There has been ample proof in recent years that the creative industries are good at coming up with ideas that have a positive social impact on the world. From the BBC’s series Blue Planet II, which has been widely credited for kickstarting a major campaign against single-use plastic, to the sculpture Fearless Girl, which was created by ad agency McCann New York to promote female equality in the workplace, creative thinking and social change are intimately linked.

With this in mind, global innovation foundation Nesta, which backs new ideas that “tackle the big challenges of our time”, is launching the pilot programme Amplified to encourage the development of original and creative digital ideas that will generate a positive social outcome.

Nesta is offering £10,000 of grant funding to cultural and creative organisations to develop digital ideas that will make a difference to the world. Those ideas can be anything from a game to an interactive installation, as long as it seeks to generate a direct social outcome, which can be anything from increasing community cohesion to reducing the consumption of single use plastics.

Ideas are welcome from all cultural and creative organisations, not-for-profit or commercial, so long as they have been trading for a minimum of three years in the UK. Nesta is “looking to fund ideas from both arts and cultural organisations as well as businesses within the wider creative industries, particularly where those businesses feel their ideas can positively impact the lives of others. These could be games companies, design agencies, media agencies or other firms.”

Eight ideas will be chosen early next year by a panel of industry experts, with the Amplified programme running from April 2019 for a year. As well as the aforementioned funding, there will also be mentoring and wider support offered to help provide all the skills to bring your idea to life.

The Amplified programme is now open for expressions of interest, and the deadline for this stage is on November 14. More information and further eligibility criteria is at nesta.org.uk/project/amplified/