Scottish local authorities open up data to tackle community issues
28/03/12
Five Scottish local authorities have been selected to work with digital media developers to create innovative, web-based services which will benefit their local communities.
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Million pound boost to develop UK hyperlocal media sector
29/3/12
A major new £1million programme designed to understand and stimulate the development of a UK hyperlocal media sector, is being launched today, led by Nesta and the Technology Strategy Board.
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Innovation in Giving Fund makes further awards to boost social action
29/3/12
The Cabinet Office and NESTA today announce a further 16 awards to be funded from the £10million Innovation in Giving Fund which aims to find and back innovative ideas for increasing volunteering and charitable giving.
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Nesta becomes a charitable foundation
1/4/12
Nesta announces its move today out of the public sector to become an independent charitable foundation.
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Zombie fitness app a runaway success for UK business
3/4/12
A British-made fitness game – Zombies, Run! – has become a worldwide hit, getting players from across the globe running away from ‘zombies’ to get fit and reaching #14 on the list of Top Grossing Apps worldwide.
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Innovation in Giving Fund to back established charities
23/04/12
The Cabinet Office and Nesta today announce the second round of the £10m Innovation in Giving Fund, which aims to find and back innovative ideas for increasing levels of volunteering and charitable giving.
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Nesta launches Centre for Challenge Prizes
25/4/12
The Department for Business Innovation and Skills and Nesta today announces the launch of the UK’s first ‘Centre for Challenge Prizes’ – a hub for bringing together expertise in designing and running challenge prizes to tackle social and technological challenges in the public interest.
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Alliance for Useful Evidence team announced by Nesta and the ESRC
April 2012
Nesta and the ESRC are delighted to announce Jonathan Breckon as Manager of the Alliance for Useful Evidence. He will be supported by Eloise Stott as Alliance Co-ordinator. Jonathan will take forward the Alliance’s programme of work from the end of April 2012.
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Innovation in Giving Fund searches for more great ideas to increase giving
29/5/12
The Cabinet Office and Nesta today announce a second open call for game-changing ideas to increase giving.
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Six ‘Creative Councils’ recognised for pioneering innovations
31/5/12

Six councils have been recognised for their pioneering work in trialling radical new ways to deliver public services and have been selected to move into the second phase of the ‘Creative Councils’ programme run by Nesta and the Local Government Association.
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Six Scottish arts and cultural organisations selected to pioneer digital research and development projects
4/6/12
Six pioneering Scottish projects that will harness digital technologies for the benefit of the arts and cultural sector have been selected to receive funding from the Scottish Digital Research and Development Fund for Arts and Culture run by Nesta, Creative Scotland and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).
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Financial planners to play pivotal role in growth of social investment
13/6/12
Financial planners can play a pivotal role in growing ‘social investment’ - the take up of products that have a measurable positive social impact – according to a new report published today by Nesta, the UK’s innovation foundation.
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On your bike: Harnessing UK ingenuity to tackle bike theft and increase cycling to work
22/6/12
Nesta, the UK’s innovation foundation, has today thrown down the gauntlet to people and organisations to come up with new ways to get the nation cycling by launching two ‘challenge prizes’. Applications open today.
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Services that are right up your street
29/6/12
Nesta, in partnership with the Technology Strategy Board, have announced the ten projects that have been selected to kickstart hyperlocal media innovation in the UK as part of the Destination Local programme.
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Industry experts line up to mentor UK’s brightest creative businesses
9/7/12
Nesta, the UK’s innovation foundation, in partnership with PACT, IPA, UKIE and Skillset, today announces the launch of its Creative Business Mentor Network (CBMN), spearheaded by 30 of the creative industry’s most successful senior executives.
—Read more about Industry experts line up to mentor UK’s brightest creative businesses

Social action challenges set to increase giving of time, skills and resource
10/7/12
Nesta’s Centre for Challenge Prizes has today launched two ‘Giving Challenges’ to tackle isolation in old age and waste reduction. The challenges invite people to submit ideas on how to bring people together in new ways to combat these pressing environmental and social concerns.
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Nesta report shows £24bn collapse in innovation investment – and a more deep-rooted crisis
16/7/12
The UK economy has experienced a ‘lost decade’ of innovation, with new evidence showing that businesses had a crisis of confidence in the 2000s, prioritising cash and concrete over investment in innovation.
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“India’s frugal innovation holds lessons for the UK”, says new Nesta report
17/7/12
India’s growing expertise in producing dramatically lower-cost products and services that outperform the alternative and can be delivered at scale offer a model of frugal innovation that the UK can learn from says a new report from Nesta, produced in partnership with Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), Research Councils UK and UK-India Education and Research Initiative.
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Charities collaborate to develop new giving opportunities
As part of the Cabinet Office and Nesta’s Innovation in Giving Fund, 28 established charities have been selected to participate in the new Open Innovation Programme. The programme will support new concepts as well as using the reach and knowledge of existing charities to engage people in giving.
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The Secret Sauce for cooking up your own People’s Supermarket
26/7/12
The People’s Supermarket (TPS), with support from Nesta, today launches Secret Sauce, a new publication to inspire, excite and share the lessons from TPS’s London venture so that others can do good, while also operating at the heart of the consumer economy.
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