Discovery
www.nesta.org.uk/discovery/
www.nesta.org.uk/discovery/
To innovate for social change, it’s vital to stay on top of emerging trends, technologies and interventions. This is why strategic foresight lies at the heart of Nesta’s work.
Nesta has ambitious goals across our three missions. We use strategic foresight, data science and other techniques to help us to remain open-minded about the best way to achieve those goals, searching out alternative approaches and continuing to challenge our own assumptions
We also take a long-term view, looking beyond immediate pressures to explore the social, economic and technological drivers that will shape our lives in the decades to come.
Nesta's Discovery function uses intelligence about the future and new technologies to change practice in the here-and-now. We test new approaches and ideas before applying them in our programmes, then share what we’ve learned so others can benefit.
We are interdisciplinary, uniting futures methods such as simulation and scenario building with data science and qualitative research.
We are participatory. We believe that local communities, practitioners and those with lived experience are vital sources of insight.
We are led by social impact. While some innovations we explore are at a very early stage, the idea or technology must have real potential to generate public benefit – not just profit.
