A Living Lab Approach to Prepare Students to Be Confident Innovators

This article examines the development of a living innovation lab to support university students in becoming confident innovators. Given the effervescence of the Quebec innovation field and the Canadian ambitions to develop a nation of innovators, universities must teach innovation approaches and bridge the gap between the skills developed in university and those expected by the job market. Accordingly, we have created an Innovation Lab at Concordia University, including student interdisciplinarity, mentors, and partners. We have adopted challenge-based learning and a systemic design approach to help students develop innovation skills. We describe the Innovation Lab initiative and share reflections on the essential elements, including the need for flexibility, creating a failure-positive environment for students, proactively attending to teamwork, and contextual limits on creativity.