This week marks the final stage of the 2022 Ingenuity Programme, which began way back in December with our National Summit and has seen our participants develop their ideas and business skills over the past few months.

This year, we’ve been fortunate to expand the Ingenuity network, not just to new regions and institutions across the country, but through our partnership with the UK’s largest health charity, Nuffield Health.

The partnership has allowed us to increase our capacity, providing our most extensive package of support for our participants to date, and the charity has supported the Programme by providing video tutorials for our Develop Platform, leading drop-in sessions and mentoring our Regional and National Finalists, as well as providing funding for our Challenge Champion and Impact Entrepreneur of the Year awards.

This week, our National Finalists will deliver their final pitches to a panel of judges that will feature key stakeholders from Nuffield Health. We spoke to a few of the judges to hear about their passion for social change and share some tips for our budding entrepreneurs.

“I am really passionate about ensuring that people living in underserved communities and/or living with low resources have access to the same support, chances and opportunities as everyone else. Every one of us deserves the same chances in terms of, living in supportive communities, job opportunities and health outcomes.

In the final pitches I am looking for finalists who can vividly bring their vision to life both in terms of the ‘What’ and the ‘so what’…the impact, for health inequality, sustainability or healthy communities.

I’ve got such a huge amount of enjoyment from multiple aspects of the Programme, from seeing the passion of the entrepreneurs, to hearing how much the mentors have personally gained from the programme and now seeing how the business ideas have developed and seeing the meaningful impact these ideas can have when they come to fruition. It’s been truly inspiring.”

“Everyone deserves an opportunity and a chance to shine and we all know some of the best ideas come from the people living and breathing the problems. Ingenuity, through its supportive approach takes it one step further, directly championing collaborations to help maximise those opportunities. I am very pleased our charity has been able to play a part.

I want to see strong passion from teams but a willingness to learn and develop. The idea must meet a national unmet need with consideration to how it will grow. My top tip is to be yourself; nerves are normal! You don’t need to have all the answers, just a passion and commitment to get to the right place.”

“I am passionate about addressing health disparities in underserved communities and closing the gap of health inequalities and access to care

Keep your pitch simple and impactful. Be solution focused, and approach the explanation from a beneficiary perspective. I am looking for finalists to have an obvious and complete understanding of the problem they are trying to solve while offering a practical solution that is easily understandable and scalable to make a significant community impact.

Creativity and innovation are the keys to addressing our largest community problems. I am passionate about supporting new ideas and helping innovative thinkers in their process of helping others. Ingenuity aligns with not only our organisational vision at Nuffield Health, but my personal vision and passion for community programs.”

“The level of social, economic and health inequality across the UK and the long term impact it has on people’s lives and life expectancy is frightening. I am personally really passionate that we all deserve the same chances in life and that we have a responsibility to do our bit to build a better future for the next generation.

I’m really excited to see the ideas that come through and to hear the learning process and experience as well. I’ll be looking for those ideas that are built on really good insights and have a well thought through plan of how to make it a success.”

If you’re interested in meeting any of our finalists, come to the Ingenuity National Showcase on 17 June at East Midlands Conference Centre, University of Nottingham.

RSVP to attend the National Ingenuity Showcase, part of the Power of Partnerships Conference, on Friday 17 June. Please respond by 10 June 2022 by completing this short form. Further information will be sent out prior to the event.