I can't remember the death of a business leader ever having quite the impact as that of Steve Jobs. Part of the reason is that he saw business as a means and not an end.
Last week I was in Krakow in Poland chairing the plenaries at the European intersectoral summet on research and innovation. The event was organised by Atomium, an organisation I've been involved in setting up, which brings together 25 of the top universities across Europe and 25 top media organisations.
The last week has been all about ideas, a welcome antidote to the darkening economic outlook.
I gave a talk a couple of weeks ago at the Paradiso Conference in Brussels on the subject of collective intelligence. It's a topic that's going to be an important one for NESTA over the next year or two (we'll soon be publishing an overview paper on concepts, theories and uses of CI).
I'm spending quite a bit of my time at the moment catching up with NESTA projects around the country and talking to people about what we should do in the future.
Yesterday we launched a new fund to support innovation in giving. It's funded by the Cabinet Office and will back ideas with the potential to achieve a big impact on how people give time, share time or give money. The sums are quite big - £10m over two years - and I'm hoping we'll get some really imaginative ideas.
I'm back after my first NESTA blog and trying to make sense of riots, wobbling financial markets and the endgame in Libya. We're in the lucky position of being able to collaborate with innovators who tend by their nature to be optimists regardless of what's happening around them.
I've been at NESTA a few weeks now and I'm going to be doing a regular update on some of the interesting projects I've been seeing, ideas I've been stumbling across and issues we've encountered.
Are you thinking of going to the cinema tonight to see that new independent film you’ve heard about?
As Scotland gears up for its annual swell of visitors during the festival season; the world also awaits the summer release of Disney/Pixar's latest 3D animated film, Brave. Set in medieval Scotland, Brave features a fiery red-headed heroine, tons of tartan and highland scenery galore.
![Twitter icon [original]](http://admin.nesta.org.uk/library/images/Twitter-button_34x35.jpg "Twitter icon [original]"){kind=small}
Follow our daily updates on Twitter @nesta_uk
![Linked in icon [original]](http://admin.nesta.org.uk/library/images/LinkedIn_button_34x35.jpg "Linked in icon [original]"){kind=small}
Take part in the discussion on our LinkedIn group
![Facebook icon [original]](http://admin.nesta.org.uk/library/images/facebook.jpg "Facebook icon [original]"){kind=small}
Share your views on our Facebook page
Sign up for our regular updates for the latest news and opportunities.
T +44 (0)20 7438 2500
F +44 (0)20 7438 2501
Nesta Operating Company, a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales with company number 7706036 and charity number 1144091. Registered as a charity in Scotland number SC042833.
