Celebrating Indigenous Innovation
Born from a need in the marketplace to incubate Indigenous innovation, the Indigenous Innovation Initiative (I3) was created with funding support from Women and Gender Equality Canada (WAGE). Guided by a talented group of Indigenous leaders from across Canada, I3 currently funds 13 innovators at Seed and Transition to Scale (TTS). We are pleased to announce the Round 2 Seed, and first ever TTS innovators here.
As an Indigenous innovation platform, I3 provides culturally safe seed funding that allows Indigenous innovators to test bold ideas that address complex, social problems and bring them to scale.
- They root their work in the values of inclusion, self-determination, sustainability, and creativity to enable First Nation, Inuit, and Métis innovators and communities to identify and solve their own challenges, transform lives, and drive inclusive growth and wellbeing for the whole of society.
- Hosted at Grand Challenges Canada (GCC), I3 supports innovative and scalable Indigenous-led ideas for impact, investing in communities to solve complex health, social and economic challenges. Created and led by Indigenous leaders, I3 is built on a foundation of Indigenous ways of knowing and being and is rooted in Indigenous values.
- I3 is motivated to provide the right kind of funding and support to test and scale truly bold and transformative ideas by and for First Nations, Métis, or Inuit women, Two Spirit, queer, trans, non-binary or gender-diverse persons. Successful applicants ready to test for a proof of concept (Seed) or to plan or implement a transition to scale strategy (TTS) receive grants to develop and test their innovative idea, project, or enterprise.
Meet the Indigenous Innovation Initiative’s Round 2 Seed and Transition-to-Scale Innovators
The most recent funding round (Round 2) draws on lessons from Round 1, to support bold and transformative projects that are led by First Nations, Métis or Inuit female, Two Spirit, queer, trans, non-binary, or gender-diverse persons in Canada in one (1) of four (4) investment priority areas:
- Land story (environmental sustainability) – solutions that directly address or mitigate climate change.
- Food sovereignty (agriculture) – solutions that help address food security, including supply chains, food production and food access
- Tech (digital access and data sovereignty) – tech innovations that increase digital access or data sovereignty for Indigenous communities
- Wellness – solutions that address the mental health and well-being of people using an Indigenous approach.
All projects are Indigenous-led and grounded in Indigenous ways of knowing and being, and also seek to advance gender equality by creating safe spaces, removing barriers, or uplifting gender equality throughout the innovation
How best to support I3:
Support the WORK of Indigenous Innovators
What do you want us to know about the work of I3?
- Innovation is alive and well in Indigenous communities across Canada
- I3 is amplifying the local work by granting funds to grow innovation in Canada
- Innovation shows up in different ways
- Indigenous innovation is often going back to traditional ways of knowing and being, not necessarily “brand new” ideas
- Support proof of concept ideas, we are starting to scale new ideas to grow their ideas and impact more people
- The work of Indigenous innovators benefits their communities and the folks in them
- The work of I3 models impact investing in Indigenous innovation
- Get to know the folks in the space
- I3 is committed to uplifting Indigenous Innovations and entrepreneurs
- I3 is a connector who practices a mindset of abundance
What are you most proud of to date, and can you give a specific example or story?
- We are helping to advance women + gender diverse entrepreneurs/innovators which we know are underrepresented.
- We know by helping women you are having an impact on the whole community
- We know profiling these innovators will inspire others to dream
- We are deeply rooted in the mindset of being innovator focused and community powered.
- We have listened to community; where to build/reduce in the work we do with them: in our application process, selection, our due diligence process and reporting.
- We are continually working to improve our processes
What is the vision for this initiative as well as the next steps?
- We want to keep supporting Indigenous innovators not just at seed but in scaling and pre-seed supports
- We will continue listening to innovators where there are places to learn and grow (eg. ownership, control, access, and possession (OCAP®))
- Innovator-centric vs funder-centric approach to supporting innovation
- Continually reducing barriers to promote economic reconciliation
- We are on a path to self-determination. Our best way to serve innovators in the future is on this path
