Formazione
UK: £20m initiative launched to tackle social issues
The programme's initial partnership projects will call for both social entrepreneurs and front-line workers to come forward with ideas. Here are the first two projects approved.
The UK?s National Endowment for Science, Technology & the Arts (NESTA) has launched a new £20 million (28m euro) initiative designed to encourage innovative solutions to some of the UK’s most pressing social issues including chronic disease, mental health and climate change. NESTA’s ?Innovation Challenges’ initiative will focus on several key themes, starting with Health Innovation and followed by the Environment. Each theme will last for three years during which NESTA will conduct a series of high-impact projects with key partners, designed both to unearth existing ideas, and stimulate new approaches in response to recognised problems. The programme’s initial partnership projects will see NESTA calling for both social entrepreneurs and front-line workers to come forward with ideas. The first two projects are: – The NESTA ? Young Foundation Health Innovation Accelerator, a project to speed up the creation of social enterprises and start-ups in the health sector. The project will seek to stimulate innovative ideas, wherever they may come from, and turn those ideas into new ventures developed in partnership with individual social entrepreneurs and health sector partners. NESTA will provide the anchor investment of £1.24million for this three year programme. In the first instance, patients, front-line workers and aspiring entrepreneurs with strong ideas for health-related social ventures can register their interest directly with the Young Foundation online at www.health-innovation.org.uk – A partnership with the Mental Health Foundation, with involvement from Mental Health Media, Mind, ReThink, and Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health, to call for project proposals. NESTA will provide a total of £500,000 for innovative projects from front-line workers, users and carers to tackle some of the key issues in the mental health arena. This might include new or improved services, breaking down the stigma of mental illness or encouraging the involvement of users in re-designing their own care. Those with potential ideas can apply online on the NESTA website at www.nesta.org.uk
