How experiments are improving the way we work
In a guest blog, Dan Hodges of Innovate UK explores how experiments are improving the way we work.
Blog
Read the latest blogs from the IGL network.
Three lessons about tech transfer - insights from IGL2018
Technology transfer offices have come a long way since their inception in the USA in the 1970s and 1980s. Now they form part of a much broader and more structured system of knowledge and people exchange between universities and the wider world of which immediate financial return and intellectual property are only two components.
From Purpose to Creativity
How do habits of perspective affect useful creativity? IGL Grants Programme grantee Charlie Ebert outlines why their trial looks at the effects of habitual perspective on creativity.
Playtesting the Innovation Policy board game at IGL2018
Reflections on the feedback collected in Boston during the 'Simulation for innovation policy' session at IGL2018.
Choosing team members versus ideas
There are two necessary ingredients for any entrepreneurial endeavour: good people and good ideas. The two may be complementary in that good people are more likely to generate good ideas. But the best of ideas may not translate into a successful business if they lie in the hands of the wrong team.
Four takeaways from the IGL2018 Global Conference
It’s difficult to summarise all the discussions at IGL2018 in Boston. With over 70 speakers, 10 keynotes and debates, 14 hand-on practical sessions, and participants from more than 20 countries, there was plenty of interesting conversations both on stage and during the breaks.
7 lessons from NASA for scaling up open innovation
Steve Rader, speaker at IGL2018, outlines the seven ideas that were helpful to their group at NASA’s Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation. as they scaled up their Open Innovation programme.
IGL2018: Vouchers and Experimentation
Reflecting on our latest event, IGL2018, James Phipps discusses some thoughts after his session on experimentation, vouchers and randomised controlled trials.
Reflection from IGL2018: We can’t wait 118 years
It was a privilege to attend the 2018 Innovation Growth Lab Conference (IGL2018) that took place at the Harvard Business School and MIT campuses from the 12-14 of June. The experience was — in a word — inspiring. The calibre of people and organisations in attendance as well as the quality of the work presented made it difficult to focus on one aspect to write about.
Are you ready for an RCT?: Practical lessons for running randomised controlled trials in small businesses
We thought we had a great idea to spur innovation and growth in the informal furniture sector in Kenya: we opened and operated a tool library in the informal furniture district in Nairobi, Kenya. The tool library, aptly named “WorkShop”, offers capital in the form of access to quality, industrial grade tools, as well as skills in the form of training classes from a five-week curriculum on business practices, technical skills and customer management.
Moving from confusing present to a more practical future: A practical framework for applying evidence in decision-making
Evidence-based policy making has now become central to the scientific agenda. The amount of rigorous evidence is increasing in all fields but the question of how to best apply this evidence to policy making processes remains a challenge. Particularly, since the evidence comes from a range of contexts, it makes it harder to predict whether a policy will have the same impact in one context as it did elsewhere. Furthermore, there are also implications for how the evidence from another context influences the design and implementation of policies.
It isn’t clear how we solve the productivity puzzle, so let’s experiment
As you are reading this, I would expect that there is a policymaker somewhere in the world preparing a paper on how their organisation can help raise productivity. A decade since the global financial crisis and productivity growth remains sluggish for many advanced and developing economies.