NESTA (the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) is to be allocated an extra £95m by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, to top up its initial endowment of £200m and accelerate the development of projects designed to nurture innovation and talent.
The organisation was established under the 1998 National Lottery Act with the remit of helping turn inventions and new ideas into products or services that can be effectively exploited and protected, and helping talented individuals achieve their potential. To achieve this, it has been using the income derived from the original endowment ? approximately £8m a year.
The announcement of the new funding coincides with the release of new research, commissioned by NESTA, into the ?Barriers to the Realisation of Creative Ideas?. This investigation has revealed a wide range of cultural, institutional, educational and financial barriers that can prevent UK talent from realising its full potential, with the lack of understanding of the creative process by Britain?s funding and financing community and the education system being seen as the biggest obstacles. NESTA trustee Jenny McIntosh said ?Our conversations with creative people showed that they find it harder to get mortgages, overdrafts, even a sympathetic ear from the bank manager ? the sort of financial help that many of the rest of us take for granted.?