Recommendations

Overall recommendations

Drawing on insights from the programme, this final section of the report sets out some brief recommendations relating to the design and delivery of mission-based innovation programmes. These are included to support the delivery of future programmes and to share insights across the sector.

Overall we’ve found that missionbased innovation provides a useful framework for exploring and nurturing designs to shift systems. When framed carefully, this type of programme can create opportunities for the public sector to engage with academic and private sector partners, as well as communities, in developing forward looking solutions to complex challenges.

It is however important that a careful balance is struck between the needs of the individual teams and the needs of the cohort as a whole. We found that teams benefitted from face-to-face interaction and so a mix of in-person and virtually delivered workshops is recommended. Finally, it is important that teams are appropriately resourced to engage with the programme and so we encourage allocating funding to teams wherever possible.

Below we summarise recommendations for different stakeholders groups.

Recommendations for Government (central and local)

#1 Set the direction for innovation by establishing clear mission challenges for teams to engage with;

#2 Create opportunities for diverse teams to come together and co-create solutions to tomorrow’s challenges;

#3 Ensure a supportive environment is created for teams to explore and evolve their innovations;

#4 Consider allocating funding to enable teams to fully commit to the programme;

Recommendations for designers

#1 Provide teams with a physical space to interact with each other, whether within or across mission themes

#2 Ensure teams are supported to work collectively, keeping in mind their individual needs

#3 Strike a balance between talks (learning) and workshop activities (doing) with an emphasis on the latter

#4 Have a clear structure in place for how to support teams beyond the lifecycle of the programme, for instance by co-creating a programme of events that can live on after the programme ends

Recommendations for innovation teams

#1 Come with an open mind and be prepared to challenge your existing ideas and designs

#2 Consider ways that your design can work with those of other teams to reframe behaviour and drive change

#3 Share insights and failures with the rest of the cohort.

Peer learning is one of the most powerful ways of developing novel insights and ideas