Nesta invites applications for grants from its bright ideas research fund. These grants aim to fund good new ideas related to innovation and innovation policy and develop research projects and policy proposals in fields that relate to innovation but where Nesta does not have big programmes already in place. Projects can involve primary research, novel argumentation, or the development of a new idea, or ideally more than one of these things.
It is hoped that the fund will lead to interesting insights in its own right, and perhaps in due course to some larger research projects.
Fields of particular interest include:
- understanding the innovative businesses that matter
- what do emerging technologies mean for the economy and society
- how can we get a financial system better suited to innovation
- developing an innovation policy for the arts
- datavores
- better government policy for innovation
- better government policy based on evidence and experiments
- new trends in innovation around the world
- collective intelligence
- how to encourage new ideas and experimentation in social innovation
- scaling up social innovation
- big and open data for social innovation
- collaborative economy
- smarter smart cities
- accelerators.
Applications are welcome from a wide range of people and organisations worldwide, including think tanks, academics, journalists, charities and businesses.
Nesta will fund up to £10,000 per project. Projects are expected to be concluded within a year of their start.
This is an open call. You can apply for the fund any time during the year and applications are reviewed in batches. The next review date will be on the 24th of October 2014.
For more information go to: http://www.nesta.org.uk/funding/bright-ideas-research-fund-open-call
