In a world where people are making informed choices about almost every aspect of their life in a way that is convenient for them and often aided and assisted by new technology, public services need to be equally responsive to these demands.
The Studio Schools Annual Conference in Southampton was a good showcase of a rapidly scaling innovation. 16 studio schools are now open, 32 will be open by this time next year and at least as many again are preparing detailed plans.
Data is becoming more and more prominent in fields as diverse as political campaigns, healthcare, business metrics and social deprivation. How do we bridge the gap between the data-savvy and the data-shy?
Phew - by the time you read this we will have launched the Digital Makers Fund. A £225,000 open call for ideas to significantly increase the number of young people who participate in digital making activities.
With Global Entrepreneurship week 2012 coming up soon, we wanted to share our informative video for the Creative Enterprise Toolkit which features three creative entrepreneurs who have used Nesta’s Creative Enterprise Toolkit to help plan, build, shape, test, launch and communicate their new creative business.
I did a lecture last night in York University on evidence and knowing yourself.
As we discussed in the first of these blogs, the UK impact investment market developed initially through a desire to see better access to capital for registered charities and other traditional social sector organisations.
Last month I attended a session in New York, exploring the links between the performing arts and urban design. The session was led by Richard Sennett and Saskia Sassen as part of urban forum Theatrum Mundi/Global Street.
Is a £1billion forecast impact investment market in the UK a welcome feast for capital-starved social entrepreneurs? Isn't £1billion really just crumbs falling from the financial system's table? And feast or famine, is impact investment offering the right diet for the social venture market?
Although collaborative technologies can be assembled as tools that help users do more for themselves, they need to be designed in a way that makes this new kind of behaviour easy. Why? Because people need to feel motivated to embrace the change that collaborative technologies facilitate, so it is important they are designed to be useful, useable and delightful.
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