Innovation Exchange
launches with £200k fund for best third sector innovators
CABINET OFFICE News
Release (CAB/081/07) issued by The Government News Network on 8
October 2007
Phil Hope,
Minister for the Third Sector, today launched the Innovation
Exchange with the announcement of a new £200,000 fund to support
the programme's work in 2008-09, drawing on investment
provided by NESTA.
The Exchange was set up to foster innovation within the sector
and to find ways of improving relationships between third sector
social innovators, public service commissioners and investors.
The Innovation Exchange forms part of the Government's
'Partnership in Public Services Action Plan', which aims
to remove barriers to greater third sector involvement in public
services. The Exchange will offer innovators access to online
resources and provide a point of contact both with other
innovators and with appropriate sources of investment. It will
also offer tailored support, training and guidance to the most
promising innovators, helping them to see the impact of their
ideas on improving public services.
Speaking at today's launch Phil Hope, Minister for the Third
Sector, said: "I am delighted to be here today to launch the
Innovation Exchange and to support its important work in
increasing third sector involvement in the delivery of public
services. The Innovation Exchange provides much-needed
recognition of the sector's vital research and development
and will help third sector organisations not to give away their
best ideas but to work together to improve them and to grow their
own work."
"I am particularly pleased that the Exchange will begin by
focusing on young people and on adult social care, areas where
there is a vast amount of untapped knowledge and creativity within
the sector."
Valerie Hannon, Director of Strategy at The Innovation Unit, and
a lead partner behind the Innovation Exchange, said:
"The ministerial launch has provided the opportunity for The
Innovation Exchange to announce the first two themes around which
it will built networks, develop innovative capacity, and seek to
make connections with investors and commissioners.
"The first will be the theme of supporting independent
living. This high priority issue has established arrangements for
commissioning, but is also undergoing radical changes through the
introduction of direct payments and individualised budgets, there
is strong innovation within the third sector, but connecting this
with new forms of demand is a challenge.
"The second focus is that of young people: the excluded,
marginalised and the at-risk. Again, this is an issue attracting
high levels of public interest and concern, and investment
potential is high. Innovation from the third sector is healthy.
These two themes are will be the first around which collaborative
networks involving commissioners and investors will be formed; and
more will follow."
Notes to Editors
1. The not-for-profit sector now employs the full-time equivalent
of 1.5m staff, with a collective annual turnover of £46bn.
2. The Partnerships in Public Services action plan brings
together the opportunities for the third sector to play an
enhanced role in public services. Actions include a national
programme to train 2,000 of those who commission public services
on how to involve the third sector in services and £30 million
funding for community groups to work with Local Authorities to
take over management or ownership of local assets. Further
information is available from: http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/third_sector/public_service_delivery/
3. The Innovation Unit is one of the country's leading
organisations for innovation in education. It acts as a catalyst
for change drawing on talent from both the public and private
sectors to improve education and other related services. One of
The Unit's central roles is to combine the expertise of
teachers and school leaders with the ideas and ambition of
policy-makers The Unit runs a range of projects. Currently the
largest of these is the "Next Practice" education
programme in which the Unit supports schools and local authorities
as they take forward their own cutting-edge ideas to improve
education. http://www.innovation-unit.co.uk
4. Headshift is a professional social software consulting and
development company, which has rapidly emerged as the UK market
leader in this specialist sector. It works with a range of
knowledge-based organisations in both the corporate and government
sectors to create online communication projects that exploit the
power of social networking. Headshift has been building
award-winning online communities, knowledge-sharing applications
and websites for 11 years. http://www.headshift.com
5. acevo stands for The Association of Chief Executives of
Voluntary organisations. acevo is the professional body
representing charity and not-for-profit sector chief executives in
the UK. It has over 2000 members and is committed to improving
third sector leadership skills worldwide. http://www.acevo.org.uk
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