2020 Benefitting Society Finalist: HEC Montréal - Canada

HEC Montréal - Hectare urbain – A permaculture urban project in a Management School 

Hectare urbain is a sustainable urban agriculture project, aimed at increasing awareness of conservation and social responsibility issues among its staff and student community members. The project comprises a 5388.38 m2 food forest that protects and restores the plant heritage in the Mount Royal ecosystem; a vegetable garden that allows heirloom seed conservation, as well as two beehives. The project aims to provide a living lab space for students and staff in two complementary areas: agricultural permaculture, community engagement and social permaculture. From this perspective, the project engages management students in a school pairing program, which has allowed them to share their knowledge with over 1000 primary and secondary students in three years. 

Top three learnings:  

1. Carving space for social innovation within campus is key. 
2. Creating opportunities for knowledge exchange between staff and students is important to balance continuity with creativity and renewal of volunteers. 
3. There are many opportunities to further develop sustainable development and social responsibilities competencies in biodiversity conservation projects. For instance, the implementation of a permaculture project and facilitate the acquisition of competencies by students beyond their core expertise