Inclusive innovation education: engaging “the unserved 80%”

This chapter explores a unique entrepreneurship education program at Humber College, Toronto, designed to foster an entrepreneurial mindset and inclusive innovation practices among non-managerial staff. Drawing upon industry and academic research, the initiative seeks to address a missed opportunity in traditional entrepreneurial education and strategic innovation systems. Focused on a large “ordinary employee” population that is typically excluded from strategic innovation initiatives in organizations, the Inclusive Innovation Education Program emphasizes the ability of these employees to participate in more than token idea generation activities and, instead, proactively develop and implement innovative solutions that support the organization’s strategic priorities. Inspired by pragmatic sources of business innovation and the positive deviance model, activities include the co-design of an innovation challenge to illuminate and scale hidden innovation of front-line employees. In extending the boundaries of entrepreneurship education, this initiative contributes valuable insights for entrepreneurship educators seeking to engage untapped ingenuity within their organizations.