What we want to achieve
Nesta backs new ideas to tackle the big challenges of our time, in the UK and beyond. We focus on areas where the combination of digital technology, empowered individuals, and better use of data and evidence can have the biggest impact.
That means working hard to: see new opportunities and challenges; spark creative answers from many sources; shape these into forms that can work in practice; and then shift whole systems in a new direction.
See Spark Shape Shift
In recent years we’ve used this approach to influence fields as diverse as alternative finance, coding, frontline health services and entrepreneurship. Over the next few years we aim to do this in a more systematic way.
Research and exploration
A new explorations team will explore new areas to find where we can achieve the greatest impact, using research, convening power and funding to map possible futures.
Methods
We’ll become more systematic in tracking, shaping and spreading the best methods for innovation. We’ve done this in the past around methods like accelerators and challenge prizes, and are now extending this work, for example to new uses of data and new ways of using money.
Priority fields
We’ll then prioritise the use of these methods in a small number of fields where there are big challenges and our capacities are suited to the action that’s needed:
Health
How do we help a health and care system facing serious financial pressures because of an ageing population living with more long-term conditions? Our focus will be on enabling people to get on top of their health using tools such as peer-to-peer support and digital technologies, while also working with frontline staff to help whole systems to change.
Education
How do we prepare young people for future work in a more automated economy where jobs could be very different? Our focus will be on teaching human skills like creativity, collaboration and problem-solving, and backing digital technologies that help children learn.
Arts and the creative economy
How do we protect and grow a strong creative economy and help the arts cope with pressures on funding? Our focus will be on maximising growth in the creative economy and helping arts organisations generate new sources of income, often using digital tools.
Government innovation
How can governments deliver more with less and engage their citizens more effectively? We will focus on helping governments adapt to the pressures of austerity and seize the opportunities of digital, data and people power to solve problems and empower citizens.
Innovation policy
How do we create the conditions for innovation to fuel economic growth and better meet social needs? We’ll focus on helping governments to design better policies that can drive innovation in businesses, universities and society, using the best available tools for both analysis and action.
Growing units
We’ll continue to extend our impact by becoming a networked organisation, growing more autonomous units that can generate their own revenues and relationships. These include our various impact investment funds; the Challenge Prize Centre; Alliance for Useful Evidence; Innovation Growth Lab; READIE; and States of Change.
Communications
Our brand signals Nesta’s spirit as a networked organisation and as an igniter and incubator of social change. We’ll use it to help tell Nesta’s story, focusing on media and digital to reach a wide audience and using our new building as a hub that can be used by many organisations sharing our mission.
Impact
We’ll continue to become more rigorous in assessing both the direct and indirect impact of what we do and support, and learning from failures as well as successes.
Where will Nesta operate?
Our primary focus is in the UK – working in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. But we also have a European and an international outlook, working in dozens of countries, so we can both learn from others and achieve a greater impact through partnerships. We intend to grow this global presence – while also using our new building in London as a hub for sparking ideas and convening people.
What counts as success?
We judge ourselves against many measures: from the direct impact of the programmes we fund to our influence on public policy; from the growth of firms and social ventures we invest in to how much value people have gained from our events and publications. But our main aim is to provide people and organisations with tools which help them generate and use new ideas more effectively, and to remind people that the future is something we make, not something that happens to us.
What's next?
We’ll share more detailed descriptions of what we plan to do in particular areas, and of course we’ll continue to report on what we’ve done and what impacts have been achieved. We pride ourselves on being a learning organisation, and therefore welcome inputs and feedback of all kinds. Please email us with your thoughts [email protected]
