We’ve developed a range of ideas and opportunities that respond to the insights and learning above. These ideas span the different roles Nesta could play to galvanise AI development for early years, from building new products to enabling practitioners and developers to innovate. We aim to take these ideas forward, using them as vehicles to learn about the best way to create direct impact or enabling environments that allow impactful innovation for early years to thrive. Our starter spaces include:

Empowering professionals through AI-enhanced, tailored learning

Imagine bite-sized, AI-powered training sessions designed to fit seamlessly into a nursery professional's day. This opportunity explores a CPD platform that offers personalised, scenario-based learning, empowering professionals to tackle real work challenges and improve outcomes for children.

Brokering relationships between innovators and early years settings

A matchmaking service that connects early years settings with cutting-edge tech innovators. By enabling collaborative testing and piloting of AI solutions, this brokerage fosters partnerships that address real challenges across the sector and helps build an enabling environment for impactful innovation to thrive.

Delivering a programme of innovation support for enterprising early years professionals

A development programme that supports early years professionals who have deep expertise in the problems to solve and an entrepreneurial ambition to create and scale new solutions. By providing product development and commercial expertise, this programme aims to increase tech/AI skills in the workforce and turn practitioners’ ideas into impactful, scalable solutions.

Work with us

In order to create the lasting impact we’re striving for, we can’t do this alone, so we’re looking for people from a variety of different backgrounds, viewpoints and perspectives to join us in building and testing these innovations. Additionally - the above starter spaces represent our initial bets for how we could create impact, but we know that they could be wrong and that there is a multitude of other impactful ways we could create lasting change in this space - so we need others to come along the journey with us.

• Co-develop – are you a developer, entrepreneur or early- years practitioner who’s looking for partners to build new or scale existing AI or nursery tech solutions, or do you have an idea but not sure what to do with it? We'd love to partner with you.
• Collaborate – are you a researcher, innovator or early years professional who has a vested interest in creating impact and learning that supports the use of technology to improve outcomes for children across early childhood?
• Convene – are you all or any of the above? We’re creating a network of like-minded people who care about innovating in early years and are looking to move this agenda forward.

If any of the above sounds of interest, and you want to be part of this journey, please get in touch.