Our offers
Open Innovation
Research & development with people close to the challenge
We know the best insights and ideas come from those closest to the issues, and that the challenges of our time cannot be solved by any individual or single idea alone.
Brink has proven approaches for capturing and supercharging diverse and non-obvious ideas through competitions, challenges and venturing support.
Governments, donors and philanthropic organisations partner with us to design and run funds that invest in portfolios of ideas, unearth deep insight and create spaces for learning.
Brink specialises in crowding in ideas through
- Global competitions like COVIDaction (2020-2021) that mobilised £5.3M for pandemic tech solutions
- Sector-specific challenges such as the Assistive Tech Impact Fund supporting 6 African countries
- Venture stage-specific initiatives like Hanga (2023-present) funding pre-revenue SRH innovations across Sub-Saharan Africa
This approach combines
- Catalytic grants (£20K-£200K) with technical matchmaking of problems with ideas for solutions
- Partnerships to accelerate time from experimentation to evidence with expert organisations on a theme or place like UCL Institute of Healthcare Engineering or AfriLabs
Related work
- Full case study
TRANSFORM
Reimagining the Future of Work in Kenya
Across Africa, the ‘informal’ economy is a critical lifeline, supporting livelihoods for millions. With 280 million facing food insecurity and 600 million lacking electricity, the informal sector is a key source of employment. By 2050, it is estimated that the population will reach 2.5 billion people with young people making up half of this.
Read the case study → -
Full case studyHumanitarian Grand Challenge
Creating community across conflict zones
Developed a supportive and dynamic community that allows those working in unpredictable and extreme environments to come together and make meaningful connections, identify new opportunities and form sector-chan.
Read the case study →
