Frontiers of Innovation

Frontiers of Innovation (FOI) is the Center’s R&D Platform, designed to accelerate the development and adoption of science-based innovations that achieve breakthrough impact at scale. Launched in 2011, FOI employs a structured but flexible framework that facilitates idea generation, development, implementation, testing, evaluation, and rapid-cycle iteration. This process is grounded in science and supported within a growing community of change agents who are committed to shared learning, cumulative knowledge, and transformative child outcomes at the population level. FOI consists of three primary components: Science that provides a continuous pipeline of discoveries and hypotheses (from the biological, behavioral, and social disciplines) that are communicated effectively for application in policy and practice. Intervention Strategies that are designed, tested, and refined through the IDEAS Impact FrameworkTM. They include small-scale pilots as well as strategies for increasing the population impacts of large-scale, evidence-based interventions. A Learning Community that includes people and organizations united by a common vision, engaged in shared learning to accelerate innovation, promoting early adoption of promising strategies, and testing pathways to impact at scale. Science feeds FOI’s intervention strategies with new insights and testable hypotheses about the causal mechanisms underlying the lifelong effects of adversity on the body and brain. New research conducted by the JPB Research Network on Toxic Stress, synthesis of current science conducted by the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, and the work of affiliated faculty members and research partners of the Center on the Developing Child all contribute in important ways. FOI’s portfolio of intervention strategies uses the combined efforts of these and other scientists in the FOI community to spark new, testable ideas. Papers with sticky notes on a table, with several hands writing and pointing at various notes Learn about the guiding principles of the IDEAS Impact Framework, as well as a set of three components that are created and revised within the approach. FOI’s Intervention Strategies include a diverse portfolio of testable, on-the-ground pilots that have the potential to transform the lives of children and families facing adversity. When teams of researchers, practitioners, community members, and parents have identified unmet needs and are ready to co-create science-based theories of change that address the underlying causes of the identified challenges, they engage with FOI’s IDEAS Impact Framework. This is a structured process in which the teams: (1) develop clearly defined intervention strategies and specified implementation materials; (2) use common measures and contribute findings to a common database; (3) embrace a segmentation approach that focuses on understanding what works for whom, in what contexts, and why; (4) test and iterate in a rapid cycle of learning and adaptation; and (5) connect to a growing network of other pilots and strategies. Individuals and organizations that are engaged in the intensive development and piloting of intervention strategies using the IDEAS Impact Framework are linked through informal networks of innovation clusters. These collaborating partners share common metrics through a centralized infrastructure. They consult with FOI’s measurement and evaluation leadership group (the “Go Team”) to ensure rigorous and productive application of the FOI framework in developing theories of change, intervention materials, evaluation plans, and approaches to scalability. They also communicate with others across the FOI Learning Community on a regular basis. The FOI Learning Community is a broader, multisectoral group of individuals and organizations, extending beyond the core network of sites and clusters that are engaged with the Center directly to use the IDEAS Impact Framework. This rapidly expanding Learning Community includes both innovators creating new strategies and early adopters of promising models. It connects large service systems and small-scale programs. It provides an evolving infrastructure for a growing movement fueled by a new breed of investors and highly committed experts in practice and policy change, innovation methodologies, and translational science. Its membership comes from a range of disciplines and sectors with a shared commitment to common principles, including: constructive dissatisfaction with the impact of current best practices, the use of science to develop new theories of change, investment in shared learning and distributed leadership, and a relentless drive to achieve nothing less than breakthrough outcomes at scale for young children facing adversity. Frontiers of Innovation Projects FOI Portfolio graphic small image Click the image above for an interactive map that provides an overview of the programs currently being implemented within Frontiers of Innovation. FOI is driving science-based innovation through a diverse portfolio of on-the-ground projects that form a dynamic learning community. No two projects look the same, but they share a set of key approaches (see below) as well as an overarching theory of change. This theory hypothesizes that in order to achieve breakthrough outcomes for children, we must actively build the self-regulation skills, executive functioning, and mental health of the adults who care for them.