking to move beyond their current Entrepreneurship initiatives to develop Innovation capability at a much broader scale and scope.
 
Attendees will leave with an overview of the following concepts:
 •         the elements of innovation capability at workforce (individual and team) and workplace (organizational) levels;
 •         examples of leading-edge academic institutions and workplaces collaborating on developing these capabilities;
 •         examples of ways to use innovations in our higher education teaching & learning environments as authentic learning experiences in workplace innovation;
 •         follow-up opportunities to explore how your own academic contexts and workplace partnerships could benefit from and contribute to this ongoing collaboration.
 
The results of our current collaborations are a hybrid mix of resources for developing workplace innovation capability, which can be used by academic and workplace partners in a variety of formats. For example, academic institutions can select from a mix of conceptual materials and work-integrated learning experiences, both within our higher education "workplace for learning" and in external workplaces. Recognition of learner achievement can occur through a mix of traditional course units, new micro-credentials and prior learning recognition.

Workplace partners can engage with academic partners to provide professional development in workplace innovation capability, to foster workforce and workplace innovation in their organizations. This can include adaptation of the learning resources through inclusion of their own case studies to illustrate the concepts or provide practice opportunities for learners.
 
We currently have a diverse group of collaborating institutions and workplaces from Ontario, elsewhere in Canada and international partners.  We look forward to extending that diversity by offering the opportunity for further collaboration and partnership development.