Digital Makers Open Call Criteria

Proposal projects for the Digital Makers Open Call need to have gone beyond the prototype stage of development, and meet the core criteria set out below.

i. Impact: We are looking for proposals that demonstrate potential for significant increases in digital making participation i.e. the potential to engage thousands of people over time.

You should explain what potential your idea has for increasing participation in digital making, what social outcomes and public benefit will be achieved and how impact will be measured. You will need to explain how you have established the demand for your idea. Applicants should be clear and realistic about the ambition and the trajectory for achieving impact at scale.

ii. Innovation: Proposals need to demonstrate how they are innovative; this might mean applying an existing idea to a new context, a disruptive new application of technology, or a wholly new idea.  Innovations always build on other innovations (often ones that have failed, or that have been successful in another place or at another time); you will need to demonstrate that you are aware of what has gone before and how your innovation builds on it.

iii. Sustainability: We are looking for proposals that demonstrate how they will be sustained beyond the support they receive from the Fund, which should be seen as investment. We will not support proposals that create ongoing demand for grant funding. Earlier stage innovations should have credible assumptions for how they will become sustainable. We will give preference to proposals that can demonstrate matched funding, whether expressed through time or money.  

iv. Capacity: All applicants to the Fund will need to describe the resource capacity of the team that will put the idea into practice, where the gaps are and how they would propose to fill those.  

v. Openness: All applicants to the Fund need to demonstrate a willingness to share their experiences and learning to help establish a body of knowledge that can bring about a sustained change in number of young people participating in digital making activities. Nesta intends to carry out and publish research into the insights gained through the Fund.