NESTA's The Lab Board

NESTA

NESTA is the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts - a unique and independent body with a mission to make the UK more innovative.

Their independence and ability to work across different sectors allows them to bring together ideas from a wide range of perspectives. And because they can take a longer-term view, they are able to assume a greater burden of risk than others.

NESTA does not work alone. Their success depends on the strength of the partnerships they form with innovators, policymakers, community organisations, educators and other investors.

The Lab Board

Recession, environmental threats and a rapidly aging population are triggering profound changes to the way we all live and work. But our public services are not set up to cope with the scale of the challenge, or the pace of change. Fresh thinking is urgently needed.

The Lab is NESTA’s response to this need for disciplined experimentation in the face of major economic and social challenges. It will bring together experience and ingenuity from across the public, private and third sectors, as well as the insights of citizens and consumers, to develop the bold new approaches that will develop public services fit for the 21st century. Working as appropriate with partners, the Lab will trial new methods for fostering, evaluating and spreading the most compelling innovations in public services.

The Lab is not a physical space or an institution – it’s a series of practical projects, informed by research and delivered in partnership with those that run and use our public services.

It shares lessons about what works – and what doesn't – and creates opportunities for people to solve problems together.

By creating experiments that demonstrate how public services can be transformed we believe The Lab can start to make life better for everyone.

The members of The Lab Board are: