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Nesta We are Nesta, the research and innovation foundation. linktr.ee/Nesta_uk

We apply our deep expertise in applied methods to design, test and scale solutions across the innovation lifecycle.

16/10/2026

🎙️ Nesta's podcast The Fix asks one big question: how do we solve the toughest challenges facing the UK today?

Hosted by Nesta CEO Ravi Gurumurthy, each episode brings together some of the most prominent voices in British public life, from politics, business and beyond, to explore how we could do things differently.

From energy bills and housing to social care and healthy eating, we’re getting into the big issues - and the decisions behind them.

Our first episode drops next Wednesday - we'll hear from ex-Business Secretary Peter Kyle on how to make the UK a great place to do business.

📲 Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts, so you don’t miss the new season.

🔗 Links below.

08/10/2026

Ever thought, “why don’t they just fix it?” Now’s your chance to have your say. 💡

Today, we’re launching the Small Ideas Initiative - a major new charitable initiative aiming to turn the UK public’s ideas for practical fixes to make life better into policy.

Founded and chaired by Martin Lewis and run by Nesta’s Centre for Collective Intelligence and Involve, the initiative is asking the public for practical, non-controversial ways to improve daily life.

From clunky council tax forms to unfair parking meter charges, everyday life is full of small frustrations. Big issues tend to take up the time and attention of politicians - this initiative focuses on finding the small, doable fixes that can make daily life better for millions, tapping into our shared collective intelligence.

1️⃣ Submit your idea before 12 November 2026.
2️⃣ Experts will select the best ideas to take forward.
3️⃣ A panel, chaired by the initiative’s founder Martin Lewis CBE, will select the final ideas to campaign on, taking them straight to people who can make them happen.

Submit your idea now: www.small-ideas.org

30/09/2026

The global economy is changing rapidly. Nations are increasingly using trade, energy, and technology as tools for political and strategic leverage - making economic security an urgent issue for government.

With Andy Burnham two-thirds through his first 100 days as Prime Minister, how should the UK protect its economy without slowing growth?

In our new podcast episode, Nesta CEO Ravi Gurumurthy speaks with former Deputy National Security Adviser Jonathan Black. They discuss how the UK can navigate its key trade relationships with the US, China, and Europe, and explore the practical structures government needs to weigh national security against economic priorities.

Watch the full episode on YouTube to hear the practical solutions: https://bit.ly/4hryckS

30/08/2026

What happens when the world’s most powerful companies become more powerful than the governments meant to regulate them?

“It’s no longer that multinationals respect the laws of every country. It’s that the world’s most powerful country has become the representative of those multinationals.”

In the latest episode of our podcast deep-dive series, Andy Burnham’s first 100 days, Nesta CEO Ravi Gurumurthy sits down with economist Tony Curzon Price to explore how a new government could rethink its role in shaping markets - from essential services like energy and water to digital infrastructure and AI.

Watch the full conversation on YouTube to explore what greater public control could look like in a world where power is increasingly concentrated in the hands of multinational companies.

🎧 Listen or watch the full episode now: https://bit.ly/4gpuhWB

25/08/2026

What’s broken about the UK’s tax system - and how can we fix it?

Going just £1 over the £100,000 income threshold currently wipes out a family’s entire free childcare entitlement. That cliff edge reveals a common design flaw in the tax system that discourages productivity and squeezes earners.

In the latest episode of our podcast deep-dive series, Andy Burnham's first 100 days, Nesta CEO Ravi Gurumurthy sits down with economist Dr Arun Advani to explore how a new government could fix these fiscal traps.

Watch the full conversation on YouTube to see how tax reform should feature in a Prime Minister's first 100 days.

🎧 https://bit.ly/4fOYHQf

21/08/2026

🤳 Why are we designing society around private tech platforms instead of making sure tech serves the public interest?

In our new podcast spin-off series, Andy Burnham's first 100 days, Nesta CEO Ravi Gurumurthy sits down with leading experts to stress-test the big ideas that should shape his agenda.

