The Energy Futures Lab was one of the first Solution Spaces in Generate Canada’s portfolio and over the past decade it has grown to become Canada's leading social innovation platform for energy transition.
We are pleased to share an important milestone in the evolution of our work to build a strong and inclusive Canadian economy that thrives within nature’s limits.
Generate Canada has specialized in establishing what it refers to as Solution Spaces—multi-stakeholder platforms that help stimulate innovation, investment, public policy, and business practices that tackle complex challenges at the intersection of the environment, economy and society.
We pioneered this work over the past 15 years, and 10 years ago this led to the creation of the Energy Futures Lab (EFL)—today recognized as the country’s leading social innovation platform for the energy transition. Rooted in Alberta and connected nationally, the Lab has brought together thousands of innovators, community leaders, and industry partners to explore and co-create Canada’s energy future.
Over the past decade, as EFL flourished, Generate Canada evolved as well, expanding its work into a growing network of Solution Spaces focused on circularity, regenerative agriculture, plastics, nature investment, and other frontiers of sustainability and innovation.
Together, Generate Canada and the Energy Futures Lab have co-developed methodologies, governance models, and practices that now underpin various systems change initiatives across the country. We are immensely proud of what we have accomplished together—and grateful to every partner who has supported this journey.
As the Energy Futures Lab marks its 10-year anniversary, and Generate Canada approaches 30 years since its founding, it is the right time for the Lab to take its next step forward. The Lab has achieved the scale, governance maturity, and strategic clarity to operate as an independent, purpose-built organization, focused on the unique challenges and opportunities of Canada’s and Alberta’s energy transition.
This evolution reflects both success and natural progression: Generate Canada’s approach to developing, incubating and scaling is designed to help initiatives maximize their impact and advance transformative change in their respective systems. The Energy Futures Lab now joins the ranks of thriving initiatives that have emerged from our platform—proof of the power of collaborative innovation in action.
Generate Canada and the Energy Futures Lab will remain close collaborators, aligned through shared principles and ongoing partnership, including commitments to:
This transition allows both organizations to deepen their focus and impact. Generate Canada will continue to advance its portfolio of Solution Spaces, fostering innovation in key systems essential to a thriving economy within nature’s limits. The Energy Futures Lab will continue to be a trusted ally—deeply rooted in Alberta, nationally connected, and globally relevant.
We view this moment as a celebration—of shared achievement, of organizational growth, and of Canada’s collective capacity for innovation. To all our partners and collaborators who have helped make this milestone possible: thank you. Your continued engagement will shape the next chapter in our joint effort to build a prosperous, inclusive, and sustainable Canada.
