With the publication of Nesta’s recent report, Is Wales getting Innovation Right?, we asked four thinkers in Wales to reflect on what the public had said and what they would like to see happen as a result.

In the second of two blog posts, Kellie Beirne, Director of Cardiff Capital Region City Deal and Kevin Morgan, Dean of Engagement at Cardiff University reflect on sharing the benefits of innovation among as many people as possible.

Never has the song/saying ‘we are the people we have been waiting for’ seemed so resonant. There are sobering aspects of the Britain Thinks research, but overall it is hope that bubbles in me.

We lack vision – but we seek it out. We don’t feel like we have a say – but we want one. We get that risk may mean failure – but understand taking none guarantees it. The desire for innovation and change is strong and seeing the need to apply creativity beyond ‘business’ and ‘tech’ to societal challenges like climate change, health and jobs made my day. But it’s not enough to make the connections if you don’t feel allowed to lead or be the change needed. The bit about innovation feeling more applicable to ‘people like you’ disturbs me.

The problem is, this is scarcely seen, let alone channelled in the right direction or rapidly prototyped – because we don’t tend to look in these places. We still associate innovation with business and universities and not enough with civic society and public services and how everyday people are having to adapt.

So we can have our own grand challenges; drive for mission thinking and innovation programmes. But if too many people feel excluded – will the dial really turn? As Kevin Morgan always says – don’t will the ends, will the means. Investment in innovation is more than increasing departmental budget areas – it’s in the capabilities, behaviours, cultures, skills, community development and R&D outside of laboratories. I was cleaning out an old cupboard the other day and found something Paul Matthews and I did at Monmouthshire County Council considered quite mad at the time (probably true). F4 cards – fail fast, fail forward. The concept being, if you have an idea that is not going to cause harm or financial ruin, you had permission to get on and do something about it. The F4 cards had to be cashed in every year at staff appraisals as a sign that even if you failed at something, you had tried. Gets you thinking doesn’t it? In our homes, families, communities and civic society – what could we achieve if we were all invited to play and knew someone had our backs?

Hats off to Nesta for commissioning a survey of public attitudes to innovation and technology because the UK usually relies on a narrow scientific elite to pontificate about such matters.

The results from Wales reveal a country that is deeply uncertain about the future, where a majority of respondents (65 per cent) feel they have no opportunity to shape that future despite the fact that they have a desire to do so.

As we might expect there are the usual differences in different segments of the population – with younger people being more positive about the impacts of innovation than their elders and the better off socio-economic groups (ABC1) also being more positive about the impacts than the poorer groups (C2DE).

As regards the priorities for innovation investments, the top priority in Wales was for innovations that address the causes of climate change – which would seem to suggest that respondents are fully on board with the ethos of the Well-being of Future Generations Act, the most innovative achievement of the first 20 years of democratic devolution in Wales (but read on!).

Similarly, a clear majority preferred investments that benefited the entire country, even if this meant slower progress in better off areas.

But the biggest shock in the Welsh results was the finding that a huge majority of respondents (82 per cent) say they have heard nothing about the Well-being of Future Generations Act. Equally worrying, the respondents that had heard of the Act said it had made no difference to the behaviour of decision-makers.

Passing legislation is one thing, but using it to make a difference to everyday life is quite another.

Read more responses to Is Wales Getting Innovation Right?