Building innovation ecosystems in rural communities across Canada can develop opportunities and allow them to overcome their challenges. Innovation can take many forms in a rural environment. This series aims to look at innovation processes, how they can be supported and what can be learned from the incredible work being done in rural communities across Canada.
Rural Innovation
The rural mindset is often an innovative one. As we learned in our 2023-2024 Thought Exchange series, rural innovation was highlighted as a significant theme across many discussions. Finding solutions to problems unique to the rural context has its challenges. Still, it can be a key strength of rural communities and becomes a crucial skill set to overcome challenges and take hold of new opportunities.
Sep 2024
Rural Innovation
An innovative mindset can help solve real-world challenges. Health and wellness is often a high priority for many rural people. While some challenges are the same in all communities across the country, there are some unique challenges in rural settings. In many rural communities, innovation in wellness and preventative care is becoming front and centre. For this session, we want to explore the impact that innovation can have on a rural community's health and wellness needs.
Oct 2024
Innovation in Rural Wellness
In this session, we discussed how to provide quality education through innovation in rural communities across Canada. Education is a critical component of maintaining rural communities. Without schools, rural communities are challenged to find new workers and bring young families. For this session, we explored innovation's impact on a rural community's education and the strengths inherent in rural education.
Nov 2024
Innovation in Rural Education
Rural innovators begin with a spark of an idea that studies have shown can improve the quality of life in rural communities. However, the question remains: how can we understand and strengthen this thinking to help with economic and social innovation? In this session, we unpack how land, community, and available resources impact the individual innovator in a rural community.
Dec 2024
The Innovative Rural Mindset
While we are often tempted to dismiss policy, it is essential for driving the transformative change, innovation, and funding required for today’s challenges and opportunities. It is policy that provides a structured approach for addressing social, environmental, and economic well-being and, ideally, better-informed decision-making and greater impact.
Jan 2025
Innovation and Rural Policy
In the very environments where so much food is produced, rural communities can face their challenges regarding food systems. In this Thought Exchange, we hope to explore how rural communities are innovating to create opportunities and ensure an accessible food supply in their own communities.
Feb 2025
Innovation in Rural Food Systems
Rural communities have strong social networks that are critical to their resilience. In this Thought Exchange, we hope to understand how to engage as much of the community as possible to spark innovation across all sectors in a way that honours the culture of the community.
Mar 2025
Connecting in Rural
As part of our wrap-up session for the innovation series, this Thought Exchange will draw from the previous seven sessions and the varied experiences of participants to discuss the best pathways for rural communities to develop and support innovation ecosystems in their communities.