Experiments can show what works in innovation policy

Trials can help governments spend money wisely and measure policies’ long-term impact, says the head of Nesta’s innovation lab.

Governments spend vast amounts of money trying to promote innovation. However, it is not always clear what policies should be used, and which ones are effective.

An approach that has been gaining traction is to become more experimental: trying new ideas, starting small and finding out what works early on, so that resources can be directed to scale up programmes that have been shown to be effective.