The UK's first Citizen Incubator has been created by thousands of ordinary people working together to do extraordinary things.
The idea for Public Life started with an experiment five years ago by social entrepreneur James Green. He set a challenge - what if we created five teams of people in five UK cities with no experience of social innovation and gave them 16 weeks to invent new solutions to the issues they were most passionate about?
In a matter of weeks they had gone from blank sheets of paper to inventing impactful new ideas that took them all the way to No10 Downing Street. Five years later and those ideas have become social business which continue to improve people's lives. They proved something we all know - that with the right support ordinary people can achieve extraordinary things.
Over the following five years James has worked to refine the model and prove its impact in a number of communities. The most recent programme using the model saw 20 Essex residents get paid a full-time salary to dedicate a year of their lives to inventing new solutions to the issues affecting them. Thousands got involved and every one of the ideas secured funding and spun out as its own public-led organisation.
Public Life has been created to bring this uniquely impactful and proven approach to communities in every part of the UK.
"James has been working at the forefront of public-led innovation for years. His unique approach puts the public at the heart of change and creates both empowerment and activism at the heart of society. I have seen the impact of his programmes first-hand and have been blown away by him and his team."
Dave Allan, Founder, ?WhatIf! Innovation
