3E: Leading Sustainable Innovation in Schools: Embedding R&D in Everyday Practice

Unlike the healthcare or technology sectors, education lacks a robust research and development infrastructure. Innovation is often outsourced and knowledge gained rarely stays with schools. The Rennie Center’s R&D Labs aim to change this by integrating research with continuous improvement to embed sustainable innovation in school operations. In this session, participants will explore a case study from an R&D Lab site where education leaders advance equitable innovation by using diverse data to identify challenges, co-designing solutions with students, fostering learning routines and building relational trust within R&D teams. Attendees will engage with Rennie’s R&D Learning Plan and CI Practice Guide, including self-reflection rubrics, equity-focused design mindsets, and tools that support lasting, in-house innovation. Through discussion and guided application, participants will connect insights to their contexts and leave with strategies to build R&D capacity.