Illustrative: branching futures, each branch weighted by its probability

Risk Academy, led by the Nexus Consortium · Course catalogue · Governance, Policy and International Affairs

Science, Technology and Society

Innovation and frontier technology governance

Innovation and frontier technology governance, taught twice over: as the working methods of the field and as its frontier since 2024, with labs on the Academy's tools, open data and the Nexus Standards.

Core course Frontier course

The discipline

01Core course · L2 Intermediate

Innovation and frontier technology governance: foundations and practice

This area covers how new technologies and practices are developed, tested and adopted in the public interest: responsible innovation, experimental governance and sandboxes, testbeds, innovation ecosystems, technology transfer and technology assessment.

Level
L2 Intermediate
Study time
about 24 hours (planning estimate)
Status
In authoring
Prerequisites
An L1 course in the area, or an entry review

Why now

Statutory sandbox powers shift experimentation from informal pilots to a legal regime, raising questions about who bears trial risks. Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade; Department for Business and Trade (UK), Regulatory sandboxes: what businesses can expect, 8 July 2026

Learning outcomes

  1. Define responsible research and innovation and the other key terms of the discipline and use them correctly in a written case
  2. Explain responsible innovation and experimental governance and sandboxes with a worked example and its source
  3. Apply the discipline's method to a documented case and explain each result with its source
  4. Analyse a named case against innovation ecosystems, stating evidence, date and limits

Modules

  1. Responsible innovation
    • Responsible innovation
    • Experimental governance and sandboxes
    • Innovation ecosystems
  2. Technology transfer
    • Technology transfer
    • Public interest innovation
    • Frontier technology governance
  3. Testbeds and field trials
    • Testbeds and field trials
    • Technology assessment
  4. Lab: the discipline's method
    • A technology at a stated readiness level enters a sandbox cohort; a share proceeds to authorisation after a testing period, and the months to general availability follow; the sandbox changes the pass rate and the timing, not the merit of the technology.
    • Work the method through a documented case and explain each result
    • Read the method's sources and stated values

Labs with Academy tools

Nexus Standards

Teaches

  • NRS-T0 Exponential technology risk and responsible innovation
  • NRS-H102 Hazard family: Nanotechnology and advanced materials
  • NRS-H103 Hazard family: Neurotechnology, human enhancement and extended reality

Relies on

  • NS-1 The UNI and the artefact catalogue
  • NS-16 UNI application profile (how articles, documents, code, data, APIs and interfaces carry the UNI)
  • NRS-C1 Risk vocabulary and ontology
  • NRS-C2 Risk assessment method
  • NRS-C3 Hazard, exposure, vulnerability and capacity data
  • NRS-C4 Risk data model, identifiers and exchange
  • NRS-C7 Early warning, triggers and anticipatory action

Assessment

  • 40%Lab recordWork the discipline's method through a documented case and explain each result with its source and date
  • 40%Case memoApply the discipline's methods to a named place or organisation, stating evidence and limits
  • 20%Key terms checkShort answers on the key terms, marked against the definitions

Delivery

  • Self-paced online, with the labs in the browser
  • Cohort study over six to eight weeks, with a weekly lab review
  • Co-delivered with a partner institution, inside its own courses

Partner on this course

  • Co-teach a module and bring a current case from your work
  • Host a cohort for your learners, with your own schedule and review
  • Contribute a lab: a dataset your institution publishes openly, or a model
  • Review the course content and its references before it opens
  • Translate the course and adapt its cases to your region

How institutions and experts take part

In the Academy LMS

Course on the learning platform
Intermediate, 4 topics
Cohort group
A community group for each cohort of learners
Achievement
Recorded on completion of the assessed work

References

  1. Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade; Department for Business and Trade (UK), Regulatory sandboxes: what businesses can expect, 8 July 2026
  2. Stilgoe, Owen and Macnaghten, Developing a framework for responsible innovation, 2013
  3. OECD, Regulatory sandboxes in artificial intelligence, 2023
  4. Sabel and Zeitlin, Learning from Difference: The New Architecture of Experimentalist Governance in the EU, 2008
02Live map

People and hazards in the Horn of Africa

Where people live, night-time lights and the floods and fires public institutions answer to, over the Horn of Africa.

The interactive map needs JavaScript; the layer list and sources are below.

Layers 2

People and hazards

Latest available

NASA GIBS / EOSDIS · ASTER GDEM (METI, NASA) · Blue Marble (NASA) · © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · Natural Earth

Loading the latest NASA imagery.

Drag to move. Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll, pinch or the buttons to zoom; hover for the values under the pointer; reset returns to the region.

