People sunbathing in the park Harnessing the power of collaboration to generate solutions for a strong and sustainable economy

Harnessing the power of collaboration to generate solutions for a strong and sustainable economy

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Innovating systems, together

At Generate Canada, we believe that developing solutions to complex problems at the nexus of the environment, economy, and society cannot be done alone. 

Uncoordinated, quick-fix efforts to solve these problems usually cost more, create new risks, and fail to achieve  enduring, scalable, and sustainable results.  

This is where we come in. 

We know that cross-sector collaboration is crucial for innovating how we grow food, build homes, produce energy, use and recycle plastic, and harness the value of our vast natural resources while protecting them for future generations.

Through our responsive portfolio of Solution Spaces and leadership initiatives, we bring businesses, governments, and communities together to shift systems and make markets for a sustainable future. 

Join us and find your space in the solution.

Strengthening Canada’s economy requires that we better leverage our financial, human, and natural capital. But we cannot unleash the full value of these assets without first cultivating our social capital—the critical relationships that power ingenuity and build capacity across industries, sectors and systems.

David Hughes

President and CEO, Generate Canada

Creating Solution Spaces

Our Solution Spaces foster deep collaboration among diverse problem-solvers across fields and sectors, in a pre-competitive setting. Informed by world-class research and policy expertise, we develop and pressure-test innovative, scalable, and human-centered solutions to complex environmental and economic  challenges.

From eliminating plastics pollution to supporting farmer-led sustainable agriculture to accelerating Alberta’s energy transition—our Solution Spaces tackle some of the toughest issues facing our environment, economy, and society today.

Explore the spaces where the work of change is getting done.

Keeping plastics in our economy and out of people, animals, and nature.

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Accelerating action for climate-smart agriculture

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Maximizing material productivity to future-proof Canada’s construction sector

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Fostering innovations that accelerate an inclusive Canadian energy transition

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Increasing investment fivefold in nature conservation, restoration, and stewardship.

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What our partners are saying

Co-operators and Generate Canada have a rich history of partnership and collaboration. In fact, it was Generate Canada that first inspired our sustainability journey, and we modelled our approach based in large part on the system conditions for a sustainable society that we first learned about from Generate Canada, well over a decade ago. Today, with visions and values aligned, we’re proud to continue working together to catalyze resilience and sustainability in our communities.

Rob Wesseling

President and CEO, Co-operators

This was one of the first organizations I encountered that deeply understood the connection between environmental, social, and economic sustainability. It’s evolution, from a focus on organizational change to systemic change, is both appropriate and absolutely necessary for Canada’s transition. And the impact speaks for itself.”

Kathy Bardswick

Chair, Sustainable Finance Action Council

Real partnerships, true authentic relationships based on mutual respect and outcomes, are rare, and are essential building blocks to supporting sustainable growth for Indigenous communities. This is what makes Generate Canada’s work so valuable, today more than ever before.

Dr. JP Gladu

Principal, Mokwateh

We’re in a decisive decade for Canada’s economy and the climate transition. Businesses and investors, alongside governments, will drive a fundamental reimagining of nearly every sector of our economy, including a climate-smart transformation of how we generate energy, grow food and construct buildings and infrastructure. To do this with greater efficiency, we need to find more ways to bring problem solvers together and build the greener economy of the future. Generate Canada is playing an important role in helping bring Canadian innovators and industry leaders together. We need approaches like this more than ever.

Dave McKay

President and CEO, Royal Bank of Canada

    Partnering for impact

    Rising to the environmental and economic sustainability crises of our times requires significant shifts in all the ways we work together as a society–from policy design, to business practice, to technological innovation to behaviour change. We need innovation on all of these fronts, and we need those innovations to support and boost each other, because that’s how we change systems.

    Driving innovation on that scale means working with ambitious and committed problem-solvers across sectors and value-chains. Our partners across industry, government, academia, and civil society bring diverse perspectives, experiences, and expertise. They don’t always agree. That’s what real innovation requires. What they share is conviction and a willingness to dig into the tensions and do the hard work. That’s how progress happens.

    Solving the plastic waste crisis together

    What’s the future of plastic packaging? Circular thinking may be the answer.

    Collaborating to innovate Alberta’s electricity future

    How an AI-powered “sandbox” could help us imagine and plan for the electricity grids our future demands

    Why farmers play a big role in fighting climate change

    And how a new national alliance aims to support them

    Hammering out a blueprint for the housing crisis

    What it takes to bring traditional adversaries together to advance action that everyone can agree on

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    Together, let’s prove that innovation for people, nature, and the economy is possible. This is the most important project of our time and it can only be achieved by working collectively and collaboratively.

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