Nesta’s innovation mapping team seeks to transform innovation policy with new data sources, analytics and ways to present information. This report presents the problem we want to solve, the methods we use and how we work.
There is a glaring disconnect between technological innovation on the one hand, and productivity growth and societal well-being on the other.
Economic and innovation policymakers are seeking to fix it with ambitious missions, challenges and national strategies that align technology development with societal needs and make innovation more inclusive. Traditional data sources, with their static taxonomies, aggregate statistics and simple summaries of a complex economy fall short of these policymakers’ evidence needs.
Nesta’s innovation mapping team seeks to overcome these barriers with new, more detailed and timely data, powerful analytics and ways of presenting information. This report summarises what we are trying to achieve, our audiences, projects, methods and outputs.
- Bigger investments on science and technological innovation are not being accompanied by productivity growth, inclusion and societal well-being.
- A new wave of innovation policies is seeking to fix this disconnect with an approach that is more activist, directional and holistic.
- These new policies need to be informed with timely and relevant data about emerging technologies, innovation systems and innovation impacts.
- Nesta’s innovation mapping team seeks to deliver these data in a way that is user-driven, pragmatic, eclectic, open and human-centric.