Popular searches

About Nesta

Nesta is a research and innovation foundation. We apply our deep expertise in applied methods to design, test and scale solutions to some of the biggest challenges of our time, working across the innovation lifecycle.

More about us

Prototyping framework

Structuring your approach

Thursday, 15 May 2025
In Government innovation Innovation policy
20 min read

Pause point two

Printable version

Browse sections

Introduction to prototyping What actually is prototyping? Before you begin Doing the ground work Pause point one Prototyping: phase one Pause point two Prototyping: phase two Pause point three Evaluate and enterprise

Before you move from phase one to phase two, you need to know whether you have enough information to live prototype.

You are ready to live prototype if you:

  1. Have a clear and complete specification of an idea.
  2. Have the resource, capacity, and time to facilitate a live test.
  3. Have answered most of your original questions.
  4. Have a few well-defined questions still to explore.
  5. Have senior buy-in, and agreement from key stakeholders (such as the decision-makers and commissioners).
  6. Understand the sustainability and business model.

Live prototyping is a chance to build your complete idea to test its functionality and impact. It is not a pilot, but is an opportunity to better understand how a larger-scale pilot would work, and how you would measure success.

A flowchart indicating "Pause point two", labelled "Build for wider engagement", positioned as a review step separating the first prototyping phase from the second live testing phase

Pause point two

Read the text-based description of this image

Image Description

The diagram highlights a transitional review stage between two primary prototyping cycles. It visually guides the viewer through the first phase of building a specification and halts at a designated checkpoint before entering real-world testing. This checkpoint is explicitly labelled as "Pause point 2: Build for wider engagement," representing a strategic moment to evaluate user feedback and broaden the prototype's reach before the next iterative cycle.

Previous section: Prototyping: phase one Next section: Prototyping: phase two

A powerful ecosystem for innovation

We extend our impact through two specialised units that help people and organisations to solve complex problems and achieve their goals.

BIT

BIT helps clients from government, nonprofits and the private sector to improve people’s lives through our empirical problem solving and deep understanding of human behaviour.

Challenge Works

Challenge Works designs and runs challenge prizes to spark innovation in science, technology and society.

Stay up to date

Get our regular newsletter and tailor your updates on our missions, programmes and events