Future Towns Innovation Hub
A University of Southampton initiative.
Based at Southampton Science Park, the Future Towns Innovation Hub is a hybrid innovation space - both digital and physical - designed to bring people together to shape happier, healthier and more prosperous places.
Across the UK, towns, cities and regions are under increasing pressure.
Ageing infrastructure, climate change, housing shortages, transport demands and community wellbeing are complex, interconnected challenges. Addressing them requires more than isolated solutions - it demands new ways of working that bridge research, practice and policy.
The University of Southampton needed a platform that could:
- Enable structured, meaningful collaboration.
- Be accessible to diverse stakeholders.
- Support both innovation and practical delivery.
- Turn ideas into real-world outcomes.
Building a collaborative innovation ecosystem
The Future Towns Innovation Hub digital platform is designed not just as a tool, but as a space where collaboration can genuinely thrive.
Through the platform, people can share their skills, resources and expertise, post challenges, share ideas and come together to form teams around shared goals. It also provides a place to promote events and exchange skills, while capturing and tracking the outcomes of collaboration and recognising contributions through badges and activity.
The result is a dynamic network where participants can connect with peers and mentors, discover new opportunities and collaborate on challenges. Over time, this helps build real momentum behind ideas and turns them into meaningful action.
From ideas to action
Alongside the platform, we've helped to shape Love Your Place - a community-led innovation programme designed to turn local challenges into actionable projects.
Using design thinking, the programme guides participants through a clear journey:
- Get Ready - Define challenges through collaborative workshops.
- Get Started - Explore ideas with expert support and structured sessions.
- Get Results - Co-create, prototype and implement real solutions.
This approach empowers communities not just to identify problems, but to actively design and deliver solutions.
By combining a powerful digital platform with a structured innovation programme, the Future Towns Innovation Hub has created:
- A thriving cross-sector innovation network.
- Stronger connections between academia and practice.
- A clear pathway from insight to implementation.
- Increased capacity for place-based collaboration.
The result is a scalable model for tackling complex urban challenges - grounded in collaboration, insight and action.
"Made Open have guided us patiently at every stage of the process. Their ability to tease out exactly what we want, alongside their intuition of when to take the lead, has really helped with the delivery of our platform and approach."
Tom Rushby
Senior Enterprise Fellow, Future Towns Innovation Hub
Ready to build a stronger community?
Book a demo to see how Made Open can help your organisation or partnership create value for communities and the systems that support them.
Book a demo