Introduction to the Magic Canoe
Eric Young President, E.Y.E. | The Social Projects Studio
Eric (Ric) Young was a pioneer in the field of social marketing. He cut his teeth on the early stages of the PARTICIPaction campaign, and was co-founder of Canada's first dedicated social marketing agency.
He left that company in the mid-90s to start E.Y.E. The Social Projects Studio -- a company dedicated to the creation and development of breakthrough social change initiatives.
Working with leading government, corporate and not-for-profit clients, he became increasingly frustrated by the inadequacy of the tools, models and methods society has at hand for tackling our most complex problems. This led him, in the year 2000, to propose to DuPont Canada that they embark on an initiative "to foster new mindsets, new skill sets, and a new culture for social innovation in Canada".
He worked with DuPont over several years to develop the Social Innovation Initiative, eventually forging a partnership with McGill university to create one of the world's first social innovation think tanks. This think tank gave rise to the best-selling book, Getting To Maybe.
He is on the faculty of the Boston College Centre for Corporate Citizenship. His current voluntary roles include: membership on the board of Ecotrust Canada, the Canadian advisory board of Right To Play and the editorial board of the Social Marketing Quarterly. He is a fellow of The Royal Society of the Arts, a member of Massey College's Quadrangle Society, and a fellow of SiG (Social Innovation Generation) at the university of Waterloo.