Cape Breton University to host Community Innovation and Social Enterprise Conference

From July 10-12, Cape Breton University’s Shannon School of Business will host the Community Innovation and Social Enterprise Conference on the CBU campus. This conference will bring together practitioners, researchers and community organizations from home and afar, to discuss current best practices, challenges and innovations in advancing social entrepreneurship, and improving community livelihoods.

“At Cape Breton University, we are committed to innovation on various levels and I’m proud that the theme of this year’s conference is linked to this significant aspect of development,” says George Karaphillis, Dean, Shannon School of Business. “I believe the calibre of scholars who have registered to attend, and present at the conference centred on community innovation speaks volumes to the relevance of what we’re doing and why it’s so important.”

The bi-annual conference has attracted more than 300 attendees from Canada and around the world, including Scotland, Austria, Nigeria, and South Africa and will have more than 30 thought-leaders presenting. Over the course of the two days, participants will have opportunities to attend sessions on community-based development, place-based business and sustainable aboriginal economies along with social enterprises and Innovation, co-operatives and sustainable business models and entrepreneurial financing.

Fred Morley, Chief Economist for Tourism Nova Scotia, will deliver the keynote address on Building Strong Communities through Innovation Culture. Morley is regarded as one of the leading economic development professionals in Canada.  He was Executive Vice President and Chief Economist of the Greater Halifax Partnership, the Atlantic Provinces Economic Council, and ran a consulting practice. More recently, Fred has focused his work on the sharing economy and is considered an authority on the impact of sharing economy platforms on economic growth.

Barry J. McLaughlin, leadership communications consultant will also provide an address, with a focus on Business, Politics and the Media in a Disruptive World. McLaughlin has conducted over 5,000 seminars for organizations in the public, private and non-profit sectors and trains leaders across North America in media interviews, speeches, presentations and crisis communications. Barry received his Master’s of Public Administration degree from the Harvard Kennedy School, where he specialized in the study of the media’s impact on government, business and public policy.

For more information please visit the conference site or contact George Karaphillis at  george_karaphillis@cbu.ca.