Kyle Usher

Programme Manager (Scotland), Innovation Programmes

Kyle is Programme Manager for the Scotland team based in Edinburgh.

He has been involved in designing and delivering programmes in Scotland including:

ShareLab Scotland – a Scottish Government partnership exploring if collaborative economy and sharing platforms can deliver social impact at scale.
AI for Good – investigating the potential of artificial intelligence to be used to tackle social issues in Scotland.
Future Visions of a Green Economic Recovery - bringing together a diverse group of co-visionaries across areas of sustainable work, sustainable industry and sustainable environment, to explore the radical possibilities open to Scotland if we really treat the climate crisis as a crisis.

As well as supporting the delivery of projects across Nesta:

Democracy Pioneers – supporting 19 innovations that are experimenting with ways to re-energise civic participation and everyday democracy in the UK.
Healthy Lives Data Fund – funding seven innovative digital technologies that make data available and useful to citizens, helping them lead healthier and more independent lives.
Data Dialogues' participatory futures projects – five projects which are embarking on a year-long dialogue with Scottish citizens about health and care data.
The Longitudinal Explorer prize – supported teams of young people to come up with ideas that use Artificial Intelligence (AI) across four themes to help people.
COVID-19 response fund – to help our existing portfolio of innovators to support their users and communities through the COVID-19 crisis.

Prior to Nesta, Kyle worked in digital evolution and innovation roles for SCVO, Myeloma UK and Young Scot. With experience of product development, leading agile teams, designing and delivering innovative projects and supporting organisations to leverage technology to improve their products, processes and service delivery.

Kyle is interested in how technology can be used to combat social challenges, specifically; the climate crisis, our natural environment and sustainable energy.