GRF · Innovation Nexus

Innovation Nexus

Governed public-interest innovation and cross-sector technology cooperation oriented to demonstrable learning. Innovation Nexus is an established platform of The Global Risks Forum.

Open Mandate, publisher and status About GRF
STEM methods
3
Canonical methods this field applies
Topics
8
Subject pages in the field
Counterparts
7
Platforms in shared fields across the network
Report series
1
Reports series it contributes to
01Workspace

The workspace for Innovation Nexus.

Regulatory sandbox board

Regulatory sandbox · Cohort 2 · Example interface, not a record

Two pilots near exit testGRF · Innovation Nexus

Cohort

Parametric micro-coverInsuranceAgreed8 of 12Testing
Flood sensor data marketDataPartial7 of 12Conditions
AI permit triagePublic serviceAgreed6 of 12Testing
Drone deliveries, medicalLogisticsAgreed12 of 12Exit test

Exit criteria

Consumer harm
none recorded
Evidence
independent evaluation
Rule change
regulator decides
Wind-down
plan on file

Sandbox cycle

  1. Applyeligibility
  2. Admitsafeguards
  3. Testbounded
  4. Evaluateindependent
  5. Exitor rule change
  6. Publishlessons
Regulatory sandbox board.Illustrative interface; not live data.

Innovation Nexus · Regulatory sandbox board. Regulatory sandbox board: example names and illustrative values, not a record.

02Coverage

The areas of innovation this platform takes on.

Innovation Nexus studies how innovation is governed: the mandates, funding rules, standards, agreements and institutions that shape which technologies are developed, how they spread and who benefits. Its pages cover responsible and public interest innovation, ecosystems and regions, technology transfer, experimental governance and the frontier where AI, biotechnology, quantum and robotics meet. Each page sets out mechanisms, measures, sources, methods and the decisions they serve, with every value labelled by its evidence.

Area

Responsible innovation

Public purpose, safeguards and accountability built into research, design and deployment, before harms are evidenced.

Area

Innovation ecosystems

Researchers, firms, investors and public institutions, and the connections that turn knowledge into use.

Area

Technology transfer

Adoption conditions, absorptive capacity and the rules that move inventions from laboratory to use.

Area

Public interest innovation

Mission-oriented programmes, innovation procurement and the evaluation of public value beyond outputs.

Area

Innovation and society

How gains and costs fall across workers, places and groups, and the trust that shapes uptake.

Area

Experimental governance

Sandboxes, pilots and testbeds run by competent authorities, and how their learning is evaluated.

Area

Regional innovation systems

Regional capacity, smart specialisation and the diffusion of technology between leading and lagging places.

Area

Frontier technology governance

Law, standards, export controls and international dialogue for AI, engineered biology, quantum and robotics.

03Policy scenarios

Compare instruments: rules, incentives and information.

Three families of instruments side by side against the baseline, each with its own lag and adoption speed, under the coverage and compliance you set; effect sizes are teaching values to replace with evidence. Scenario: named assumptions about the future, not a forecast. The map on this page shows China; the model itself is not tied to a place.

Controls

Baseline trend of the outcome
2.0% a year
Coverage of the instrument
70%
Compliance
75%
Effect size, against the teaching value
100%
Years ahead
20 years

Readouts

Largest reduction at the horizon
Regulation
Its reduction against the baseline
21%
Numbers, methods and sources
YearBaselineRegulationEconomic incentiveInformation and capacity
0100.099.598.899.1
1102.0101.2100.199.8
2104.0102.5101.199.9
3106.1103.5101.6100.0
4108.2103.7101.8100.7
5110.4103.2101.7102.1
6112.6102.0101.6103.9
7114.9100.4101.6105.9
8117.299.2102.1108.0
9119.598.6102.9110.1
10121.998.9104.2112.3
11124.399.7105.7114.5
12126.8101.1107.4116.8
13129.4102.7109.4119.2
14131.9104.5111.4121.6
15134.6106.5113.5124.0
16137.3108.5115.7126.5
17140.0110.7118.0129.0
18142.8112.9120.4131.6
19145.7115.1122.8134.2
20148.6117.4125.2136.9

