Welcome to Innovation Action

Tackling global challenges together

Innovation Action is a collaborative initiative, launched by a consortium of partners brought together by innovation catalyst Global Disability Innovation Hub (GDI Hub), led by UCL Engineering and funded by UK Aid through the Frontier Technologies Hub and AT2030 programmes  Our purpose is to bring people together to innovate on global challenges. We provide a space to enable people from all over the world to identify challenges and collaborate on solutions to help address some of the world’s most pressing problems.

We are beginning our journey with our COVIDaction Local Production, Local Solutions project to develop a technology and innovation pipeline to support action related to the COVID-19 pandemic.  We are also addressing the barriers to manufacture, deployment and use of the UCL-Ventura CPAP in Africa, and helping the Kenyan government to strengthen the Kenyan assistive technology ecosystem.  Central to our approach is mapping systems so that we can help people connect different elements of innovation together more easily.  We have created an interactive map which you can explore below: click on a bubble and  zoom in to find organisations linked to local production and innovation in your area or an area you are interested in. You can also filter for a specific technology, then click to get more information.

Find out more about what we do and how we work.

Find out more about our partners.

Actions you can get involved with

Actions are things that we’re doing to address particular challenges. They’re very often things that we need you to get involved with. Your input will help to shape Innovation Action and enable innovators to create more resilient supply chains, and more sustainable, circular economies.

Why Mapping Matters

We are mapping systems so that we can help people connect different elements of innovation together more easily. We would like to build connections across different sectors of innovation, for example, to better connect the designer who has an idea with a place where that idea can be manufactured, or help a local disabled person’s organisation connect with a local innovation centre to design a new product. By creating connections between people and organisations in the ecosystem we aim to accelerate ideas which meet the local user needs and are designed with high quality, affordability and sustainability in mind.

Our vision for the Innovation Action Master Map 

Currently the data we have is from our COVIDaction Local Production Local Solutions project, but our intention across all appropriate workstreams and partnerships is to build a collection of overlaid, cross referenceable maps so that the relationships between sectors and programmes can be identified geographically. Too often in development and academia, data is filed away and never used again - if these activities and links can be mapped, the relationships and networks that have been built can continue to be used for other work more effectively. New collaborations can be seen that would not have been visible. On the local level across the world, if a more holistic picture of the local ecosystem is available, then we will have a greater understanding of how to make better use of the resources available and fill in the gaps of what's missing in those areas.

How to use the Master Map

The map acts as a directory. You can zoom in  and find organisations linked to local production and innovation in your area or an area you are interested in. Or click on a bubble; this will help you zoom in too. You can also filter for a specific technology, then click to get more information. When emailing for more information tell us what you need help with and the Innovation Action team will help to connect you and accelerate your idea.   Please note that this data was supplied by third parties and we can't guarantee it's accuracy.  Locations shown on our maps are approximate. The mapping system we use shows a location which is at a random point within a 10k radius of the actual location. This means the actual location of an entity may not be the location shown, however, the actual location should be within 10K of the location shown.

Projects

Partners

Programmes