The innovation challenge: transforming delivery

Dr. Jo Casebourne, Director of Public and Social Innovation, Nesta

1. How can innovation be used?

What is innovation?…but alsoNot only…

The Six Stages of Innovation Successful innovation passes through six stages:

(Taken from p12-13 in Murray, R; Caulier-Grice, J and Mulgan, G (2010) The Open Book of Social Innovation. NESTA)

New ideas

• Hard to see what innovation is happening within black boxes• Small innovative providers with new ideas squeezed out?• Limited number of new entrants to market bringing new ideas • Is cost model preventing trying new things and learning from

what works?• But can we afford not to?

Testing these ideas

• Does public scrutiny inhibit innovation?• Are financial constraints dis-incentivising risk, leading to a lack

of testing on different models?• Lack of transparency - unclear to what extent prototyping is

happening. • Many new ideas outside of The Work Programme, but

connections rarely made (eg time banks and examples shown later).

• Need to develop experiments (using data) - what works?

Systemic change

• Competition normally drives adoption and drives those who don’t innovate out of the market

• Market still early stage - not reached that point• Innovators are not yet dominating market• Need to know what works

– lack of evidence – lack of knowledge/understanding of existing evidence

• Need to keep knowledge of what works within sector (lose it as people leave)

• Lack of mechanisms to diffuse information about what works • Need collaboration as well as competition

2. Transforming delivery

Examples: stimulating new markets and self-employment

• service voucher scheme – Belgium

• consumer subsidy to encourage the use of personal services provided by the unemployed

• enterprise programme• young people• loans + business support +

mentoring

Self employment Stimulating new markets

• specialist part-time recruitment service

• works with employers to create part-time positions

Examples: improving matching

• apprenticeship training agency model• covers admin and statutory

employment obligations• supports recruitment • links with training provider

• a recruitment agency• covers admin and statutory

employment obligations• screens and match candidates

New intermediaries – pooling work

Examples: improving matching

• employer or peer to peer

• care• contact centres• volunteering

• peer-to-peer • manual labour e.g.

IKEA assembly • chores

• market/auction

• local tasks• surveys• taking photos of

things

• marketplace• transcribing• user testing• surveys

Tech platforms enabling micro-jobs

Examples: connecting work and learning

Connecting working and learning

• structured programmes• specific technical

qualifications• many sectors

• apprentice-based businesses

• often targeted at disadvantaged groups

• e.g. catering

• work experience with sole traders

• e.g. skilled trades

What should happen now?

More experimentation around ideas• Providers should explore these examples and others • think creatively about how to do incorporate non-traditional approaches into modelsMore measurement and assessment: • Prototyping with measurement and assessment of what works.• Trialling shows direct link to increased performance – can then adopt across offices and stop what doesn’t work Sector needs to get better at learning/knowledge exchange• For workless people and system as a whole, need to encourage diffusion of successful innovations.

www.nesta.org.uk/makingitwork