Citizenship means living in a way that recognizes our world as increasingly connected, complex and interdependent. We become great innovators and global citizens when we consider how one choice and one action can have repercussions for people around the world.

When this critical skill is applied to innovation, it means considering every issue and need as a global concern, understanding diverse values and interests, and engaging with others to solve complex problems that impact human and environmental sustainability. Global Citizenship is one of the 21st century skills that will help this generation and future leaders remain effective in a complex world. It’s an integral part of showing resilience through innovation and using innovation for good as we navigate of world events. These Inspired Innovators show citizenship through the work they do every day.

Elizabeth Paradis is a CST Graduate Award recipient. Throughout her life and in her schooling, she’s found a passion t to improve social justice. At an early age, Paradis learned the impact of discrimination when she saw how others treated a family member living with Down syndrome. Her personal experience led her into schooling and a career where she’s had the opportunity to work with marginalized groups.

Paradis hopes to eventually combine her passion for criminal justice with her interest from longstanding societal issues, but she sees that there is space to support better long-term goals with outside experiences. She hopes to innovate within victims’ rights in a way that benefits both the individual and greater society.

Jad Saliba is a 2019 Governor General’s Innovation Award Laureate. Through his work, he is addressing the growing challenge that police agencies face in collecting, analysing and reporting digital evidence in crime investigations. While working as a police officer, Saliba saw that a technology gap was impeding investigations into human trafficking, child exploitation and terrorism. He wrote a program to recover lost or deleted data from personal devices and help investigators uncover crucial evidence to lead to convictions. He understood that he could do something to make the world a better place and used his skillset to make things better.

Citizenship is key to innovation and to finding a better path and a better way forward to help the entire society. It’s part of the recipe that will make amazing things happen as world events shape future careers where critical skills, rapid learning and rapid innovation go hand in hand.

This blog post is one in a series of Inspired Innovator blogs, through Canadian Scholarship Trust Foundation’s partnership with the Rideau Hall Foundation. We hope you’ll follow along as we share more about the Inspired Innovators and the 21st century skills they’re using to succeed in today’s rapidly evolving world. Tune in to our social channels @CSTConsultants and @cstspark or follow along at @RideauHallFdn and @Cdn_Innovation for more innovation news.