The Nominet Trust uses technology to tackle social challenges through social investments and grants of £5 million per year. It aims to demonstrate how digital technology can redesign solutions to persistent social problems. Some of its grantees include Podnosh, which captures voices of disconnected people for policymakers, and Memory Box, which helps those with dementia through digital memories. The Trust also supports young people through programs like iDEA to develop digital and entrepreneurial skills.

1. www.nominettrust.org.uk
Using technology to tackle social challenges
Dan Sutch
dan.sutch@nominettrust.org.uk
@dansutch
@nominettrust

2. Our mission
We believe that the use of
digital technology can transform
the way we address big social
challenges, so we bring
together, invest in and support
people and organisations to do
this.
• Social investments and grants of c£5m per year
• Aim to demonstrate how digital technology can be used to redesign the way we address
persistent social challenges
• Aim to support (in addition to funding) to scale the social and economic impact
• Foundation charity of Nominet – the .UK domain registry (10m+ .uk websites)
• Direct relationship with Nominet’s public purpose & strength of their membership

3. Research and Insight

4. Grant making and social investment

5. Podnosh ‘Recording Real Lives’
Capturing voices of disconnected
people for social policy makers
Futuregov ‘Patchwork’
Supporting and improving
communication between key local
authority workers around the family
‘Make Things Do Stuff’
Encouraging young people to
become digital makers
‘Memory Box’
Collecting digital memories for
recollection activities for people
suffering from dementia
‘Discoverables’
Helping young people discover,
develop and demonstrate skills for
employability
Carers UK ‘Jointly’
Supporting time-poor carers to
manage caring responsibilities with
busy lives

7. memrica

9. icanmake

11. Jointly app, Carers UK

13. Supporting 1 million young people to develop digital
skills and entrepreneurial skills
Providing mentoring, funding, opportunities and support
iDEA

15. How we can use technology to tackle social challenges
SOCIAL TECH, SOCIAL CHANGE

16. Many examples of significant
tech-driven/tech-enabled
changes – where for social-tech?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Transistor_Count_and_Moore%27s_Law_-_2011.svg

17. It’s not just a lack of space suits...
The use of digital technology provides remarkable
opportunities to redesign how we address persistent social
challenges
This requires:
• Creativity and imagination for how else we might address
these issues
• Risk taking and testing of these new approaches
• Entrepreneurship and willingness
• Aspiration, persistence and tenacity
• (openness, collaboration...)

18. Introducing Social Tech, Social Change
Put simply, this funding programme has
been developed to help demonstrate the
potential of a new approach that uses
digital technology to address a persistent
social challenge. The fund aims to help
develop and test these early-stage ideas.

19. What we’re offering
 Up to £50k investment – budget based on need
 Support to develop, test and demonstrate your work
 Personal/professional development links through our
Funder+ activities (£5k discretionary fund)
 Links to our network of social-tech innovators
 Potential further support and development if the approach
tests well (further investment, links etc)
 An opportunity to build experience and a case for your idea
that can be presented for further development

20. What do you need?
 Tested team with an idea, or an idea that has already (in
some way) been tested
 Previous seed funding; tested prototype
 An aspiration to address a social challenge through the use
of digital technology beyond this funding
 Commitment to testing and developing your approach
 An understanding of how this approach is different from
existing ways of addressing the social challenge
 A way of developing the product/activity within a year

21. Stable and specific tech for market use; iteratively building on previous work to
extend market reach & user numbers or accessing new markets. Recruitment
of Board members and prep for investment.
Stable tech for market use; Established and confirmed partnership & routes to
market; evidence of demand and social value; customers confirmed and
further ongoing partnership conversations – weakness in one or two areas
needed to scale that can be addressed (eg marketing); development of
internal org infrastructure including senior appointments, legal, HR, finance.
Developed tech for use beyond testing group; developing sales and
supplier lists; demonstrating viability as alternative to current
provision though outcomes evaluation, partnerships, routes to market
and evidencing demand
Moving from MVP to beta; beginnings of Comms, PR and evaluation;
Demonstrating potential of new approach through co-design, early
partnerships and market testing
Idea generation; developing MVP and early testing;
venture formed.

22. Useful links
 Social Tech, Social Change programme:
http://www.nominettrust.org.uk/how-to-apply/our-investment-
programmes-0
 This presentation:
http://www.slideshare.net/Dannno/open-inno
 Open for applications 22nd September 2014

23. dan.sutch@nominettrust.org.uk
@dansutch
@nominettrust

24. Thanks for joining us...
Hope it was useful – more info at www.nominettrust.org.uk