From Research to Impact

Universities researchers have played a central role around the globe in establishing innovations that have had a profound role in addressing social challenges facing people and societies.  Notable examples of such innovations include: 

- Economics Professor Mohammed Yunus from the University of Chittagong researched and developed the model of microfinance and established the Grameen Bank, which has provided loans to over 8.4 million people previously considered “unbankable”

- Researchers from Stanford developed ultra low cost solar powered lighting and set up a distribution chain that has provided over 12million lights to date.



As a globally recognized research university, UBC also has the opportunity to lead in the area of social innovation. Social entrepreneurship is a means of implementing these innovations through a market-based venture model. In this session Jana Svedova and Andrea Lloyd from entrepreneurship_at_UBC will share more about the model of social entrepreneurship, case studies of taking innovations targeted at social impact to reality, how innovations with a primary focus on creating societal impact often have a different trajectory to getting into the “real world” than traditional commercialization pathways, and provide more information about entrepeneurship_at_UBC’s social venture programming and resources available to UBC researchers pursuing innovations with profound social or environmental impact. 

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me. Please RSVP by Friday February 1.