ABOUT - The Impact Collective - OCAD U's Social Innovation Project

What is The Impact Collective?

The Impact Collective is OCAD University’s social innovation initiative. Within OCAD University, we enact social innovation through critical, creative thinking and practice. We do so by mobilizing art and design to address challenges faced by society, and thereby realize transformational change. The Impact Collective provides opportunities for the OCAD University community to channel their creative energies towards activating change and creating meaningful impact.

The Impact Collective seeks to connect university-wide activities related to social innovation, and fosters these within a community of initiatives which share a commitment to realizing meaningful impact. We recognize that we can achieve more together: to truly drive sustainable change we need to join forces as a community of social creative practice. Above all, we endeavor to advance awareness of the unique role that artists and designers have in shaping a more sustainable and vibrant society.

Open Impact Lab

The Open Impact Lab connects a range of activities which advance impact in society by supporting programming within the OCAD U community and collaborating on outreach activities which address social challenges at a local & international scale.

Impact Exchange

The Impact Exchange works to transform the student experience by linking socially-minded creative practice and thinking – as it occurs in OCAD U studios and classrooms – to the wider professional world and various communities.

Impact Economy
Research Hub

The Impact Economy Research Hub (IERH) undertakes academic and applied research at the intersection of business and creativity, to advance transformative change in society.

Our Goals

1. Raise awareness of the global consciousness of social change, and the distinctive ways that challenges can be addressed through critical, creative thinking and practice.

2. Establish opportunities for training and collaboration which build capacity in the OCAD U community to enact meaningful social change across diverse disciplines.

3. Cultivate and sustain a movement for transformational change and impact within the OCAD University community, further extending into society.