Methods

  1. Tools of government Hood (1983), The Tools of Government, Macmillan
  2. Carrots, sticks and sermons Bemelmans-Videc, Rist and Vedung (1998), Transaction
  3. Diffusion of innovations Rogers (2003), Diffusion of Innovations, Free Press
  4. Uncertainty fan (parameter Monte Carlo) Spiegelhalter, Pearson and Short (2011), Visualising uncertainty about the future, Science 333
  5. One-at-a-time sensitivity (tornado) Saltelli and others (2008), Global Sensitivity Analysis: The Primer, Wiley

Data

The model runs on the teaching values set by the controls. To calibrate it for a place, read it against these admitted layers and series, which this page's map can draw:

  • Borders Natural Earth
  • Cities Natural Earth
Compare instruments: rules, incentives and information. Illustrative teaching model: it runs on the values set by the controls, not on measured data. Methods: Tools of government (Hood (1983), The Tools of Government, Macmillan); Carrots, sticks and sermons (Bemelmans-Videc, Rist and Vedung (1998), Transaction); Diffusion of innovations (Rogers (2003), Diffusion of Innovations, Free Press).

Across the six pillars, led by Nexus Consortium

04Topics

The questions this field works on.

Topic

Responsible innovation

Public purpose, safeguards and accountability.

Topic

Innovation ecosystems

Researchers, builders and public institutions.

Topic

Technology transfer

Adoption conditions and capacity.

Topic

Public interest innovation

Mission-oriented programmes and public benefit.

Topic

Innovation and society

Inequality and social impacts.

Topic

Experimental governance

Sandboxes and evaluation without regulatory claims.

Topic

Regional innovation systems

Regional capacity and technology diffusion.

Topic

Frontier technology governance

Crossover with AI, biotech, quantum and robotics.

05Implementation

From mandate to evaluation, by pillar.

The steps an instrument takes from mandate to evaluation, each with the pillar that runs it, and the decisions that stay with the authority. Teaching model with stated illustrative values, not a prediction. The map on this page shows China; the model itself is not tied to a place.

  1. Mandate and problem framing Competent authority (outside the programme)
    A competent authority frames the problem and the mandate under its own rules. Howlett, Ramesh and Perl (2009)
  2. Evidence and system model Foundry
    The system is modelled with its feedbacks, data and stated limits. OECD (2014), principle 2
  3. Options appraised with scenarios Foundry
    Instruments are compared under scenarios, with uncertainty shown. Hood (1983)
  4. Exercise with stakeholders Universe
    The options are tested in an exercise with those who would implement and bear them. OECD (2014), principle 3
  5. Standard or guidance drafted Nexus Standards
    What works is codified as a standard or guidance, open to comment. Nexus Standards process
  6. Decision by the authority Competent authority (outside the programme)
    The authority decides, outside the programme, with the evidence on record. Howlett, Ramesh and Perl (2009)
  7. Capacity and training Risk Academy
    Those who implement are trained on the decided instrument and its data. Sendai Framework (2015), priority 2
  8. Monitoring and public report Reports
    Indicators are published with sources, limits and corrections. OECD (2014), principle 5
  9. Evaluation and revision Nexus Standards
    Results return to the standard and the model: the cycle closes. Howlett, Ramesh and Perl (2009)

Methods

  1. Policy cycle Howlett, Ramesh and Perl (2009), Studying Public Policy, Oxford University Press
  2. Governance of critical risks OECD (2014), Recommendation of the Council on the Governance of Critical Risks
  3. Layered drawing of directed graphs Sugiyama, Tagawa and Toda (1981), IEEE SMC 11
From mandate to evaluation, by pillar: the steps as recorded, each with its pillar; sources as cited on each step.

Across the six pillars, led by Nexus Consortium

06Overview

What Innovation Nexus does.

Innovation governance is the set of mandates, funding rules, standards, agreements and institutions that shape which technologies are developed, how they spread and who benefits. Innovation Nexus, Global Risks Forum's platform for it, covers responsible and public interest innovation, ecosystems and regions, technology transfer, experimental governance and frontier technologies.

Who it serves

Its community

Innovation policy; applied researchers; entrepreneurs; institutional innovators.

How it works

Its methods

Innovation policy analysis; responsible experimentation; capacity building.

What it produces

Its outputs

Innovation programme designs; public-value evaluation guides.

07Twin and cascade simulator

Exercise a cascade in Innovation Nexus with the people who decide.

Assembled from the Nexus Standards area profile Frontier technology risk standards: the hazards it names, the systems and communities that carry the loss, the controls and institutions that dampen it and the data that observe it. Pick an initiating event and step through the cascade to see where mandates meet and which decisions fall to whom. The Map view places the run on an example geography with open data. Every weight is a stated assumption. An exercise for dialogue, not a forecast, an assessment or a position. To model a place of your own choosing, open the full System Builder.

Hazards

  • Cryptographically relevant quantum computer
  • Dam failure
  • River flood (set off downstream)
  • Flash flood (set off downstream)
  • Mass displacement (set off downstream)
  • Data breach (set off downstream)
  • Mass account takeover (set off downstream)
  • Harvest-now, decrypt-later collection (set off downstream)
  • Widespread power outage (set off downstream)
  • Water supply shortfall (set off downstream)

Controls

  • NS-0 Constitution and principles
  • NS-10 Policies and clauses (machine-readable obligations: definition, binding, evaluation and enforcement)
  • NS-11 Verification and monitoring (evidence, attestations, zero-trust conformance observation)
  • NS-12 Software, model and AI/ML artefacts (supply chain, model cards, dataset sheets)
  • NRS-H104 Hazard family: Quantum technology and cryptographic transition (NHS-1 tech.quantum)
  • NRS-T9 Quantum technology and cryptographic transition risk
  • NRS-T0 Exponential technology risk and responsible innovation
  • NRS-H109 Hazard family: Energy-transition technology failures (NHS-1 tech.energy-transition)
  • NRS-M19 Method fabric: Cyber, AI and frontier technology
  • NRS-U12 Universe platform profile: Foresight Nexus

Observation

  • Our World in Data datasets (listed for reference)
  • World Bank Open Data and World Development Indicators API (listed for reference)
  • Research and development expenditure as a proportion of GDP
  • Researchers per million inhabitants

Example geography

  • North America: 243 hexagonal cells
  • Night lights tonight, outages (VIIRS Day/Night Band), NASA GIBS
  • Surface water through cloud, 30 m (OPERA DSWx-S1 radar), NASA GIBS
  • Rain rate, last half hour (IMERG), NASA GIBS
  • Surface soil moisture (SMAP), NASA GIBS
08The problem

Innovation is a governance problem as much as a technical one.

New technologies rarely fail because the science is wrong. They fail, or cause harm, because institutions are not ready for them: rules written for older technologies, procurement that rewards the familiar, public bodies without the skills to evaluate what they are buying, and benefits that accrue to some while risks fall on others. At the same time, excessive caution has its own costs, leaving public problems unsolved and capability concentrated in a few places.

The difficulty is structural. Innovation is uncertain by nature, so its effects can only be partly known in advance. Decisions about research funding, standards, regulation and adoption are made by different institutions on different timescales, and the lessons from one pilot seldom reach the next. Frontier technologies such as artificial intelligence, biotechnology, quantum and robotics now cross sectors and borders faster than any single institution can follow.

Governing innovation well therefore means building the capacity to experiment responsibly, evaluate honestly, share what was learned and keep decisions with the authorities accountable for them. That is the field Innovation Nexus works in.

