Scaling the Summit UN Global Pulse

Innovation teams require funding to scale their solutions, yet the path to scalability is often fraught with uncertainty, making it challenging to align specific funding with deliverables. Instead, flexibility is paramount. However, pouring funds into innovation scaling projects presents its own set of challenges, particularly for donors accustomed to project-specific frameworks. What alternatives exist for providing flexible funding? Can successful models from the commercial sector be adapted to social innovation? Are there emerging best practices regarding flexible funding linked to successful scaling?
Our host, John Bessant, engaged in a conversation with Silja Leinonen, Senior Advisor for Innovation and Digital Development, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland  and Gladys H. Morales, Global Head of Innovation at IFAD. Together, they explored strategies and challenges associated with securing funding for scaling innovative projects.

Effective monitoring, evaluation and learning are the bedrock when it comes to scaling successful innovations. The innovation team, funders, adopting organizations, and users all require convincing evidence to take action in support of or to adopt the innovation. This evidence offers crucial insights into the performance and impact of the innovation, its cost-effectiveness, and sustainability. It plays a pivotal role in determining whether, when, and how to scale up the innovation, while also pinpointing areas for improvement.
Our host, John Bessant, sat down with Nathalie Rami, Deputy Head of the Innovation Service at the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and Mirriam Mlenga Chitulu, Program Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, at UNHCR. They delved into the realm of effective MEL and the strategic utilisation of evidence to navigate the journey towards scale.

Mentoring matters for innovation. It is clear that supporting innovation teams with experienced guides who coach them through their scaling journey has an impact on their success. These mentors act as ‘critical friends’ throughout the process, challenging and questioning the emerging innovation strategy. But what are the key elements of such mentoring?
In this episode, we look at the role of mentoring in scaling innovation. Our host John Bessant had a conversation with Ian Gray, Clara Van Praag and Chrystina Russell who provided insights from both sides of the mentorship equation.

“Scaling the Summit” is a podcast developed by UN Global Pulse and the UN Innovation Network. The podcast explores essential elements to scale innovations in development and humanitarian contexts. 
In our first episode, we dive into what the journey to scale looks like in practice. We shed light on some of the most common obstacles that innovation teams encounter when trying to scale their innovations, and unveil some key strategies that can inspire and guide innovation teams on their scaling journey. 
Links: 
Scaling the Summit: How the United Nations can expand promising ideas to change the world.Scaling The Summit: A primer on how to scale innovations for impact for the UN System

What does it take to realize the vision of a modern and agile UN system? In this bonus episode, Kersten Jauer, Deputy Director for Strategic Planning and Monitoring in the UN Secretary General's Office, tells us why scaling innovation matters for the vision of a “UN 2.0” and how it can help us accelerate progress towards the SDGs.

Links:
Policy Brief on UN 2.0
Explore UN 2.0 success stories across the globe

“Scaling the Summit” is a podcast developed by UN Global Pulse and the UN Innovation Network. The podcast explores essential elements to scale innovations in development and humanitarian contexts. It draws on relevant innovation research and shares experiences from a wide range of practitioners. Our conversations give insight into what it takes to move from an idea to a fully-scaled project within the UN system.