This week Nesta launched a new prize supported by the Cabinet Office to reward innovations that can reduce isolation amongst older people.
I presented at a fascinating session earlier in the week on platforms for collective awareness, a European project to get to the bottom of how the future internet can empower people rather than ushering in new powers for big brother.
On the plane back from a recent trip to Seoul I was able to catch up on some books including Philip Ball's very readable ones on shapes and flow and Jonah Lehrer's new book on creativity which gathers a lot of recent evidence and case studies in a very digestable way.
A few years ago, I and others started promoting the idea of creating a NICE for areas of public policy. NICE is the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence and is a unique institution that publicly rules on what works in healthcare - and what's cost effective.
Jean-Marc Ayrault has just been appointed France’s Prime Minister. He’s also Mayor of Nantes, where he is involved in one of Europe’s most interesting and radical experiments, and one of the sadly rare examples of a financial innovation that might create value for the public rather than destroying it.
You might have thought that learning about information technology in schools would be exciting and infinitely motivating. After all, teenagers find it hard to tear themselves away from games and social media. Left to their own devices, they have no difficulty creating new characters, stories and home movies.
Any discussion on innovation in the public sector soon turns to the problem of risk. Surely public services are simply too risk averse to take big risks? And anyway shouldn’t we want them to avoid risks with things like traffic light systems or nuclear safety?
Eighteen months ago I was asked to give a talk on the outlook for the coalition at the Carlton Club, one of the high temples of British Conservatism. I came across my notes this week, which provided a reminder of just how quickly political moods can change.
I spent a few days last week in Canada, working with some of our partner organisations in technology, business and social innovation.
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