New terms to describe innovation concepts pop up all the time. But even for the innovation experts, these new terms can feel like jargon if they’re not explained well. We've turned to our in-house experts to demystify innovation jargon, with a little help from the natural world...

What is innovation?

Adam Lang, Head of Nesta in Scotland, starts us off with the basics.

What is the fourth industrial revolution?

A whistle-stop tour through four stages of the industrial revolution helps to set the context for much of innovation today, explains Vicki Sellick, Nesta's Chief Partnership Officer.

What is big data?

Joel Klinger, Nesta's Data Engineer Lead, gets us up to speed on what big data actually means and why it's important.

What is artificial intelligence?

It's the buzz word of the last few years, but what exactly do we mean when we talk about artificial intelligence? George Richardson, Nesta's Principal Researcher in Data Science, unpicks the commonly used, but often misunderstood term.

What is collective intelligence?

So we get big data now, but how can we use it? Kathy Peach, Co-Head of Nesta's Centre for Collective Intelligence Design, explains the unique power of combining people, data and technology to solve big problems. Find out more about our work on collective intelligence.

What is people power?

At Nesta we've just celebrated 10 years of our work in people power. But what do we actually mean by the term? Khyati Modgil takes us underwater to explain...