People and hazards, framed on the Horn of Africa.Satellite and model products as NASA publishes them, each with its own date. They are indicators, not assessments of any place.

Data: NASA GIBS · ASTER GDEM · Blue Marble · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Natural Earth · NASA EONETSources and licences

  • We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University. 2018. Gridded Population of the World, Version 4 (GPWv4): Population Density, Revision 11. NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC). Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). doi:10.7927/H49C6VHW. CC BY 4.0
  • VIIRS Black Marble night-time lights, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center; distributed by the NASA Level-1 and Atmosphere Archive and Distribution System (LAADS DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • VIIRS near-real-time products (flood, land surface temperature, snow cover, corrected reflectance), NASA LANCE; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • NASA Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS), VIIRS 375 m active fire product, NASA LANCE; vector tiles via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • ASTER GDEM is a product of METI and NASA (ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003, NASA LP DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). Cite as: NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Spacesystems and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (2019). ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003. doi:10.5067/ASTER/ASTGTM.003. NASA open data
  • Made with Natural Earth. Free vector and raster map data @ naturalearthdata.com. Public domain
  • © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), via NASA GIBS (coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). ODbL
  • Blue Marble, NASA Earth Observatory; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • Context on the globe and flat map: coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names from NASA GIBS reference layers (OpenStreetMap data, ODbL, © OpenStreetMap contributors); Blue Marble imagery as an optional base; 3D terrain and the elevation read-out from the ASTER GDEM elevation colour index (5 m to 200 m classes, exaggerated for legibility). Boundaries are drawn as published and imply no position on any territory.
  • Globe: MapLibre GL JS 6.9.1, BSD-3-Clause, © MapLibre contributors.
  • Live events: NASA Earth Observatory Natural Event Tracker (EONET); events are indicative and keep their original source links.
  • Live: NASA EONET Events are indicative, not authority warnings.
  • NASA GIBS: We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS).
  • Optional layers (3 sources in the layer list: live, forecast, observed and context) print their provider credit on the map and here when switched on; forecasts are model output and derived indices are estimates.

Layers and dates

  • Population density, 2020: Population: CIESIN, Columbia University, Gridded Population of the World v4.11 (2018), NASA SEDAC, CC BY 4.0 · static
  • Night-time lights, daily: VIIRS Black Marble (VNP46A2), NASA LAADS DAAC · 12 Oct 2026
  • Flood water, 3-day composite: VIIRS Global Flood Product, NASA LANCE · 14 Oct 2026
  • Active fires and thermal anomalies: VIIRS NOAA-20 375 m (FIRMS), NASA LANCE FIRMS · 13 Oct 2026
  • True colour: VIIRS NOAA-20 corrected reflectance, NASA LANCE · 13 Oct 2026

03How learning runs

How learning runs, as a process you can run

Select a scenario and press Play: course, pathway, practice, faculty, cells and record.

04What is changing

Frontier course · L3 advanced, programme courses and standards

Innovation and frontier technology governance: frontier methods

The methods, data, tools and studies that changed innovation and frontier technology governance between 2024 and 2026, taught by reproducing them on open data.

Level
L3 Advanced
Study time
about 28 hours (planning estimate)
Status
Planned
Prerequisites
Innovation and frontier technology governance: foundations and practice; Working knowledge of a scripting language (Python or R) for the labs

Why now

Statutory sandbox powers shift experimentation from informal pilots to a legal regime, raising questions about who bears trial risks. Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade; Department for Business and Trade (UK), Regulatory sandboxes: what businesses can expect, 8 July 2026

Learning outcomes

  1. Explain what changed in innovation and frontier technology governance since 2024 and cite the studies, data or rules behind each change
  2. Reproduce UK plans statutory powers for regulatory sandboxes on open data and state the uncertainty of the result
  3. Evaluate a 2024 to 2026 study: its question, data, method, limits and what it changes for practice
  4. Design an analysis that combines a frontier method with the faculty's instruments, and justify each choice

