Nesta Launches Innovation Experimentation Toolkit

UK-based innovation charity Nesta has launched an interactive toolkit, to help researchers and academics experiment with randomised controlled trials (RCTs) for work on innovation, entrepreneurship and business policy-making projects.

Nesta's mission is to spark and shape new ideas 'to improve how the world works'. The new 'Experimentation Toolkit' has been developed by the charity's Innovation Growth Lab (IGL), which tests and gathers evidence on novel approaches to innovation. Designed to guide users through the development and implementation of RCTs, the toolkit (toolkit.innovationgrowthlab.org) offers a step-by-step guide with tips on how to assess topic suitability and trial feasibility, while also providing practical advice on measurement and evaluation. Also included is the IGL Database, which shares evidence from 70 innovation and business support trials taking place worldwide - covering issues ranging from assessing the impact of public entrepreneurship training programmes, to detailing which characteristics are most important to investors of start-ups.

Albert Bravo-Biosca (pictured), Director of the IGL, says RCTs are popular in medicine and education, but remain 'quite new to innovation policy'. He comments: 'we're missing a trick here. RCTs are a hugely flexible and powerful tool which can be used to make innovation and high-growth entrepreneurship policy programmes as effective as possible. The Experimentation Toolkit is the first step for those keen to unlock the potential of RCTs for the big challenges of our time'.

Web site: www.nesta.org.uk .