The world has changed, and we’re changing with it

Climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution—the multi-faceted human challenges we face today have no simple answers or quick fixes. 

While these intractable problems aren’t easy to solve, they are indeed solvable. 

But we can’t do it alone. No one can. So we are relentlessly focused on fostering the multidisciplinary, multicultural, cross-sector and pre-competitive collaborations that we know are essential for creating breakthrough policies, business practices and technologies.    

With almost 30 years of experience under our belt, we know that bringing leaders and experts together to solve complex problems can surface divergent approaches, competitive interests and other deeply-rooted tensions. However, we also have evidence that ‘necessity is the mother of invention’. We have seen how differences of opinion combined with an intense need for change can fuel bold, brave and creative conversations—conversations that yield new ideas and outcomes that no one could have predicted at the onset.   

While some will argue for narrowly targeted interventions, we know we can’t focus on addressing the economy, the environment, or our social challenges as individual issues. They are integrally connected.   

We need a new way of tackling issues that embraces systems thinking, collaboration, scientific rigor, evidence-based decision-making, and new forms of partnership that bring together—and harness the talents and resources of—those who are striving to make a healthy balance between self-interest, commercial success and public good.  

We believe that advancing this “new way” requires a different kind of organization, with a new name, that embraces the above in order to generate “wicked solutions” that meet the challenge of today’s “wicked problems”.  

A New Name

With this in mind, as of July 3, 2024, The Natural Step Canada will be Generate Canada—which in partnership with the Smart Prosperity Institute—shares a vision of a strong and inclusive Canadian economy that thrives within nature’s limits. Our mission—to connect problem-solvers to generate solutions to the most complex challenges at the nexus of environment, economy, and society.

While we continue to harness all we have learned during our early years and remain a member of The Natural Step’s global network, our new name reflects that we are no longer the same organization we were when first conceived so many years ago. [To learn more about our history go here]  

While our vision has stood the test of time, our way of achieving it has evolved. Our new brand builds on our historical roots while shining new light on our passion for generating creative, scalable and systemic solutions to the most complex and interconnected issues of our times.  

Solution Spaces – unique platforms for fostering innovation 

Over the years we have carried out much of our work through various projects and initiatives which we now refer to as Solution Spaces. 

These unique multi-stakeholder platforms are made up of business leaders, policymakers, academics, technical experts and NGOs. They take on big, hairy challenges that are aligned with our vision and mission. They are powered with cutting-edge research and policy expertise, and in addition to cultivating new ideas, they build the skills and social capital necessary for the long-term execution and advancement of emerging solutions.    

From developing a coalition of cross-sector partners to tackle our plastic waste crisis to building a national battery ecosystem, from scaling circular finance in Canada to attracting private investment into nature conservation or working with farmers to fight climate change, our Solution Spaces are making tangible progress on a variety of wicked problems that threaten our well-being, our environment and our economy.  

In addition to our five Solution Spaces, our work is deeply informed by our partnership with the Smart Prosperity Institute. Their best-in-class research and policy expertise enables us to accomplish more together.

Find your space in the solution

While the issues we face are urgent and can at times be overwhelming, I urge all of us to ask what role we can play in bringing about the change we need. 

My team and I invite you to participate in our interactive Wicked Solutions Mosaic where you can add one or more tiles, helping us tell the collective story of Canadian solutions and solutionists.  

Upload an image and tell us about solutions that inspire you, or activities you are undertaking that make you a fellow problem-solver. While you are at it, look through the mosaic and draw some inspiration from others who are working hard to find their space in the solution. 

I look forward to continuing this journey with you as we collectively innovate  “The Generate Canada Way” of generating solutions for a strong and inclusive economy that thrives within nature’s limits. 

Never have the stakes been higher, the challenges greater, and the need for new approaches more imperative.

Please feel free to reach out with any questions or thoughts at info@generatecanada.ca 

David Hughes
President and CEO
Generate Canada