Got a challenge?
Let’s explore how frontier tech can help.
The Frontier Tech Hub works with partners at every stage of the technology journey, from early curiosity to programme design to the development of AI tools that work in the real world.
We welcome requests from FCDO teams, development agencies, funds, and civil society organisations working on global challenges. Tell us what you're trying to solve, and we'll help you find the right next step.
Our flexible space helps teams explore, test and adopt new technologies: testing in the real world to shape today’s decisions and build stronger systems for tomorrow.
Explore
Strategic foresight to navigate what’s next
We help you stay ahead of frontier technologies and the changes shaping your work, so you can make confident, strategic decisions.
Through immersive learning journeys and technical support, we help teams identify opportunities, understand emerging trends, and assess whether new approaches could unlock impact in their context, exploring the ethical considerations involved.
If you're curious about what technologies like AI, sensors, or robotics could do for a specific challenge, this is where to start. You only need a question to explore.
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You want to understand what's genuinely possible (not just what’s trending)
You're responsible for strategy or policy and need to stay ahead of rapid tech change
You're considering a new fund or programme and want to sense-check the technology landscape first
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Scan: a tailored briefing on emerging technologies and trends relevant to your context
Explore: an immersive experience that brings frontier technologies and future scenarios to life for your team
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How can we prepare for more resilient urban futures?
How is AI changing diplomacy, and how do we harness it?
What does the future of democracy look like in 2040?
Get to know the work
Test
Funding, testing and scaling bold ideas
If you're designing a programme or fund and want to build genuine evidence around what frontier tech can do in fragile systems, low-connectivity environments, or politically sensitive contexts, we can help you do it well.
We specialise in the early, risky stage that most funders avoid: where the idea is promising but the evidence doesn't yet exist. Our team helps you design for learning, not just for output, and works with entrepreneurial founders where innovation is designed with scale in mind from the start.
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You're designing a programme and want to embed innovative tech within it
You're developing a fund to source and support tech-enabled innovations
You want to build real evidence around what works (including what doesn't)
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Design of early-stage, high-risk innovation funds and open calls
Support for programme teams embedding frontier tech in existing work
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How can we create space to come up with our own ideas to solve the challenges we’re closest to?
What does it take to scale bold, sustainable solutions?
How can we take calculated risks in fragile systems?
Get to know the work
Adopt
Real world integration: fast-tracked
If you're beyond exploration and want to actually build a tool, a capability or a way of working, this is where we focus on implementation. We work with teams that are serious about embedding AI in ways that create long-term value, not just a one-off prototype.
Our adoption work is practical and people-centred. We help organisations build the skills, confidence and infrastructure to become genuinely AI-enabled on their own terms.
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You want to build an AI tool or application to support your programme or the people you serve
You're trying to bring AI into your organisation in a structured, sustainable way
You need hands-on support, not just a workshop
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AI Sandbox: hands-on support to prototype and build AI tools for impact
AI Opportunity Scan: a focused exploration of where AI could add value in your programme
Tech Adoption Journey: deeper, sustained support to build long-term AI capability in your organisation
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How can we harness AI to support our work sustainably?
What do we need to build, and how do we do it?
How can AI help us make better use of our existing evidence base?
Get to know the work
Innovation is everywhere, the challenge is how to harness and scale it.
We’ve been tackling this challenge for 10 years. Whether you have a concrete problem or just a question, we can help you figure out where to start.
