John Craig Director, Innovation Exchange

John is Director of Innovation Exchange, which supports innovation in the third sector.  The Exchange helps innovators in the third sector and commissioners of public services to identify opportunities for innovation, connect around them and collaborate to realise their potential.  The Innovation Exchange has two areas of focus; excluded young people and independent living.

Prior to this, John worked as a policy advisor at the Cabinet Office, both at the Office of the Third Sector, leading their work on innovation, and at the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit.  During this time he contributed to Partnership in Public Services, which frames the role of the third sector in service delivery and worked and managed the relationship between the Office of the Third Sector and DfES.

He has also worked as a senior researcher at Demos, the independent think-tank, where he focused on policy related to communities and public services.  He is the author of Schools Out, which examines extended schools, Start with People, which looks at the role of community organisations and Production Values: Futures for professionalism.

John has an MA in Education Policy from the Institute of Education.  He has previously worked as a researcher at both the Home Office and the Department for Education and Employment.  John is a former resident and trustee of Toynbee Hall, a settlement in East London and a former Vice-President of Oxford University Student Union.  He holds a first-class degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics.