A group of leading thinkers and practitioners discuss how to bring about systemic innovation.

Key Findings:

• A ‘how to’ for system innovation: A starting place for practitioners – Anna Birney, head of System Innovation Lab, Forum for the Future
• Dynamic versus static systems – Greg Fisher, Synthesis
• Human-centred system innovation: Transforming perceptions of what a ‘system’ can be – Jesper Christiansen, MindLab
• Systems fit for the future: How to support an ageing population – Halima Khan, Nesta
• The need for regime change – Charlie Leadbeater

Systemic innovation means completely redesigning the way a system works (for example, the health service), and achieving innovation across every part of it. 

In early 2013 we published a paper on systemic innovation by Geoff Mulgan and Charlie Leadbeater. To coincide with this, we convened a group of leading thinkers and practitioners to discuss the theories, methods and practices involved in systemic change.

It was clear from the session that there is a need to deepen our collective understanding of what systemic innovation means, as well as the methods and tools available to potentially make this happen. 

To begin developing these resources, we invited the experts who attended this session to write guest blogs. This paper collates these posts and covers a range of topics, from the methods available to stimulate systemic innovation, to a discussion of systems failure, and the importance of communication. 

At Nesta, we’re drawing on all these resources to inform our practical work, as well as feeding into our skills platform to equip practitioners working on the ground. 

Author

Nesta