In September, the Government held the Champions Group meeting of the Inclusive Economy Partnership. The Partnership is a group of businesses and civil society leaders who have committed to working together to scale existing solutions to societal challenges for low to middle income families. The Partnership focuses initially on financial inclusion and capability, mental health and transition to work for young people.

Last month Nesta hosted workshops with over 100 corporations and civil society organisations that have joined the partnership so far with the aim of drilling down into these challenge areas and better understanding the problems within these challenges.

Attendees at the workshop included representatives from Accenture, Aviva, Centrica, Co-op, John Lewis, KPMG, Virgin Money, BT, Diageo, Johnson & Johnson and Tesco, as well as Mind, The Prince's Trust and the EY Foundation. Discussion was robust and invigorating, excitingly the representatives will be meeting two more times this year in order to find solutions that the members of the Partnership can support to scale outside their business or organisation.

In addition to the workshops, the Partnership has launched an open call to any organisation working in one of the challenge areas who wants to be part of scaling their projects and programmes with members of the Partnership.

The closing date for applications is noon on the 3 November 2017. Those who are shortlisted may get an opportunity to engage with some of the 100 corporates and civil society organisations.

There is £20,000 up for grabs for each successful applicant and this funding is specifically earmarked to help organisations develop their scaling plans with their new partners, and those who are selected will also get access to Partnership members.

Those who can think innovatively about what a partnership with one of these organisations could look like are most likely to be successful and will get the best out of this opportunity.

Nesta is encouraging applicants to see the open call as a business development opportunity in order to find partners who can support scaling and growth in a variety of possible ways. It could be sharing expertise, exploring access to markets, identifying access to supply chains or procurement opportunities, accessing funding opportunities and gaining exposure to senior leaders within these companies and civil society organisations.

Nesta will be hosting a webinar at 2pm on Wednesday 25 October to let you know more about the IEP, discuss some of the challenge areas in more detail and answer any questions you might have. You can join here.

To find out more, including how to apply, visit the Inclusive Economy Partnership website.