National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts
| Formation | 1998 (19 years ago) |
|---|---|
| Type | Charity |
| Purpose | Innovation |
| Headquarters | 58 Victoria Embankment, London |
| Location |
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| Website | www.nesta.org.uk |
Nesta (formerly NESTA, National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) is an innovation foundation.
The organisation acts through a combination of practical programmes, investment, policy and research, and the formation of partnerships to promote innovation across a broad range of sectors.
Nesta was originally funded by a £250 million endowment from the UK National Lottery. The endowment is now kept in trust, and Nesta uses the interest from the trust to meet its charitable objects and to fund and support its projects.
The charity is registered in England and Wales with charity no. 1144091 and in Scotland with no. SC042833
Old NESTA was set up in 1998 by an independent endowment in the United Kingdom established by an Act of Parliament.
On 14 October 2010 the Government announced that it would transfer old NESTA's status from an executive non-departmental public body to a new charitable body.
On 1 April 2012 the old NESTA transitioned from being an executive to a charitable body, changing its name to Nesta, and dropping the long title.
Nesta currently operates in the following areas:
Nesta's Policy and Research team publish regular research papers on how innovation can boost economic growth.
In 2012 it published Plan I, an innovation manifesto for the UK, and the latest Innovation Index figures, which showed that there had been a £24bn drop in innovation funding in the last decade.
Previously it has published The Vital 6 Percent, and Mass Localism.
in 2012 the charity launched a £25 million impact investment fund, Nesta Impact Investments, run by its subsidiary Nesta Investment Management. Other investors are Big Society Capital and the Omidyar Network. The fund invests in social ventures with innovative products or services that address the following three challenges: an ageing population; the employability of young people; and the sustainability of UK communities.
Nesta runs practical programmes to find innovative ways of delivering cheaper, more efficient public services, and demonstrating how these can be scaled up across the UK.
Previous examples of work include the Innovation in Giving fund, in partnership with the Cabinet Office, which seeks to find and support new platforms for the giving of time, skills and money. They also ran an education programme, looking at how children can be taught to become digital makers, and how the education system can benefit from digital technology.
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