CALL FOR NEW PROJECTS
The Innovation Hub is ready to take on new design thinking and storytelling projects for the 2025-2026 academic year. Our student teams can help you co-create programs, services, resources, and spaces. Working together, we help you build positivity around your project and ensure the highest possible student engagement in the process. Our teams are hired and trained specifically for your project and work directly with you and your teams throughout the process.
WHY WORK WITH THE INNOVATION HUB?
9+ years experience with
student-led projects improving
campus experiences
Excellent teams of
students from all programs
Our peer-to-peer model
generates honest
stories from students
Personalized branding
for each project imagined by our
student graphic designers
Professional outputs including
reports, presentations of data,
videography, mini-websites and more
Our Peer-to-Peer Model
The Innovation Hub takes a design thinking approach that focuses on collecting story-based data through conversations to understand student experiences. We then create powerful stories based on insights from the data that can lead to innovative possibilities for the future. We focus on ensuring that all of your community members can participate and feel included. Our approach leads to increased positive sentiment and generates positive public relations. Our aim is to unveil visions for future possibilities where students can see their needs and insights reflected.
Project Timeline
Fee Structure: Cost Recovery
Once we’ve met with you to discuss your project needs, we’ll create a project proposal that includes all fees. The Innovation Hub offers consultant-quality work in affordable cost-recovery pricing model that supports student employment. Project fees include the cost of student salaries, student participant compensation in TBucks, and any other direct costs associated with carrying out your project. The Innovation Hub covers all overhead costs of supporting student teams. Pricing ranges from $30,000 - $45,000 depending on the scope of the project. Your project directly generates employment for students across all degree and study levels.
Hear What Our Partners Say About Us
The Innovation Hub provides an outstanding and innovative solution to this challenge of speaking to students in the student voice.
“While University staff work diligently to support the student experience, there are times when the best people to speak to students on sensitive topics are other students."
- Andrea Russell, Director of Academic Affairs, Office of the Vice-President & Provost
Working with the Innovation Hub is the perfect way to engage students in researching an issue or project, creating space for student voices, and identifying a path forward for a relevant problem or issue that you’re focusing on.
“The employment of design thinking not only makes the process that much more meaningful, but it also enables the project team to ask critical questions that get the clients and users to think about the roots of the issue – thus, better enabling them to frame a solution that is more sustainable and impactful. And on top of it all, they’re a great team to work with! Always a pleasure and so thoughtful in their approach."
– David Kim, Warden, Hart House
Their approach is unique as it is truly empathetic of student experiences and expert in designing solutions that reflect student needs.
“As an integral part of the Faculty of Kinesiology, whose main strategic focus is to excel in advancing healthy living through inclusive movement, Sport and Rec strives to make programs and services accessible and representative of student wants and needs. To do so, we needed to improve at being truly accessible and reflective of the diverse student body, and this meant hearing from students who use our services and those not yet participating. The Innovation Hub provides that input by developing student-led teams that consult with peers in innovative ways. The results are wholesome, precise and invaluable insights that mainstream consulting firms simply cannot offer."
– Luc Simard, Director, Sport and Recreation
HAVE AN IDEA FOR A PROJECT? LET'S CHAT!
We would love to set up a conversation to discuss your project idea. Fill in some details using the form below and we’ll be in touch soon! We're currently accepting project ideas until January 18th, 2025.
Have any questions? Contact Julia Allworth, Manager, Innovation Projects at julia.allworth@utoronto.ca.