Modules

  1. UK plans statutory powers for regulatory sandboxes
    • Guidance explains that a Regulating for Growth Bill will introduce sandboxing powers, allowing temporary rule changes for real-world testing, faster recognition of trusted international approvals and clearer routes from pilots to permanent change.
    • Statutory sandbox powers shift experimentation from informal pilots to a legal regime, raising questions about who bears trial risks.
    • Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade; Department for Business and Trade (UK), 8 July 2026
  2. UK consulted on a cross-economy AI Growth Lab sandbox
    • The UK government sought evidence on an AI Growth Lab, a proposed cross-economy sandbox that would make targeted, temporary regulatory modifications under safeguards and monitoring to test AI products.
    • Sandboxes that suspend rules need clear safeguards, monitoring and exit criteria; the consultation tests how those are designed.
    • Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (UK), 21 October 2025
  3. UK created a Regulatory Innovation Office for emerging technologies
    • The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology launched the Regulatory Innovation Office to help regulators update rules and speed approvals, starting with engineering biology, space, AI in healthcare and connected and autonomous technology.
    • A dedicated office for regulatory adaptation shows how governments try to balance faster adoption of new technology with oversight of its risks.
    • Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (UK), 8 October 2024
  4. Reproduction lab
    • Extend the discipline's method with one frontier method and compare its results
    • State the uncertainty and the limits of the result
    • Peer review against a shared checklist
  5. Technology that helps and the risks it carries
    • Foresight tools and regulatory sandboxes.
    • Threats to information integrity, and AI in public decisions.

Labs with Academy tools

Nexus Standards

Teaches

  • NRS-T0 Exponential technology risk and responsible innovation
  • NRS-H102 Hazard family: Nanotechnology and advanced materials
  • NRS-H103 Hazard family: Neurotechnology, human enhancement and extended reality

Relies on

  • NS-1 The UNI and the artefact catalogue
  • NS-16 UNI application profile (how articles, documents, code, data, APIs and interfaces carry the UNI)
  • NRS-C1 Risk vocabulary and ontology
  • NRS-C2 Risk assessment method
  • NRS-C3 Hazard, exposure, vulnerability and capacity data
  • NRS-C4 Risk data model, identifiers and exchange
  • NRS-C7 Early warning, triggers and anticipatory action

Assessment

  • 50%Method reproductionReproduce one frontier method on open data and state the uncertainty of the result
  • 30%Study reviewA critical review of a 2024 to 2026 study: question, data, method, limits, what it changes
  • 20%Peer reviewReview two other learners' reproductions against a shared checklist

Delivery

  • Self-paced online, with the labs in the browser
  • Cohort study over six to eight weeks, with a weekly lab review
  • Co-delivered with a partner institution, inside its own courses

Partner on this course

  • Co-teach a module and bring a current case from your work
  • Host a cohort for your learners, with your own schedule and review
  • Contribute a lab: a dataset your institution publishes openly, or a model
  • Review the course content and its references before it opens
  • Translate the course and adapt its cases to your region

How institutions and experts take part

In the Academy LMS

Course on the learning platform
Expert, 5 topics
Cohort group
A community group for each cohort of learners
Achievement
Recorded on completion of the assessed work

References

  1. Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade; Department for Business and Trade (UK), Regulatory sandboxes: what businesses can expect, 8 July 2026
  2. Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (UK), AI Growth Lab, 21 October 2025
  3. Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (UK), Game-changing tech to reach the public faster as dedicated new unit launched to curb red tape, 8 October 2024
  4. Stilgoe, Owen and Macnaghten, Developing a framework for responsible innovation, 2013
  5. OECD, Regulatory sandboxes in artificial intelligence, 2023
  6. Sabel and Zeitlin, Learning from Difference: The New Architecture of Experimentalist Governance in the EU, 2008
05Take part

Take part in the work

Start from who you are.

06Questions

Questions, answers and key terms

Is the course free?
Yes. Every course and learning material of Risk Academy, led by the Nexus Consortium, is free to study, self-paced or with a cohort. Ordinary participation has no fee; paid work, internships and fellowships are separate arrangements.
What does completing a course give me?
A completion record: the course, its version, the date and what was assessed, private by default and shared by you. It stacks into discipline, department and programme achievements. A record states what was studied and assessed and does not certify competence; it is not a licence, a professional title or an employment status.
Where do the data and the places come from?
Every faculty teaches on a twin of a real place built from open data; each layer carries its provider, licence and date, and every result on the Academy states its source. Maps and figures are indicators for teaching, never an assessment of a place.
How do I take part beyond the course?
Form a competence cell of three to seven people, study a shared pathway, take a supervised assignment in the National Working Groups, or bring a cohort from your institution. For organisations.

Key terms

Term

Responsible research and innovation

An approach that aligns research and innovation with society's values, needs and expectations.

Term

Regulatory sandbox

A controlled setting in which innovations are tested under supervision.

Term

Technology readiness level

A scale that describes the maturity of a technology from concept to operation.

Term

Technology assessment

The study of the possible effects of a technology on society.

ReportsContribute

Contribute evidence from this page.

Reports is the Consortium's quarterly publication. What you know about this subject can become evidence, a case or a correction in the next edition, credited to you and published under CC BY 4.0 where it is your own work.

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