Innovation Exchange

"Innovation Exchange is doing excellent work with some fantastic third sector organisations" - Kevin Brennan, former Minister for the Third Sector.   

The Innovation Challenge

The third sector is teeming with great ideas, but too few of them change the world. Innovators, investors and commissioners often lack each other's phone numbers and the capacity and incentive to collaborate. As a result, innovations get a start, but struggle for the connections and resources to sustain or scale. Innovation Exchange exists to tackle this problem.

Our Approach

Innovation Exchange works as an innovation broker for the third sector, surfacing opportunities for innovation, helping investors, commissioners and innovators to connect around them and helping them work together to realise their full potential. The Exchange works through an innovation support programme, creative events and a leading edge website.

Its Next Practice Programme provides intensive support to fifteen high-potential third sector innovation projects, ranging from start-up social enterprises to household-name national charities.

Its Festivals of Ideas are high-quality, one-day events around practical social challenges that bring together innovators, commissioners and investors to identify opportunities for innovation and develop plans to drive progress.

Both these elements of activity are supported by a new Innovation Exchange website which enables people to connect around innovation, share ideas and collaborate.

Outcomes

You can download the Innovation Exchange brochure and information on Festivals of Ideas.

Tools & processes

• Innovation Exchange website
• Festivals of Ideas
• Coach in a Box
• Self-evaluation toolkit
• Next Practice methodology

Project contacts

Please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it  for more information.