Open Innovation Exchange

I've been looking through the nominations for the New Statesman New Media Awards**, and I'm blown away by the range of interesting online initiatives there, ranging from the governmental to the small group and individual.

The Open Innovation Exchange has been nominated, and of course we are all hopeful that we'll get recognition for the open process we used to bid for the Cabinet Office contract, even though we failed. (No official news of the winner, though I did hear unconfirmed rumblings that the lead within the third sector may be ACEVO rather than NCVO).

The aim of the awards is to "celebrate UK new media projects that benefit society, government or democracy," and this year the categories are Contribution to civic society; Modernising government; Elected representative; Education Information and openness; Advocacy; Young Innovator. You can see last year's winners here.

I know some of those nominated - but not about many others, even though I try and scan the field and write about it here. It strikes me that awards are great for flushing out interesting initiatives, and rewarding them after they have achieved something. However, awards aren't generally designed to encourage start-ups, or help them learn from more experienced initiatives. To do that we would need .... ummm ... an innovation exchange!  read more »

We've had some terrific coverage from Charity Finance on the proposal. OK, I'm quoted rather well, so I'm biased, but Tania Mason has really captured what we are trying to do, including the point that if we win, some of the funds will be available to others.

Tania says that our proposal is in competition with one from the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, and the Young Foundation. Maybe this will build on the Launchpad programme they are developing with an impressive team and list of partners.  read more »