Nesta held an event to showcase the opportunities for charities to use digital technology to create social impact.

Digital technology is one of the single most powerful tools we have ever had to bring about change in society. It has changed our everyday lives drastically over the last ten years and has led advancements in health and information that is re-shaping society’s demographics. Yet it is an underutilised tool in the charity sector.

Nesta want to see more charities exploit the potential of digital technology to develop new tools and services which extend the reach and impact of their work, and ultimately help more people. Over the last two years we have been supporting charities through our Open Innovation Programme, our partnership with Google Impact Awards and Nesta Impact Investments. We have done some work to explore some of the key challenges faced by charities developing digital tools and services. These are summarised in our paper ‘Going Digital’, along with some key recommendations for overcoming them, which was launched at this event.

Bringing together charities and intermediaries to discuss how we can drive the ‘Tech for Good’ agenda amongst charities in the UK, this event had an exciting programme of speakers including Google, YouthNet, Tech Entrepreneur Mary McKenna and others.