Nesta and Nesta Challenges are partnering with the Department for Education on the CareerTech Challenge: a £5.75 million programme to encourage bold solutions to improve people’s working lives and unlock employment opportunities for the future. (Submissions are now closed)

The CareerTech Challenge includes a prize and a fund:

• The prize rewards digital solutions that improve access to accurate, data-driven career information, advice and guidance.
• The fund provides grant funding for innovative tech solutions which motivate people and support them to learn new skills and retrain

Innovative uses of Labour Market Information (LMI)

We are supporting 20 innovators as they develop ways to provide information, advice and guidance on career transitions to adults. Each innovator has a grant of £50,000 and a tailored package of support, and nine months to develop and test their solutions. In March 2021 a winner and runner-up will be selected to receive prizes of £120,000 and £80,000 respectively.

Find out more about our 20 innovators

Motivating people to learn new skills and retrain online

We are supporting 11 innovators to test and experiment with effective online learning to upskill or retrain precarious workers. Each innovator has a grant of up to £250,000, a tailored package of support and evaluation, and are supported by the Learning & Work Institute to evaluate the effectiveness and impact of their interventions. Delivery finishes in March 2021.

Find out more about our 11 innovators

More than six million people in the UK are employed in occupations likely to change radically or disappear entirely by 2030. This trend is exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, with changes felt more acutely by those already in low paid, insecure work and disproportionately affecting women and BAME groups.

Without urgent action we risk widening existing inequalities and people being trapped in insecure, low paid employment or forced out of work altogether.

By backing digital innovations that either support workers to learn new skills or provide careers’ guidance, we want to learn more about what’s effective in online adult learning and how labour market information (LMI) can be used in innovative ways.

We’ve identified four keys themes to our work:

• Interventions that support career adaptability skills including building confidence
• Effective tools/nudges for improving learner motivation
• Innovative uses of LMI
• Contribute to building an evidence base on adult learning and encourage greater testing and experimentation

As a result of the work, we want to see working adults be able to successfully transition into jobs that make the most of their skills and potential.

CareerTech Challenge builds on Nesta’s previous work, in particular the reports below.

CareerTech Challenge: Definitions (2019)

What motivates Adults to Learn (2019)

UK Skills taxonomy: DataViz (2018)

The Future of Skills: Employment in 2030 (2017)