In this episode, Ravi is joined by filmmaker, politician and leading voice on children’s rights in the digital environment, Baroness Beeban Kidron OBE, to unpack the steps Andy Burnham should take to decisively reclaim public control from Silicon Valley.

Taking a wider view than proposed responses like social media bans or regulating AI, Beeban argues the real challenge is the growing power of a handful of tech companies. She explains why governments should hold platforms responsible for harmful and addictive products, not just the content they host.

From the risks of AI to making better use of trusted public data from institutions like the NHS and the BBC, they explore how Britain can build digital technology that serves citizens over corporate profit.

🎧 Watch the full episode now: https://bit.ly/4hd6ERN

🎙️ Listen wherever you get your podcasts - rate, review and subscribe.

19/08/2026

“The problem isn’t a technical one, it’s a human one.”

Building better digital infrastructure isn’t just about choosing the right tech. It’s about getting organisations with different incentives to agree, collaborate and invest in implementation.

So how can the UK take back control of its digital infrastructure?

Nesta CEO Ravi Gurumurthy and Mallory Durran explore what government needs to do differently to transform the UK from a passive tech tenant into a sovereign digital architect - in the latest episode of the Policy Fix: Andy Burnham’s first 100 days

🎧 Watch the full episode on YouTube or listen wherever you get your podcasts. https://bit.ly/4fZ7vVk

13/08/2026

Positive health trends - such as the decline of smoking - don't just happen by accident. They're the result of sustained, deliberate policy action.

The same applies to obesity. Without active policy interventions - from industry targets to advertising bans - progress stalls. If a new government stops taking action, the trend stops too.

In a new episode of Andy Burnham's first 100 days, Nesta's deep-dive series from the Policy Fix podcast - Nesta CEO Ravi Gurumurthy sits down with Hugo Harper, director of Nesta’s healthy life mission, to break down the steps a new government will need to take to shift the UK from treating sickness to preventing ill health in the first place.

Moving past the usual debate about the UK's strained health system, they stress-test practical policy interventions that Andy Burnham could implement in his first 100 days as Prime Minister.

🎧 Watch the full episode on YouTube or listen wherever you get your podcasts - link in comments.

If you enjoyed the episode, please rate, review, subscribe and share it with your network.

09/08/2026

💡 Imagine you are the new Prime Minister: what would you do in your first 100 days?

That's the question we're asking our guests on our new deep-dive series from the Policy Fix podcast.

In our first episode, tax expert Dan Neidle explains why abolishing stamp duty and council tax, simplifying the income tax and corporate tax systems and reducing the VAT threshold would be top of his agenda.

Rather than just rehearsing the problems facing Burnham, Ravi Gurumurthy and Dan Neidle stress-test the big ideas that should shape Andy Burnham's agenda, discuss the policy solutions he should actually pursue and map out the steps he should take to get started in his first 100 days.

🎧 Watch the full episode on Youtube or listen wherever you get your podcast - link in comments

🌟 Liked the episode? Rate, review, subscribe - and share with your network.

06/08/2026

How can Andy Burnham bring the UK’s essential services under public control?

From rising energy bills to struggling water infrastructure, frustration with privatised services is growing. But with public finances under pressure, can government deliver change without buying everything back?

In the latest episode of our deep-dive series from the Policy Fix podcast, Nesta’s Ravi Gurumurthy and economist Tony Curzon Price explore how a new government can give people more control over essential services - without returning to old models of nationalisation.

The conversation breaks down:
⚡ Why traditional regulation has struggled to deliver better outcomes.
🏗️ How government can play a stronger role in shaping markets, from energy and water to digital services.
🔐 Why giving people more control over their data could help create fairer digital markets.
🇬🇧 How stronger public infrastructure could rebuild trust and deliver better services.

🎧 Watch the full episode on YouTube or listen wherever you get your podcasts: https://bit.ly/4fPbiD3

If you enjoyed the episode, please rate, review, subscribe and share it with your network.

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