An evaluation of the NESTA/Young Foundation Health Launchpad
In January 2008 the National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts (NESTA) commissioned Acton Shapiro to carry out a major evaluation of Health Launchpad, a Young Foundation initiative to test a new approach to accelerating social innovation through the creation and support of start-up social ventures, including hands-on support and innovative funding terms (such as equity, quasi-equity, convertible loans, as well as grants).  Its focus is on the management of long-term chronic diseases and the overall ambition is support to social ventures with the potential to transform public services.
 
The evaluation, which will run over five years, has been designed to examine both Health Launchpad as a model for promoting and supporting social innovation and the impact of the new social ventures in terms of improving the lives of people with long-term conditions.  The evaluation has three key elements:
  • It will generate learning about how elements of Health Launchpad might be developed and refined to achieve the best results – for example, the selection of ideas that may be developed into new enterprises, the prototyping of new initiatives and brokering access to sources of support and finance.  The evaluation will also examine the effectiveness of Health Launchpad model in promoting social innovation in the complex area of health and social care.
  • An evaluation of the new social ventures, which will explore four main themes – their resilience (including financial resilience); activity and service delivery; social impact (at both an individual and community level) and system influence and potential (in particular the scope for scaling up/replication); and the likelihood of wider influence on the delivery of health and social care. Case studies that may be of wider interest at key points in the development of Health Launchpad will be identified.
  • A peer learning network, which will bring together social entrepreneurs from the social ventures supported by the HIA, members of Health Launchpad team and individuals from other similar start up organisations.

The evaluation team is working closely with colleagues from the Young Foundation and NESTA to ensure that learning from the evaluation is shared throughout its life, through a variety of vehicles including an interim report and a conference presentation.