Why now: governed experimentation is spreading, from regulatory sandboxes to the AI testing regimes foreseen under the European Union AI Act (2024), and institutions need to know what a trial proved and what it did not. Innovation Nexus convenes the institutions that run and oversee trials, and a governed trial can be exercised in Universe under controlled conditions; reviewed lessons can inform Reports and common evaluation practice can be proposed to the Nexus Standards.

09Instruments and commitments

How Innovation Nexus is governed: instruments, mandates and commitments.

The instruments, mandates, actors and accountability arrangements a policymaker, diplomat or development agency works with, citing the agreements that set them. Structures follow the frameworks named. Any state or progress drawn is illustrative, not a record.

Policy instrument matrix

The kinds of instrument available on Innovation Nexus, by level of government and cooperation.

Instrument typeLocalNationalRegionalGlobal
RegulatoryZoning, building codesLaws, standards, licensingHarmonised rulesConventions and treaties
EconomicLocal levies, grantsBudget lines, taxes, insurance schemesRisk pools, regional fundsFinancing mechanisms
InformationLocal warningsDisclosure, early warning, statisticsData sharing arrangementsGlobal monitoring and reporting
InstitutionalLocal committeesLead agencies, coordination councilsRegional bodies and secretariatsMultilateral mandates
CooperativeCommunity agreementsPartnership compactsMemoranda and joint programmesAgreements and joint commitments
A typology after the OECD Recommendation on the Governance of Critical Risks; examples of instrument types, not an inventory of any country's measures.

Accountability cycle

How commitments on Innovation Nexus are held to account, from commitment to correction.

  1. CommitGovernmentA commitment with a mandate and a legal basis.
  2. PlanLead agencyA national plan with owners and milestones.
  3. ResourceMinistry of financeA budget line or financing on record.
  4. ImplementAgencies and local governmentDelivery against the plan.
  5. ReportStatistics officeIndicators reported in agreed definitions.
  6. ReviewLegislature, audit, civil societyIndependent review of results and gaps.
  7. CorrectGovernmentChanges to the plan, published with reasons.
A generic accountability cycle; the owner of each step follows the country's own constitution and law.
Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction · UNDRRParis Agreement · UNFCCC2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals · United NationsInternational Health Regulations · WHO
10What the platform does

Convening for demonstrable learning.

Each dialogue is designed to start from a stated question, bring in the institutions that actually hold the relevant decisions, and end with a published record of what was agreed, who committed to what and where participants disagreed. Learning counts only when it can be shown.

Methods

Policy analysis and experimentation

Innovation policy analysis, responsible experimentation and capacity building for public and institutional innovators.

Outputs

Designs and guides

Innovation programme designs and public-value evaluation guides, published once reviewed.

Community

Who it is for

Innovation policy specialists, applied researchers, entrepreneurs and institutional innovators.

GRF convenes and governs programmes. It does not regulate, finance, procure or certify, and hosting or sponsorship confers no authority over findings. Innovation Nexus does not fund ventures, select suppliers or run regulatory sandboxes.

11Geography

Connected activity in China.

Night lights, population density and flood water over China, from NASA GIBS. Each layer carries its own date.

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

Layers 3

Connected activity, for this page

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.

Connected activity, framed on China.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 EONET · NASA/NOAA VIIRS · U.S. Geological SurveySources 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 hexagonal 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 hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • 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 hexagonal 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 hexagonal cells where shown (modified). doi:10.7927/H49C6VHW. CC BY 4.0
  • MODIS land products (vegetation indices, gross primary production, land cover), NASA LP DAAC and LANCE; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal 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 hexagonal 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 hexagonal 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 hexagonal 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 hexagonal cells where shown (modified). ODbL
  • Blue Marble, NASA Earth Observatory; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal 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.
  • Live events: NASA Earth Observatory Natural Event Tracker (EONET); events are indicative and keep their original source links.
  • Observed (EO): NASA/NOAA VIIRS (Suomi NPP). 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).
  • Live: NASA EONET Events are indicative, not authority warnings.
  • Live: U.S. Geological Survey 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 (5 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

  • Night-time lights, daily: VIIRS Black Marble (VNP46A2), NASA LAADS DAAC · 12 Oct 2026
  • Population density, 2020: Population: CIESIN, Columbia University, Gridded Population of the World v4.11 (2018), NASA SEDAC, CC BY 4.0 · static
  • Land cover type (IGBP), yearly: MODIS Terra and Aqua land cover (MCD12Q1), NASA LP DAAC · 2024
  • 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
  • Enhanced vegetation index, rolling 8 days: MODIS Terra EVI, NASA LANCE · 13 Oct 2026

12Foundation and counterparts

Grounded in method, linked to science and finance.

Innovation Nexus applies three methods from the STEM Commons hosted by The Global Centre for Risk and Innovation (GCRI): policy, institutional and decision science, artificial intelligence and machine learning and systems engineering. See the STEM foundation page.

At GCRI, Labs runs experiments and protocols, while Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Systems, Advanced Industry and Robotics and Future of Work and Skills study the technologies and their effects. At Global Risks Alliance (GRA), Private Equity Nexus and AI and Financial Model Risk build shared industry understanding of how innovation reaches portfolios and financial models. Within GRF, Policy Nexus and AI and Digital Governance are close neighbours. See counterparts across the Consortium.

Work that is ready to be built or tested moves through the work cycle: it can draw on the Foundry systems NXS-LAB (research, experiments and simulations) and NXS-HUB (knowledge, records and learning), be exercised in Universe, where a responsible innovation challenge is a candidate mission theme, and be published in the Exponential Technology report series. Mission selection is decided by GRF within its instruments, and nothing is active until it is on the record.

13Grounding

Built on named science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Every claim on Innovation Nexus rests on methods with a canonical page in the STEM Commons, so readers can see what a finding depends on and where its limits lie.

Policy, institutional and decision scienceArtificial intelligence and machine learningSystems engineering

See the STEM foundation of Innovation Nexus

14Cycle

How work moves in this field.

A question becomes evidence, a governed build, an organised community, a controlled test, a reviewed publication and, finally, a decision taken by the competent authority under its own rules.

  1. Question Universe National, regional or institutional priority. Question in Innovation Nexus
  2. Evidence Foundry STEM foundation of the platform. Evidence in Innovation Nexus
  3. Build Foundry Foundry. Build in Innovation Nexus
  4. Organise Universe Nexus ecosystem. Organise in Innovation Nexus
  5. Test Universe Universe (independent site). Test in Innovation Nexus
  6. Publish Reports Reports. Publish in Innovation Nexus
  7. Decide Competent authority Competent authorities and institutions, through NXS-RLS (participants, agreements and handoffs). Decide in Innovation Nexus
  8. Renew Universe Corrections and the next annual agenda. Renew in Innovation Nexus

Each step of the cycle in the pillar it runs in; the decision stays with the competent authority, outside the programme.

15Six pillars

How this works across the six pillars.

Innovation Nexus works through six pillars of one annual programme, led by the Nexus Consortium, with GCRI, GRF and GRA each contributing in its role: explore, experiment and prototype in Labs, build, simulate and prepare in Foundry, convene and test in Universe, codify, correct and apply in Nexus Standards, publish in every format in Reports, teach in the open in Risk Academy.

Select pillars · hover lines18 / 18 handoffs

Route

The whole programme

Every pillar hands its work to another; together they close the year's feedback loops.

