Event

Reimagining Innovation Policy and Delivery with AI

14h-15h GMT / 15h-16h CET, 23 March 2026

George Richardson, Sara Garcia Arteagoitia

Evidence to action Data science & innovation mapping

Most innovation and business support agencies have a clear objective to integrate AI, yet a persistent gap remains between high-level vision and operational reality. The challenge is twofold: the imagination gap of identifying high-impact use cases that justify the investment, and the implementation hurdle — navigating the space between ambitious policy goals and the practicalities of ethical governance, data safety, and stakeholder buy-in.

This 60-minute interactive session moves beyond abstract ambition to explore exactly where AI is making a difference in agencies’ workflows. We will discuss real-world tools currently transforming the four key stages of the innovation lifecycle:

• Explore & Define: Trend spotting, horizon scanning, and identifying funding gaps.
• Design & Plan: Streamlining programme design and enhancing policy impact.
• Delivery & Intervention: Automating grant management, enhancing applicant matching, and augmenting assessment processes.
• Evaluation & Learning: Automating reporting and enhancing downstream impact analysis. 

Session Highlights:

• The Reality Check: A briefing on the hurdles agencies face today, from data silos to ethical AI frameworks.
• Peer Benchmarking: An interactive segment that assesses how other agencies are deploying AI, so participants can see where they stand.
• Actionable Strategy: Leave with a conceptual framework to move from a high-level mandate to a live working strategy.

Why should you join?

Whether your organisation is just beginning to explore AI or you are looking to scale existing pilots, this session provides the practical framework to move from a high-level mandate to specific, high-impact use cases. You will gain the insights required to make your delivery mechanisms as innovative as the projects you fund.

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  George Richardson

  Head of Data Science and Technology

  Prior to working at IGL, George worked as Head of Data Science in Nesta’s Data Science Practice, deploying data science and engineering to produce research and products to advance the organisation’s missions. Before that, he was a Principal Data Scientist in Nesta’s Innovation Mapping team. He has a doctorate in physics and materials science from Imperial College London and has worked on a range of other data projects spanning renewable energy, homelessness and humanitarian crisis response. George is bringing his experience and knowledge to IGL to change the ways that data and technologies are used to enable policies that strengthen research and innovation and harness the outcomes for societal benefit.

  Learn more about George Richardson
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  Sara Garcia Arteagoitia

  Senior Researcher

  Sara García Arteagoitia joined IGL as a Senior Researcher in 2022. In her role, she helps identify experimental research opportunities with our global government partners and bring them to fruition. Before joining IGL, Sara worked as a consultant and instructor in behavioural design with private companies and government agencies in Spain and Latin America, helping […]

  Learn more about Sara Garcia Arteagoitia