Across our three missions, a fairer start, a healthy life and a sustainable future, Nesta has committed itself to ambitious impact goals. We know that we will need to remain open-minded about the best ways of achieving those goals, searching out alternative approaches and continuing to challenge our own assumptions. We also need to continue to take a long-term view, looking beyond immediate pressures to explore the social, economic and technological drivers which will shape our lives in the decades to come.

The tools of strategic foresight have been tried and tested around the world by researchers, policymakers, NGOs and corporates, helping frame issues in a new light or build collective momentum around a problem. However, even the most compelling insights from such exercises can easily get lost in the act of translation, while many of the promised public benefits of emerging technologies are never fully realised.

Our Discovery Hub uses intelligence about the future and new technologies to change practice in the here-and-now. We support teams to test new approaches and then share what we’ve learned so others can benefit.

Nesta has already developed a long track record in this arena; from mounting a defence of the field of futurology (Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow), through to methodological experimentation (The Future of Skills: Employment in 2030) and the mass public engagement of four editions of FutureFest. Under the umbrella of the Explorations team, the organisation incubated the Centre for Collective Intelligence and seeded groundbreaking work on the future of the internet and participatory futures.

Building on this work, the Discovery Hub model is:

• Interdisciplinary: The Hub brings together futures methods (such as simulation and scenario building) with data science and qualitative research. Whilst we are data-driven, designers and creative practitioners play a vital role in helping us to both make sense of, and communicate, insights.
• Participatory: We believe that local communities, practitioners and those with lived experience are vital sources of insight when it comes to identifying alternative approaches. We work with the tools of participatory futures to open up public conversations.
• Social impact-led: Whilst some of the innovations we explore are at a very early stage; the idea or technology must have real potential to generate public benefit - not just profit.

Above all, we think good ideas can come from anywhere and anyone. If you’re working on something you’d like to share with us, please don’t hesitate to get in touch via [email protected]