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Ontario Inclusive Innovation (I2) Action Strategy

The Ontario i2 Action Strategy was a collaboration between the Telfer Centre for Executive Leadership (CEL) in the Telfer School of Management at the University of Ottawa, and the Diversity Institute. The project provides an evidence informed approach to create the most inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem in the world. It undertook three interrelated activity streams that act, promote and include diverse women entrepreneurs.

Diversity assessment of Ontario’s innovation ecosystem. A gender-based analysis (GBA+) of mainstream and women-focused enterprise support organizations, guided by the Diversity Institute’s ‘Diversity Assessment Tool’, analyzed diversity across the provincial value chain. This work included 25 onsite interviews with leaders of mainstream innovation and social enterprise centres, campus-linked accelerators, and women-focused Ontario-based enterprise support organizations and networks.

Knowledge sharing to advance inclusive and gender-sensitive enterprise support services and related resources. Five regional workshops facilitated active sharing of knowledge and resources between the Project Management Team and both women-focused and mainstream support organizations, to advance inclusive and gender-sensitive enterprise support services.

Collaboration among intermediaries and networks, mentors, coaches, etc. To share insights and research findings, including more nuanced understanding of the features of gender-sensitive programs, training and curricula.

The findings of the Ontario i2 Action Strategy establish benchmarks with which to monitor and evaluate progress in supporting diverse women within Ontario small business support organizations.

 (PDF file)  Read the i2 report here

Why do we need an Inclusive Innovation I2 Strategy? 

While a substantial proportion of entrepreneurs are women, women-owned ventures are less likely to receive financial investments, government contracts and other requisite resources compared to male-owned ventures. When other dimensions of diversity are considered, research shows that some racialized, immigrant, Indigenous, LGBTQIS2 and entrepreneurs with disabilities are less likely to benefit from business support.

Structural impediments include systemic biases in funding, client selection criteria, lack of gender- sensitive programming and networks, macho organizational cultures, and limited representation of diverse women on decision-making boards. Such influences impede women business owners, and suggest the need for remedies to address systemic barriers rather than “fixing women entrepreneurs.”

The Canada-US Council for the Advancement of Women Entrepreneurs identified the need for four initiatives, including:

The Women Entrepreneurs Ontario (WEO) Collective (2016) advanced similar recommendations to develop a gender-focused scorecard to report on the engagement of women entrepreneurs within the entrepreneurial ecosystem and to prepare a strategic business plan for enhanced support services for women entrepreneurs.

The Canadian Taskforce for Women’s Business Growth (2011) concluded that there is limited collaboration between mainstream and women-focused enterprise support organizations

“Challenging accelerators and professional networks to take bold action to attract and develop women-owned businesses, starting with tracking and transparency on the number of women entrepreneurs they help scale up."

Links and Resources

Regional Centres

Team 

The action strategy leverages the entrepreneurial spirit of the team comprised of Dr. Barbara Orser, Dr. Catherine Elliott and Dr. Wendy Cukier. All members have related experience and longstanding relationships with Ontario, national and international mainstream and women- focused enterprise support organizations. Barbara Orser and Wendy Cukier are globally recognized thought leaders in advancing diversity, gender and entrepreneurship. All members bring a deep knowledge of entrepreneurship program design, evaluation and quality assurance processes.