Participants Indigenous Peoples, Women

Luminary: Advancing Indigenous innovation

This initiative will convene 140+ partners from across Canada who have signed a charter affirming the need to transform the Indigenous economy by closing the innovation gap and advancing the Indigenous research ecosystem.

The Luminary project’s planning process, leading to a co-designed strategy and business plan, will develop new Indigenous skills to increase research collaboration, improve knowledge mobilization, spur new networks and partnerships, and grow new Indigenous product/service innovations as a catalyst to new economic growth, jobs, and well-being.

Two individuals in a meeting room having a discussion.

Future Skills Centre is investing $195,360 in this 1-year project. Luminary will kickstart the transformation to a new culture of Indigenous innovation with a commensurate narrative and the prospect of new enabling/co-designed strategies, skills, and systems. Until now, Indigenous businesses and communities have lacked a legitimate, neutral forum to engage with the post-secondary research establishment to discuss and co-create a redesign of the Indigenous innovation ecosystem with an emphasis on business innovation as a key outcome.

Deliverables are to: co-create a national Indigenous innovation strategy; develop skills syllabus concept documents with needs assessments, learning goals, and content requirements to increase:

1. Indigenous-led research collaborations skills.
2. Management and organizational skills to promote and manage innovation.
3. Develop a business plan for Luminary that includes a delivery platform for research and innovation skills, services, and systems enhancements to grow the Indigenous research ecosystem.

These deliverables are designed and developed in consultation with the Luminary partners from the academic, Indigenous business and NGO communities.

Evaluation Strategy

This project is evaluated using tools and approaches aligned with its goals, context, and stage of development. The evaluation focuses on generating the right evidence at the right moment to move the intervention forward. Read more about our evaluation strategy.