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At the time of his visit to Perth, Richard Smith-Bingham was UK think-tank NESTA’s head of Policy and Research. NESTA builds financial and strategic support into innovative processes by providing capital for promising ideas, concentrating on keeping UK talent in the UK, and experimenting with new ways of engaging the public in science, technology and the creative industries.

Smith-Bingham appeared in an Expert Speaker luncheon event with Chris Powell, Chairman of NESTA. The event focussed on ways to create infrastructure aimed at supporting a creative, knowledge-based economy, and retaining innovative, bright thinkers within individual organisations and the city of Perth as a whole. It drew an audience from a range of sectors, from government through to the creative industries. Smith-Bingham and Powell presented on the challenges of establishing organisations which aim for diversity across science and the arts, and which embrace the risks and rewards of innovation.