MaRS hosts global leaders at Labs for Systems Change event

TORONTO, May 23, 2014 /CNW/ - MaRS Solutions Lab will bring together more than 40 of the world's leading lab practitioners from May 25-27 during its Labs for Systems Change conference.

The event, which is open to the public on May 26, will allow leading lab practitioners to share and advance knowledge of global lab practices, and gain a better understanding of what constitutes a 'good' lab and its approaches.

Around the world, public and social innovation labs are increasingly seen as vehicles to create systems change; they convene stakeholders from across society to develop, test and scale new solutions to social problems. These labs help governments to collaborate with society in solving these problems.

"Social innovation labs provide a new approach for solving complex social challenges like obesity or youth unemployment. They bring actors from across society together to develop and test new solutions. This is what we do at MaRS Solutions Lab and we are very proud to host many of the leading labs from around the world at MaRS for this conference," says Joeri van den Steenhoven, Director, MaRS Solutions Lab.

Attendees will include:

Geoff Mulgan, CEO, Nesta (UK)
Christian Bason, Director, Mindlab (Denmark)
Adam Kahane, Chairman, Reos North America (US/CAN)
Beth Noveck, GovLab (US)
Frances Westley, Chair, Waterloo Institute for Social Innovation and Resilience (CAN)
Sarah Schulman, Founder InWithForward, (NL/CAN)
Chris Sigaloff, Chair, Kennisland (NL)
Eduardo Staszowski, Director, DESIS Lab (US)
Chelsea Mauldin, Director, Public Policy Lab, New York (US)
Chris Vanstone, Director Co-Design TACSI (AUS)
Gabriela Gomez-Mont, Director, Lab for the City (MEX)
Andrea Siodmok, Director, Cabinet Office Policy Lab (UK)
Giulio Quaggiotto, Head, UN Global Pulse Lab Jakarta (IDN)
Indy Johar, Sr Innovation Associate, Young Foundation (UK)
Joeri van den Steenhoven, Director, MaRS Solutions Lab (CAN)

Organizers hope to issue a set of best practices for innovation labs as an outcome of the conference.

The event is held in partnership with Social Innovation Generation (SiG), the J.W. McConnell Foundation, and Deloitte.

For more information, visit: http://www.marsdd.com/events/labs-systems-change/

About MaRS Solutions Lab
MaRS Solutions Lab is a public and social innovation lab. We help tackle complex social and economic challenges that require systems change.

To do so, we:

• Help to understand these challenges from citizens' perspectives.
• Convene stakeholders from across society to develop, prototype and scale new solutions.
• Build capacity for social change by working with governments to create new policies, redesign public services and create learning communities.

We believe the best solutions are created with society, not just for society.

About MaRS 
MaRS Discovery District (@MaRSDD) is a mission-driven innovation centre located in Toronto. MaRS works with partners to catalyze, accelerate and amplify innovation. MaRS supports entrepreneurs building Canada's next generation of growth companies. MaRS' ventures have created over 4,000 jobs and, in the last three years alone, they have raised over $750 million in capital and earned over $375 million in revenue.

SOURCE: MaRS Discovery District

Melissa Hughes, Manager, Media & Community Relations, MaRS Discovery District, 416.673.8152, [email protected]