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As continues, student educators should know that they can take their great ideas and innovate them in creative directions beyond the classroom. The best place to do that is closer to home than you might think.

Located at ²ÝÝ®ÎÛÊÓƵµ¼º½, as part of our Continuing and Professional Learning community (CPL), is – an education incubator and home to entrepreneurship education. IInnoVED is a keyinitiative of ²ÝÝ®ÎÛÊÓƵµ¼º½, fostering a collaborative community focused on improving education systems . Within InnovED, there are opportunities for professional learning, a network of practice, and tools for innovation mobilization.

InnovED is  one of the , where individuals can bring their big ideas to life or level up their  existing businesses. Through active learning, research-driven practices, and professional development, InnovED supports members in leading innovative education solutions, and advancingsocietal improvement. InnovED alumni have worked diligently to advance their solutions, for example, bygamifying literacy and language learning to makeeducation more engaging and accessible. Others have developed platforms and services that enhance critical disciplines, support learner development and improve talent recruitment processes.

So, how does InnovED work? What is the experience like, and how are students supported?

To help you better understand InnovED – from its creation to its current functions – we spoke with several key individuals: Jenna Marinucci and Samantha Presutto are Curriculum and Learning Innovation Specialists at ²ÝÝ®ÎÛÊÓƵµ¼º½ Continued and Professional Learning (CPL); Perri Termine is the InnovED Network Host, and Tionie-Marie McLean is the Portfolio Solutions Officer at CPL.

How have you seen InnovED best benefit its participants and entrepreneurs?

Marinucci: From the beginning, InnovED has always been centered around community development. The education sector is extraordinarily diverse and driven by strong community relationships and partnerships. InnovED benefits its entrepreneurs through creating the conditions for a strong community – one where members support, uplift, and co-create new opportunities together. Many of our members have been with us for many years and choose to stay connected due to the strong relationships they have cultivated, which has advanced their personal, professional, and entrepreneurial development.

Termine: Early on, we explored the complexities of individuality and inclusion within the entrepreneurship ecosystem. We learned about the critical role of social-emotional understanding and community building in addressing feelings like loneliness and uncertainty that often accompany the startup journey. By fostering a collaborative environment where entrepreneurs’ diverse experiences and expertise come together, InnovED’s member community inspires curiosity, connection, and shared growth to navigate these challenges together. This approach not only serves entrepreneurs' professional development but also nurtures a supportive ecosystem for continuous learning, wellbeing, and reflection.

Presutto: Echoing Jenna and Perri, members appreciate how InnovED positions inquiry as a key driver of continuous improvement in the quality of their educational solutions. They also report on the value of the Network’s structured engagements with field experts and practitioners, as well as its group mentorship opportunities, as members work to establish key stakeholder relationships that enable them to pilot and evaluate their solutions in the market.

What factored into InnovED's creation and establishment? Why take this on at all?

Marinucci: We needed a third space for educational innovation at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education and the ²ÝÝ®ÎÛÊÓƵµ¼º½ at-large. InnovED became the space for learning innovation for our team, where our team and our members could experiment with new learning innovations to support educational product/service development. InnovED became a space for entrepreneurs to learn about the diversity within the education sector (K-12, Higher Education, Workplace Learning and Development) as well as gain exposure to integral processes, such as the basics in contextual analysis, design thinking principles, and core business development tools and resources. InnovED was initially a community designed by the team at ²ÝÝ®ÎÛÊÓƵµ¼º½ CPL after years of research and applied practice into community-based models, but it has been the community members that drove its continuous evolution.

Presutto: Among the diverse and robust Entrepreneurship ecosystem at the ²ÝÝ®ÎÛÊÓƵµ¼º½, InnovED was established with a vision to create space and community for social entrepreneurship and innovation within complex and highly regulated systems like Education. InnovED is but one of many vehicles of innovation at ²ÝÝ®ÎÛÊÓƵµ¼º½, endeavouring to support Knowledge Mobilization (KM) and Innovation Mobilization (IM) for education systems improvement, though like other Incubators and Accelerators at the university, it focuses on the role and contribution of entrepreneurship. 

What does InnovED do to help participants? What supports exist for entrepreneurs before, during, and after their relationship with InnovED?

Marinucci: Entrepreneurs are supported through three types of learning engagements throughout the program year. Network meetings are monthly virtual meetings designed to spotlight member’s new developments, questions, and create space to have dialogue around top-of-mind problems of practice facing education-entrepreneurs. Webinars are virtual meetings offered on a bi-monthly basis that feature subject-matter experts and practitioners across the K-12 and Higher Education sectors to provide insight into global trends and how entrepreneurs might navigate the complexities and opportunities present. Micro-Labs are customized in-person workshops designed to provide InnovED ,members with the practical skills and processes to apply design and development frameworks to their innovations. During the program year, members can receive support from the Network Host and the Curriculum & Learning Innovation Specialists by request. 

How difficult can it be to get education-based startups off the ground? What obstacles exist?

Marinucci: Many education-based products or services fail to gain traction due to a lack of understanding of the organizational context of their target audience. Ultimately, if you do not have a solid product-market fit and can pinpoint how your product is addressing a gap within the system, it’s quite unlikely stakeholders will take the time to pilot the product to determine proof of concept. In addition, Education systems (particularly K-12) are highly relationship-driven and highly regulated by policies that protect student data privacy and ensure that all student learning interventions are evidence-based. Many education-based products are unable to provide the technical investments to obtain the appropriate level of compliance to launch wide-scale pilots with school boards or get the appropriate integrations with the Learning Management Systems to advance their work at an early stage. 

How can InnovED foster its own growth as an incubator? What factors are crucial to ensuring the incubator continues supporting others?

Marinucci: InnovED is always incubating new ideas and not afraid to try something radically new. InnovED has evolved exponentially in the last few years due to the incredible collaboration among our network of experts and our members. We are constantly inspired by the curiosity and compassion of our members, who drive us to continuously invest in curating events and learning engagements to serve their growth.                                                  

Termine: As a campus-linked accelerator in the ²ÝÝ®ÎÛÊÓƵµ¼º½â€™s growing entrepreneurship ecosystem, we also strive to create learning engagements that welcome and benefit colleagues, innovators, and aspiring entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs from across the broader ²ÝÝ®ÎÛÊÓƵµ¼º½ Entrepreneurship (UTE) community.