In 2015, the City of Guelph IT department asked the Guelph Lab to support the design of alternative procurement processes that can unlock innovative technology solutions for the City, and have the potential to create business development opportunities for compagnies working in "Civic Tech".
A new project run through the Guelph Lab earned the third place, and a $10 000 prize, as part of the Civic Innovation Awards program of the McConnell Family Foundation. It is one of seven projects across the country that have been recognized as innovative forms of collaboration between cities and post-secondary institutions.
On February 11th, 2015, the College of Social and Applied Human Sciences' Institute for Community Engaged Scholarship hosted a full-day event on Community Engaged Scholarship (CES). The event consisted of two panel discussions and two intensive workshops, and was attended by 44 individuals from multiple disciplines.
While the tools of civically engaged higher education (service-learning, community-based research, etc.) existed in sociology classes well before the onset of what some call the “civic engagement movement,” they have quickly shifted from margin to center as key building blocks for sociology’s own trend toward public sociology.