L · F · U · S · R · A

Pillars
6 of 6
Handoffs
18 of 18
Loops
17 closed

Handoffs in play

  • F01Universe → Foundry · Admitted mission becomes a cycle project with a decision caseReadiness preparation
  • F02Foundry → Universe · Core Build Report and go or no-go evidenceControlled build
  • F03Foundry → Reports · Sealed observations and indicator series behind a profileCloseout
  • F04Universe → Reports · After-action and scenario findings for chapters 10 and 13After-action review

and 14 more

F01 to F14 are the recorded handoffs of the programme year, each with the artefact that moves and its phase; R1, R2, R3 and R4 carry work around the ring. A loop counts when every pillar on it is selected. Every pillar is led by the Nexus Consortium.
  1. LabsWhere questions become experiments and prototypes: new methods, data and tools are tried in the open, with their limits on record, before the Foundry builds them, under the Nexus Consortium.Labs
  2. FoundryWhere the evidence behind a mandate or commitment is built, with its owner and limits on record.Innovation Nexus in FoundryFoundry
  3. UniverseWhere mandates become missions: GRF records each gate, convenes the parties and keeps implementation accountable.Innovation Nexus in Universeuniverse.nexus
  4. Nexus StandardsWhere shared rules are agreed in the open; each jurisdiction decides adoption, and no global body holds a veto.Open Infrastructure and Developers in Standardsnexustandards.com
  5. ReportsWhere governance analysis and the year's results are published, so commitments can be followed and checked.Innovation Nexus in ReportsReports
  6. Risk AcademyWhere policymakers, diplomats and agency staff learn the programme roles and decision-making on the record, on Risk Academy.Faculty of Technology and Digital Systems in Academyrisksacademy.com
16Frameworks

What the work is read against.

The platform does not set standards. It reads its evidence against the frameworks that competent bodies have adopted, so a finding can be placed where a decision-maker already works.

Framework or standardBodyWhat it sets
OECD Recommendation on Artificial Intelligence (OECD AI Principles)OECDValues-based principles for trustworthy AI and recommendations to governments on policy, investment, capacity and international cooperation
EU Artificial Intelligence ActEuropean UnionRisk-based obligations for AI systems and general-purpose AI models, prohibited practices, conformity assessment and AI regulatory sandboxes
Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of LawCouncil of EuropeBinding treaty obligations for activities across the AI life cycle consistent with human rights, democracy and the rule of law
UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial IntelligenceUNESCOValues, principles and policy action areas for ethical AI, with a readiness assessment methodology for member states
ISO/IEC 42001 Artificial intelligence management systemISO and IEC (JTC 1/SC 42)Requirements for establishing, operating and improving an organisation's management system for AI
NIST AI Risk Management FrameworkUS National Institute of Standards and TechnologyVoluntary functions to govern, map, measure and manage AI risks, with sector and technology profiles
Oslo ManualOECD and EurostatDefinitions and guidelines for collecting, reporting and using data on business innovation
ISO 56000 series on innovation managementISO (TC 279)Vocabulary, management system requirements and guidance for organisations that manage innovation
Patent Cooperation Treaty and Paris ConventionWorld Intellectual Property OrganizationInternational filing of patent applications, national treatment and priority rights for industrial property
OECD Recommendation on Agile Regulatory Governance to Harness InnovationOECDGuidance on anticipatory regulation, experimentation including sandboxes, and international regulatory cooperation
17Consortium

The same field, seen three ways.

GCRI studies a field as science, GRF governs it and GRA builds shared financial understanding of it. Innovation Nexus links to its counterparts so that work on one side is visible on the others.

18Pages

Pages in Innovation Nexus.

Page

Mandate, publisher and status

Page

Discipline and institutional issues

Page

Research and institutional knowledge

Page

Professional practice

Page

Dialogues and cooperation

Page

Programmes and projects

Page

Annual programme contribution

Page

Specialist and institutional community

Page

Leadership and skills

Page

Convenings and dialogues

Page

Published findings

Page

Participate

Page

Institutional contact

Page

Transparency, rights and safeguards

Page

STEM foundation of Innovation Nexus

Page

How work moves in this field

Page

Build in Foundry

Page

Test in Universe

Page

Publish in Reports

Page

The same field across the Consortium

Page

Topics

19Connected

Where this page leads across the Consortium.

20Questions

Questions and answers.

