OCIC AGM & Symposium 2017: Innovation Ignites!

As Canada marked 150 years of Confederation and positioned itself as a global leader and advocate for the Sustainable Development Goals, we invited our members, community leaders, students and interested individuals to collectively reflect on emerging opportunities for systemic social impact and more effective citizen engagement. This future-focused event was about developing new strategies and actionable ideas for the world’s most pressing social issues.

Our morning AGM included presentations from our Board of Directors and management on the governance and programs past and upcoming, election of new Board members, ratification of new members, and recognition of key volunteers and contributors to the Council in the past year.

Alexander Manu, author, speaker and leading practitioner in the field of Strategic Foresight, then provided a thought-provoking keynote on ways “organizations must change their narrative and redefine their role within the story of each user; in other words, ‘start from scratch’, drawing a clean line and imagining everything as it should be, not as an improvement of what is.”

Nenad Rava and Christine McGlade then led us through a collaborative process to help co-create Strategic Foresight for OCIC’s future orientation, providing space for participants to share creative ideas and expertise on innovation and development. Capping off the afternoon, we heard reflections on ‘where to next’ from Nenad in conversation with Anne Connelly, Keita Demming and Joshua Tabah, and closing remarks from OCIC Executive Director, Kimberly Gibbons, and Board Director, Jessica Ferne.

Our evening program included a screening of award-winning film MILK, by Director, Writer and Producer Noemi Weis, in collaboration with Amani Massoud, Egyptian Public Health-Specialist and Human-Rights Defender, facilitated by Eugenia Ochoa.

For the participant package, click here.