About

Improving our community through collaboration, innovation, and research.

The Center for Civic Innovation works with other research centers and individuals across Notre Dame to identify unique opportunities for collaboration that address pressing issues primarily in the South Bend/Elkhart region. The Center's work is of service to the community while generating new opportunities for scholarship on campus. The Center brings together academic researchers, city government officials, and other community stakeholders to identify needs and to assess and map University intellectual assets to addressing these needs. A key objective of the Center is to create a virtuous cycle wherein faculty and students analyze challenging problems facing the community and develop innovative solutions at the boundaries of existing disciplines that fosters advances in both innovation and research. 

For the center, innovation is the process of creating new ideas in response to community needs using technology and methods that improve our community and its public institutions.

Mission

"To promote the common good by building partnerships between Notre Dame faculty, staff, students, and community organizations that foster innovative research and educational programs."