CABINET OFFICE News
Release (CAB/065/07) issued by The Government News Network on 24
July 2007
Phil Hope,
Minister for the Third Sector, today announced that a consortium
including the Innovation Unit, ACEVO and Headshift has won the
£1.2 million contract to deliver the new Innovation Exchange pilot
- a programme to support the third sector's capacity to innovate.
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 online resources
including information, contact with other innovators and contact
with appropriate sources of investment. Beyond this the programme
will offer tailored support to the most promising innovators
including training and guidance. This will help innovators to see
their bright ideas become reality improving services for those
that use them.
Phil Hope, Minister for the Third Sector said:
'I'm very pleased that we have found a partner to
deliver the Innovation Exchange that combines both the know-how
and creativity to make it a real asset for the sector.
'The Innovation Exchange will open up a range of exciting
opportunities for people in the Third Sector who have great ideas
for making services better. As well as an accessible online
presence the Innovation exchange will offer peer-to-peer learning
and help innovators find appropriate support.'
Mike Gibbons: Chief Executive of The Innovation Unit said:
'The diverse talents of the 3rd sector are widely
recognised. This project is an opportunity to bring them together
and create more space for innovation.'
Valerie Hannon, Director of Strategy at The Innovation Unit, who
led the winning consortium's bid, said:
'We are delighted to be working with our partners on this
ground-breaking project for the 3rd sector. Together we're
confident we can create the structures needed to break through the
operational barriers that currently inhibit innovation.'
Livio Hughes, co-founder of Headshift, commented:
'We are excited by this opportunity to apply our specialist
social computing and Web 2.0 expertise to support the fostering
and sharing of innovation in the Third Sector.'
Stephen Bubb: Chief Executive of the Association of Chief
Executives of Voluntary Organisations (acevo) said:
'Innovation and developing pioneering practice is very
important to third sector chief executives and I am delighted for
acevo to be part of this project. We know that there is a huge
volume of innovation within the sector, we are thrilled to have
the opportunity to share, encourage and develop the innovators.'
He went on to say 'Gathering an evidence base for the
innovative work of the third sector must be our priority if we are
to bring about real change in public services and real learning in
how to develop innovation in the sector.'
Work is starting immediately on the web dimension of the project
and the programme is expected to be officially launched in October.
Notes to Editors
1. 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
2. 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
3. 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
4. The not-for-profit sector now employs the full-time equivalent
of 1.5m staff, with a collective annual turnover of £46bn.
5. 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/
6. The job of director for the Innovation Exchange will be
advertised shortly. For more details see The Innovation Unit
website http://www.innovation-unit.co.uk
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