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Innovation Labs

FutureEverything’s unique action-research workshops that promote collaboration, exploration, and innovation

Innovation Labs are dynamic, action-research workshops designed to spark collaboration, creativity, and knowledge exchange. Using participatory design methods, the sessions bring together participants from across businesses, academia, arts, culture, and heritage and diverse disciplines to identify and co-create responses to current and emerging challenges in specific sectors. Innovation Labs have explored fields such as AI, data ethics, sustainability, healthcare, fintech, placemaking, as well developing large scale funding proposals and action plans for strategy delivery.

How do Innovation Labs work?

Participants collectively select a key focus to address and move through creative, iterative stages to develop concepts that may evolve into tangible projects, initiatives, or funding bids.

The collaborative journey includes identifying  the driving forces of the challenge, breaking down the challenge into constituent parts, and rapid ideation towards solution-driven outcomes. 

Ideas are tested for feasibility before moving onto project design followed by peer sharing or pitching to confirm legacy planning. 

Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester

“Innovation Labs enable smart collaborations across sectors and build on the pioneering and progressive approach from FutureEverythingthat has long driven innovation and change.”

Why choose Innovation Labs?

We are committed to the principle that less is more: if we gave you hours to generate a great idea, you can likely generate the same idea in minutes.

  • We are committed to the principle that less is more: if we gave you hours to generate a great idea, you can likely generate the same idea in minutes.
    So, we give you minutes!
  • We are acutely aware of the ‘cost’ of bringing people together: the intangible price of the human resource in the room, and the value of assembling a room full of skills, experience, and ingenuity.
    So, we structure the Innovation Labs to be fast-paced and outcome driven.
  • Our creative facilitation is committed to fostering inclusive, exploratory, conversational spaces.
    So, we encourage participants to ask bold questions, share knowledge, and shift perspectives.
  • Innovation Labs are to be equally robust and agile.
    So, we tailor the activities to suit the specific organisational needs or agendas.

Download the Innovation Lab deck for more information.

Clients include

University of Manchester

FutureEverything has delivered over 40 Innovation Labs for a leading academic institution, bringing together business and academic partners including Siemens, British Cycling, NHS, Arup, Centre for Net Zero,Cummins Inc (and many more) to address and find solutions to industry-specific challenges.

97% of University of Manchester participants said they would recommend an Innovation Lab to their colleagues.

National Trust

The People’s Plan for Nature, a partnership with the National Trust, RSPB, and WWF, focused on UK biodiversity challenges. FutureEverything delivered a large-scale Innovation Lab to turn the Plan’s Calls to Action into practical steps for communities and wider systems change. The Lab produced actionable plans for delegates to implement locally.

University of Oxford

FutureEverything delivered an Innovation Lab to support the development of transdisciplinary funding bids for a £3M Antimicrobial Resistance research call. Bringing together a wide consortium of University of Oxford academics, the Lab enabled teams to explore and shape potential proposal ideas, and generated four concrete research concepts for submission.

Innovation Lab Deck

pdf (5.08 MB)

Participants’ feedback

“FutureEverything was brilliant at getting people working together fast and facilitated the discussions brilliantly… the Lab was a practical and inspirational meeting to link up academics and industrial partners to collaborate in a result-orientated process… they were clear, engaging and thought-provoking… Amazing!”

Want to host your own Innovation Lab?

If you are a university or higher education provider interested in hosting a FutureEverything Innovation Lab, further details about what’s involved can be found below. For an informal conversation or to discuss your specific needs, please contact us at info@futureeverything.org

Other services

News and views

Innovation Labs: Unlocking Interdisciplinary Collaboration in Universities

Guest article by the University of Manchester on the impact of FutureEverything’s Innovation Labs
Portfolio

Nature Directed

Embedding Nature at the heart of decision-making
image of Manchester skyline with flowers (Nature on the Board)