Participle

Participle is a new UK-based social venture to design the next generation of public services. It was set up in 2007 by Hilary Cottam, UK Designer of the Year 2005 and former director of RED, the innovation unit of the UK Design Council; Charles Leadbeater, the internationally renowned thinker and innovator and author of the book We-think; Hugo Manaessi, an acclaimed design and technology entrepreneur; and Colin Burns, designer and former CEO of IDEO London.

Participle works to innovate future services with and for the public, currently focusing on aging, youth and families. It brings together public, private and philanthropic partners, and works through a design process it calls “Transformation Design” . It brings together an inter-disciplinary team of designers, social entrepreneurs, anthropologists, researchers, policy analysts, economists, organisational change people and others.

Here is Participle’s manifesto which it calls “Beveridge 4.0”.

See also “The User Generated State: Public Services 2.0”.

The Young Foundation

The Young Foundation is a world-leading independent centre for social innovation in East London working on issues in health, education and local well-being.

Here is a summary of their current projects.

The Young Foundation’s reports and paper provide a framework for thinking about social innovation, as well as addressing particular issues around public sector innovation, growth and the recession.

Check these out…

Social innovation: why it matters and how it can be accelerated »

Published in 2007, this is the “social innovation manifesto”. If you want the full picture, this is it.

The challenge of growing social innovations »

Great ideas are one thing; implementing them at scale another. This report addresses why some innovations take off and others never get beyond pilot stage “death by pilot”.

Taking innovation in the public sector seriously »

How can the public sector build its innovation capacity, working together with business and the community?

The Art of Public Strategy – Mobilising Power and Knowledge for the Common Good

Published in December 2008, Young Foundation director Geoff Mulgan’s latest book is essential reading for anyone involved in running public organisations … and for anyone interested in how government really works.

Fixing the Future »

How can a social innovation approach help to mitigate the recession and help turn crisis into opportunity? A framework for thinking and action by governments and local authorities.

The Receding Tide: Understanding unmet needs in a harsher economic climate »

NZ already suffers high rates of depression, mental illness and suicide. How will this be affected by a downturn? This report warns of the hidden psychological dangers of recession which the Young Foundation is addressing with a number of new practical programmes around resilience.

Other UK thinking

Whilst we’re in the UK, here’s a thought-piece by Charles Leadbeater, a leading open innovation thinker and practitioner, with James Medway, published by NESTA.

Attacking the Recession: How Innovation can fight the downturn »

The UK needs a strategy to attack the recession, not just respond to it. Innovation – in businesses, communities and public services - should be at the heart of that attack. The UK should aim to emerge as a more innovative, more sustainable and diversified economy.

After capitalism, by Geoff Mulgan »

The era of transition that we are entering will be disruptive—but it may bring a world where markets are servants, not masters.