The Mayor of London, England has partnered with Nesta Challenges to launch the £1m Mayor’s Resilience Fund to help support organizations in identifying and developing solutions to the city’s biggest challenges. The goal is for London’s businesses and community groups to emerge stronger from the current coronavirus crisis, and to ensure the capital is better prepared for future challenges.
“Our Resilience Fund will play an important role in helping the city recover from the pandemic. Great ideas, developed from the grassroots up, will be vital to helping the capital move forward – and so I’m urging individuals and groups from all communities to come forward with their solutions to London’s challenges,” said Sadiq Khan, mayor of London.
Community groups – including local authorities, public agencies, and social enterprises – are being asked to identify specific challenges they face. Ten specific challenges will be selected and, next year, experts will be invited to present how they plan to address these challenges using new technologies and/or innovative solutions.
Each challenge will receive up to £30,000 (~$40,000 US), along with mentoring and advice. The challenges cover the following areas:
- lack of social cohesion;
- inequality;
- poor air quality;
- food insecurity;
- poor housing affordability and quality;
- ageing infrastructure; and,
- poor health and wellbeing.
“The fund demonstrates how some of the capital’s most important groups can work together to help businesses and communities bounce back from Covid-19 in a rapid time frame,” added Tris Dyson, managing director of Nesta Challenges. “We are first calling on community groups to come forward with identified issues that have arisen as a result of the pandemic. Importantly, the 10 successful community groups will have the opportunity to co-create solutions with some of the best innovators across the UK, presenting opportunities for learning, sharing and ultimately the creation of successful prototypes.”