Nesta’s report analyses how and where young people innovate, and how that innovation can be best supported and developed.

Key findings

• Young people’s innovation can have a major economic, cultural and social impact, and their innovation skills can be developed from an early age
• But innovative young people face many barriers, including subtle ones such as too much adult control, or negative cultural attitudes
• We identified six ways in which policymakers, schools and youth organisations can help, which include encouraging media to promote positive images of young people and innovation, and providing access to networks

In our challenging economic climate, young people will need to develop the skills and understanding to pursue and develop innovative solutions in both their own lives and for the organisations they join and create.

This research offers proposals for encouraging more young people to take part in youth-led innovation, which were developed with focus groups of young innovators and organisations that work with them.

Alongside this research, the National Youth Agency and Changemakers have produced a Nesta guide for practitioners on youth-led innovation and illustrative case studies.

Authors

Judy Sebba, Vivienne Griffiths, Barry Luckock, 

Frances Hunt, Carol Robinson – University of Sussex 

and Steve Flowers – University of Brighton

With Julie Farlie, Rajendra Mulmi and Nicola Drew