THE YOUNG FOUNDATION LBG

Their core work

The Young Foundation is a London-based social innovation research centre that designs and tests new approaches to persistent social problems — inequality, youth exclusion, and community disengagement. They specialize in participatory methods that bring citizens, policymakers, and entrepreneurs together to co-create solutions. Their work spans policy research, digital platform development for maker communities, and urban interventions for socially inclusive cities. They bridge the gap between academic research and real-world social impact, particularly in urban settings.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In their early H2020 period (2015-2017), the Young Foundation focused on broad engagement methods, social innovation community-building, and experimentation in policymaking — working on how to connect diverse actors around shared social challenges. From 2018 onward, their work sharpened toward concrete urban problems: inequality, vulnerable youth, generational divides, and nature-based urban solutions. The shift shows a move from methodology development (how to do social innovation) toward applying those methods to specific, measurable urban and social challenges.

Moving toward applied urban policy research with a strong focus on intergenerational equity and citizen-led planning — expect future work on just transitions and inclusive city governance.

How they like to work

Primarily a participant (4 of 5 projects), but capable of leading — they coordinated OpenMaker, a digital manufacturing platform project. With 84 unique partners across 23 countries, they operate in large, diverse consortia rather than tight repeat-partner clusters. This suggests they are valued as a specialist contributor who brings social research and participatory methods into technically-oriented projects.

Broad European network spanning 84 partners across 23 countries, indicating they are well-connected across Western and Central Europe. Their consortia mix universities, municipalities, and technology firms, reflecting their cross-disciplinary bridging role.

What sets them apart

The Young Foundation occupies a rare niche: they are neither a pure university nor a consultancy, but a dedicated social innovation lab with decades of institutional history in the UK. Their strength is translating citizen needs into actionable policy and bringing participatory methods into technical or infrastructure-heavy EU projects. For consortium builders, they solve the common problem of "we have the technology but need the social dimension" — particularly for urban, climate, and digital inclusion calls.

Highlights from their portfolio

• OpenMaker
  Their only coordinator role — built a digital platform connecting makers and manufacturing SMEs, showing they can lead cross-sector digital-social projects.
• UPLIFT
  Largest funding share (EUR 319K) and their most recent project, focused on urban inequality and youth — signals their current strategic direction.
• CLEVER Cities
  Long-running project (2018-2023) on nature-based urban solutions, demonstrating their ability to contribute social inclusion expertise to environmental and urban planning consortia.