2011 at NESTA: the highlights

As we reach the end of 2011 we thought we'd showcase a few highlights from the past 12 months.

This year was marked by the launch of a number of exciting new programmes as well as the release of some key industry publications and a brand new event series - Hot Topics. We also welcomed new Chief Executive Geoff Mulgan.

We're looking forward to some exciting new initiatives in 2012 so watch this space.

You can stay in touch with everything we're planning by signing up to our regular email update and by following us on Twitter and Facebook.

Muhammad Yunus

In May, NESTA welcomed Professor Muhammad Yunus to speak to a conference room bursting at the seams with people eager to hear from the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.

The founder of the Grameen Bank discussed his frustrations with traditional economic systems which led to the original idea for the company, and spoke openly about his controversial exit from the organisation.

Watch Muhammad Yunus speak at NESTA

Neighbourhood Challenge

Our Neighbourhood Challenge programme, supporting community led innovation across England, got into full swing this year as the 17 chosen projects began trailing their ideas.

The projects range from applying specialist methods of community campaigning and developing social enterprises to trailing challenge prizes that reward community-led action.

All 17 have been blogging their progress and findings.

Read the Neighbourhood Challenge blogs

People Powered Health

Working with Innovation Unit we launched our new health programme this year to support the design and delivery of innovative new services for people living with long-term health conditions.

The programme is a continuation of our work around co-production, the idea that people's needs are better met when they are involved in the development of the public services they use.

Out of 108 applications we chose six to work with on the programme and you can read about what they're doing here.

Read more about our People Powered Health project

Next Gen.

February saw the launch of our review on how we can turn the UK into the world's leading talent hub for video games and visual effects.

The independent report, led by industry veterans Ian Livingstone and Alex Hope, involved the largest ever survey of games and VFX companies as well as educators, parents and children.

The government published its response to the report in November and has promised to address key recommendations from it including adding computer science to the National Curriculum and supplying high quality computer science teachers.

Find out more about the next steps for Next Gen

Creative Councils

Working with the Local Government Group, we launched the Creative Councils programme in April with the aim of supporting local authorities in England and Wales develop transformational new approaches to local services.

We've shortlisted 17 councils to work with and help develop their ideas. The next step will be to handpick a few of the most promising proposals and offer funding and further support to scale the ideas in the hope that councils in other areas can learn from them.

Read the Creative Council ideas

Hot Topics

2011 was the year of Hot Topics, our events series offering an introduction to the technological tools that will change how we do things in the next few years.

We held the first event on the development of Serious Games which offer tools to tackle challenges beyond pure entertainment. Over the course of the past year we've covered topics as varied as sustainable food production and the new wave of technology able to interact with our brains.

We're planning to continue the Hot Topics series in 2012 and are currently looking at ways to make it bigger and better! Do you have an idea for a Hot Topic? Email us a suggestion here.

Catch up on our first 10 Hot Topics events

Investment exit

This year, NESTA celebrated the successful exit of one of the companies from its investment portfolio. We invested in Dexela, a developer of advanced X-ray equipment, in January 2009 contributing £500,000 to a £3million funding round led by Albion Ventures.

The funding allowed Dexela to focus on the development of a pioneering new generation of X-ray detector equipment that enables faster, higher resolution and potentially lower dose X-rays. Bucking the industry trend and making the shift from software to hardware paid off and in June 2011 the company was bought by PerkinElmer, a global healthcare company.

We're expecting an eventual three times return on the deal, a tremendous result for a 30 month investment, and are pleased to report that Dexela remains an independent unit within PerkinElmer keeping valuable jobs and expertise in the UK.

Read our interview with Dexela's Edward Bullard

Digital R&D Fund for Arts and Culture

In June we partnered with the Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and Arts Council England to launch a new £500,000 fund to help arts and cultural organisations across England develop their uses of digital technologies.

We received nearly 500 applications but this was whittled down to eight projects which received funding based on their ability to produce research and data that other arts and cultural organisations can benefit from.

You can read updates from the eight finalists and the digital organisations they're working with at digitalrndfund.wordpress.com and also watch the footage from the five Digital Days we held across the country.

Look out for our Scottish R&D Fund which launches in the New Year which is currently open to comments and feedback. 

Read the Digital R&D Fund blog

Innovation in Giving

In September we announced a new £10m fund, financed by the Cabinet office, to support innovative and scalable new approaches to the giving of time, money, skills and assets.

The first call for ideas prompted more than 400 applications, and in a first for NESTA we asked everyone applying to submit a short video pitching their idea which we published via a dedicated channel on Vimeo.

Of the 400+ applications we've shortlisted 62 ideas which are all available to view online.

Check out all 400+ Innovation in Giving elevator pitches