Evidence and Innovation

A literature review from What Works Scotland. It draws on research from the field of health and social care on evidence informed practice and the processes through which knowledge is translated in to action. Talks about role knowledge champions and knowledge brokers and difference between research contributions and research impact

Report that uses theoretical, empirical and practice literatures and case studies to reflect on the links between evidence and innovation in the context of Scotland's social services. It bridges two of the core work streams at The Institute for Research and Innovation in Social Services (IRISS); evidence-informed practice and innovation and improvement.

A series of ten blogs exploring evidence-use in social policy contexts. The second of these explicitly considers the relationship between evidence and innovation.

Geoff Mulgan, Chief Executive at NESTA, shares how he thinks NHS innovation will be achieved in the future. Challenges to this will be shifting the concentration of health care out of hospitals, adapting a combination of existing innovations, and being able to open up to newcomers to the field with radically different ideas.

An introductory report by HM Government on the background to, and nature of, the new What Works centres that have been launched to support evidence-based approaches across the UK.

This scoping study was commissioned to explore the potential use of action research and applied research to support evidence based practice, and improve public sector delivery.

Nothing is original, says Kirby Ferguson, creator of Everything is a Remix. From Bob Dylan to Steve Jobs, he says our most celebrated creators borrow, steal and transform.

Charles Leadbeater went looking for radical new forms of education -- and found them in the slums of Rio and Kibera, where some of the world's poorest kids are finding transformative new ways to learn. And this informal, disruptive new kind of school, he says, is what all schools need to become.

What is a mistake? By talking through examples with his improvisational Jazz quartet, Stefon Harris walks us to a profound truth: many actions are perceived as mistakes only because we don't react to them appropriately.

This is interesting in relation to debates concerning innovation and creativity.

This is a blog post written by Professor Donald Forrester on the need for evidence-based approaches in social work. He argues that this will enable social workers to articulate and defend their practice and the contribution it makes.