In an era of austerity and shifting priorities, securing funding and support for projects using systemic design or social innovation approaches is becoming increasingly challenging. Yet, with growing recognition of the polycrisis, the increasing complexity of social challenges, and the diminishing value placed on diversity, equity, and inclusion, these approaches are needed now more than ever. Given this, how do we effectively communicate the importance of these approaches to those outside of the social innovation space?

Join us for an afternoon of generative conversation where we will:

• Reflect on the need for a "collective pitch" for social innovation
• Explore calls for a shared mission approach and social innovation manifesto that can unite us across innovation approaches (i.e. Labs, systemic design, strategic foresight, human centred design, incubators, social entrepreneurship etc.).
• Create space for practitioners to discuss strategies they are using to 'make the case' for innovation in their workplaces and communities

As part of the session, Paige Reeves (Action Lab) and Annand Olllivierre (J5 Design) will share reflections from the Future of Labs initiative. Future of Labs is a cross section of experienced Lab practitioners exploring what the next ten years of Social Innovation Labs might look like. As part of these explorations this collective has started to write and reflect about the need to get better at communicating the purpose and value of Social Innovation Labs to others working in the innovation ecosystem, funders, and future possible partners. They've also put out a call for a missions approach to innovation and a social innovation manifesto that makes the case for social innovation clear. We hope sharing from this initiative can spark insights and learning for those working across the social innovation ecosystem.

This is a juicy conversation. We won't get to any answers, but hope to create space for exploratory discussion and sharing of experiences amongst practitioners using social innovation approaches in their work.