The Small Ideas Initiative, founded and funded by Martin Lewis and run by Nesta’s Centre for Collective Intelligence and Involve, is asking the public for practical ways to remove everyday friction from life in the UK.
The criteria are deliberately tight: ideas should be achievable, relatively inexpensive, capable of meaningful impact, and broadly acceptable across political differences. Submissions will be filtered and tested with specialists before a cross-party panel selects proposals to take to government, councils, and regulators.
For public-service leaders, the experiment is interesting not only for the ideas it gathers but for its route from lived experience to feasible policy. Submissions close on 12 November 2026.