The creation of the citizen incubator model started with an experiment seven years ago by social entrepreneur James Green. He set a challenge - what if we created five teams of people in five UK cities with no experience of social innovation and gave them 16 weeks to invent new solutions to the issues they were most passionate about?
In a matter of weeks they had gone from blank sheets of paper to inventing impactful new solutions that took them all the way to No10 Downing Street. Today those ideas are social business which continue to improve people's lives. Over the following years we developed the model further, building and delivering citizen incubators that have supported hidden entrepreneurs invent new social businesses tackling everything from the cost of living to mental health challenges.
After seven years of design and delivery, our unique model is now in its third iteration and scaling nationwide through Citizen First, the UK's first citizen incubator.
"James has been working at the forefront of public-led innovation for years. His unique approach puts the public at the heart of change and creates both empowerment and activism at the heart of society. I have seen the impact of his programmes first-hand and have been blown away by him and his team."
Dave Allan, Founder, ?WhatIf! Innovation
