CREDIT: PROVIDED BY DAVID BELFORD
Fanshawe recently announced plans for Innovation Village, a collaborative and creative environment where students can take the skills they've learned in class to the next level.

An exciting project known as Innovation Village is in development at Fanshawe College, promising to bring the college and local community closer together and more connected than ever before.

This is a collaborative space and environment which, according to an information pamphlet recently released by the College, “will be a virtual and private gateway that supports a vibrant and collaborative ecosystem where students can access one stop support and services that will promote innovative practices for exceptional learning.”

Interrobang spoke with David Belford, the executive director of Innovation Village who gave some advanced insight on the project’s conception so far.

Belford said that a major concept behind Innovation Village is education.

“What we’d like to do is support teaching and learning where students... work with clients, [which] can be external organizations like businesses or non-profits,” Belford said.

Belford said that in order to do so he will be “suggesting that the programs and schools examine their programs and see what opportunities are in each program.”

Beyond the collaboration side of things, this project will see an exciting and innovative construction and reimagining of space on campus.

The new design will include a student pop-up marketplace, an indoor/ outdoor gathering place where members of the Indigenous community are able to meet to connect and collaborate; an entrepreneurial incubator, presentation studios, and much more.

Belford said inspiration for this project came from a number of areas including student engagement.

“[Some inspiration came from] some really excellent learning experiences that students have here already,” Belford said. “We see how valuable those are when they work together in teams. Maybe work together with students from different programs even...It helps students bring together everything they’ve learned in their program.”

One of the biggest areas to tackle with a project like this is the physical construction of the space. “It’s a fairly aggressive timeline but we’re shooting to have [the] first phase of it in the fall [of 2020]. Part of this also is looking at the way the library operates and some of the work we’re doing will also look at creation of a learning commons and things like that.”

When fully completed, the hopes are that this space will stretch beyond the library, into F building, as well as Forwell Hall. Due to the complexity of a project like this, Belford said the project is already bringing the many departments of the College together as they develop and execute the steps involved.

Belford said that a program such as this will not only benefit the College and the students, but also the local community and business of London.

“I think for a lot of organizations that work with them, they’ll get some benefits. Maybe getting some new ideas, new perspectives. Maybe identifying some skills they need within the organization which might even lead to student jobs,” Belford said.

Belford said he also believes that programs such as this, once implemented, could have a major positive impact on local communities as well as Ontario’s economy as a whole. “The college system and Fanshawe are contributing to the economy by the programs we offer, which are geared to what’s happening in the economy,” Belford said, “I think maybe what we’re adding to this a little bit more while the students are here...they may be able to contribute to growth and other things within businesses and non-profits. So, I think a lot of students like to feel they have the opportunity to make a difference or make a change.”

Until then, Belford is excited is excited to watch all aspects of the program come to fruition and looking forward to “having a facility that promotes collaborative working together and making use of the resources that we have.”

The construction of Innovation Village is still very much in its planning phase. Due to this, there is not much information elsewhere at the moment. However you can be certain that Interrobang will keep its readers in the loop on all news relating to this project moving forward.