The Guelph Lab is a collaboration of The College of Social and Applied Human Sciences, University of Guelph and the City of Guelph. The purpose of the Lab is to address challenges that have direct impact and relevance to the community.
The Lab is focused on “public innovation” - developing solutions to the challenges faced by the community that cannot be solved without some form of government intervention. The Lab does this by bringing together municipal, community, and university expertise and knowledge.
Why a “Lab”? The Lab works at the confluence of research, training and experimentation. It builds small teams that design, develop and test new ideas, and supports the early stages of their implementation. The Guelph Lab is one of a growing number of “innovation labs” working in Canada and around the world.
Through the Lab, staff, researchers, students, and community members can explore organizational challenges and problems, test new ideas, and mobilize the insights of social science research to produce creative policy and programs.
The CESI website includes details on select Lab projects; explore a wider range of challenges and projects on the Guelph Lab website.
Co-directed by the Manager of Strategy, Innovation and Intergovernmental Affairs at the City and the Director of the Community Engaged Scholarship Institute at the University, the Lab provides a jointly funded staff facilitator who works between the two organizations. Day-to-day operations of the Lab are lead by Sam Laban, Guelph Lab Facilitator.