CREDIT: LAM LE
Innovation Works offers meeting spaces, co-working spaces, or even just a place to study with a warm cup of coffee.

Innovation Works wants the Fanshawe community to know its doors are open.

The social innovation shared space, at 201 King St., provides an alternative environment for the College’s staff and students to use in the downtown area. Its Edgar and Joe’s Café is open to the public, and students can also consider studying in the large first floor commons space.

Fanshawe College communications officer, Maureen Spencer Golovchenko, explained to Interrobang that Fanshawe is a co-tenant to the space. Staff from communications and Leap Junction, Corporate Training Solutions (CTS), the Centre for Research and Innovation (CRI), faculty and Fanshawe Student Union (FSU) leadership can enjoy the benefits this co-tenancy brings.

She said that Fanshawe student leaders and groups can access various meeting rooms, along with two Fanshawe desks on the second and third floors when they are not in use.

Numerous cross-sector community members from the non-profit, public and private sectors are currently using the 32,000 square foot building, which combines historical structure with modern design.

“The goal is to collectively enhance social good and social change in our community and greater region,” Spencer Golovchenko said.

Pillar Non-profit Network has owned and operated the building since 2016. Spencer Golovchenko said that she would like the campus community to be more aware of the fact that Fanshawe has had two permanent desks in the space from the start.

“As Fanshawe strives to prepare students for successful careers amid a very dynamic workplace, Innovation Works provides a creative environment for college staff and students to use when in the downtown area,” she said. “Co-tenants also seek out ways to use creative collaboration to launch new community activities. Now that Fanshawe has an expanded downtown campus, Innovation Works and the London Public Library can both serve as satellite venues to those who now teach and study in the heart of the city.”

She added that Innovation Works is a hub for educators and youth initiatives dedicated to social change and addressing problems like poverty and homelessness.

Those involved with LEAP Junction, an initiative that supports and promotes Fanshawe student entrepreneurship, have previously used the space to run their summer incubator program. Other educational entities using the space include Western, King’s, Huron, Brescia, and London’s two district school boards.

While students are welcome to visit the café and commons, FSU stakeholders must currently identify themselves at the front desk with a student card and ask to use a fob to access the desks.

Spencer Golovchenko said that as Fanshawe develops its own co-share space called Innovation Village in its main Oxford Street campus, she would like downtown students to learn more about how they can take advantage of what Innovation Works has to offer.

As Fanshawe’s footprint continues to grow with our London Downtown Campus, Innovation Works provides an opportunity for students to spread out downtown, through use of the shared space, where possible,” she said.

To learn more about Innovation Works, go to innovationworkslondon.ca.