I recently had the pleasure of attending the 2014 Canadian Knowledge Mobilization Conference in Saskatoon, SK on June 9^th and 10^th hosted by the Institute for Knowledge Mobilization.   Already in its third year, the conference’s theme for 2014 centered on social and economic innovation and was chaired by Colleen Christensen, Industrial Technology Advisor for the National Research Council.

The conference featured a packed agenda which included breakout sessions, an inspirational, leadership and an action speaker, posters, facilitated networking opportunities, knowledge in motion pecha kucha style presentations, an innovation café and of course a few knowledge mobilization games.

The themes of the presentations were focused on knowledge mobilization (KM), knowledge transfer and the role of knowledge brokers, and the topics ranged from evaluation tools and developing indicators, best practices and success stories, improving knowledge mobilization skills, and presented new and innovative ways to translate and exchange knowledge.

With all of the great connections I made and new information I learned, I am looking forward to developing a KM Strategy here at NBSPRN that clearly outlines our services and demonstrates our ability to add value to our different member needs. Not to mention, I also plan on using the tools presented at the conference to improve on our existing services by adding to our knowledge dissemination service repertoire and developing indicators to track our progress along the way.

In addition to the presentations offered in the main meeting space, over the two days, I sat in on the following 30 minute breakout sessions:

Day 1:

• It wouldn’t be KMb without KB: Insights into the role of knowledge brokers in supporting child and youth mental health and addictions communities of interest in Ontario.
• Moving research to policy in the Public Health Agency of Canada: Development of plain-language summaries of published journal articles.
• Building capacity for evidence use: Mobilizing knowledge in government.
• Indicators for measurement at each stage of knowledge translation from research to impact.
• From setting the stage to setting trends: Raising the bar on a standardized approach to measuring KTE effectiveness.
• Relationship-based knowledge mobilization: the importance of systems-based Kmb and consideration of risk perception for effective uptake.

Day 2:

• Orienting ourselves in a KT world.
• What’s new and what’s working in a dedicated knowledge mobilization program: Sharing ideas, insights, innovation and impacts: KTT research transformed into use.
• Where do knowledge mobilization professionals come from?

If you would like to know more about these sessions, I would be happy to share what I learned with you. I can be reached at sasha.caputo@rrps-nb-sprn.ca or by telephone at 506-453-5009. A detailed agenda is available here.