Who publishes Innovation Nexus?
The Global Risks Forum (GRF) publishes Innovation Nexus and is responsible for what it publishes. GRF convenes and governs programmes. It does not regulate, finance, procure or certify, and hosting or sponsorship confers no authority over findings.
Is Innovation Nexus active?
Innovation Nexus is an established platform of The Global Risks Forum. Information and enquiries are open today. An enquiry receives a reference and names the next step; applications, payments, compute allocations and registrations open only when their team, terms and review capacity exist.
How can I contribute?
Start with the participation paths or write to Contact. An enquiry receives a reference; it does not create membership, a role or an assignment.
Where are findings published?
Reviewed outputs appear on the publications page, and contributions to the Reports series are listed on Publish in Reports.
Which values on this platform are real?
Indicator names, units, sources, methods and frameworks are real. Levels in figures and canvases are examples in a design. A programme replaces them with labelled evidence it owns.
How do I report an error?
Use corrections and concerns, or write to Contact. A correction is recorded as a new version, never a silent edit.
Does Innovation Nexus fund or invest in innovation?
No. GRF does not finance, invest, procure or certify. Innovation Nexus convenes institutions and publishes governance analysis; funding and adoption decisions belong to the institutions that hold that authority.
Can Innovation Nexus approve a pilot or sandbox?
No. Only competent regulators can grant regulatory relief or run regulatory sandboxes. Innovation Nexus can convene the parties and publish evaluation designs, but taking part confers no regulatory status.
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.

Global Risks ForumInnovation NexusExponential Technology

Never send personal data, sensitive infrastructure detail or anything you have no right to share. A contribution is reviewed before use; sending it confers no authorship or editorial rights, and sponsorship never buys a finding.

How it works

How Innovation Nexus works.

Choose a view and press Play to follow the platform's process, its programme year, the standards it applies and how its findings are published. The outline shows how the work is designed to run, not the status of any decision.

Innovation Nexus

How Innovation Nexus works

Platforms · Programme year · Standards · Reports

A platform joins a field to named methods, labelled evidence and the outputs it publishes, without becoming the authority it serves.

  1. 01 Scope

    1. 01Field and familiesStart · The platform leadThe home states the field, its families and who it serves.
    2. 02Topic dossiersRecord · Platform authorsTopics explain the subject with labelled evidence.

  2. 02 Evidence

    1. 03Evidence labelsRecord · GCRIEach value is labelled: observed, published statistics, estimated, modelled, scenario or unknown.
    2. 04MethodsStep · Method ownersMethods come from the STEM Commons, each with one canonical page.

  3. 03 Work

    1. 05Scenarios on the systemsModel · Foundry pillarScenarios run on the Nexus systems, labelled as scenario.
    2. 06Standards that applyRecord · Nexus StandardsThe platform names the standards that apply. A validator report is evidence for review.

  4. 04 Publish

    1. 07EditionsRecord · ReportsFindings are published through Reports with their limits.
    2. 08Authority decidesOutcome · The competent authorityDecisions and execution stay with the government, operator or licensed institution.

Innovation Nexus home · Platforms · Shared methodsAn outline of how the work is designed to run; it does not report the status of any decision or record.

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The Global Risks Index

Every figure on this page is indexed: cyber, technology, infrastructure, China.

The Index is the Consortium's indexing system for risk data. Every indicator, hazard, series and country profile carries its Nexus Standards identifier, its source and its licence, so what this page shows can be traced, corrected and reused.

  1. 01 · Sources205 registered sourcesEvery value keeps its source and licence; withheld values are counted.Data and licences
  2. 02 · Nexus StandardsNIS-1 and NHS-1451 indicators, 905 hazards; every record carries a UNI.Nexus Standards
  3. 03 · The Index54 series, 195 country profilesComputed on the standards; no value is published until an edition is released.The Global Risks Index
  4. 04 · This pageInnovation NexusMaps, figures and feeds read the Index in the context of cyber, technology, infrastructure and China.Public API
Sources205registered, each with its licence
Indicators451NIS-1, 106 composites, 20 domain indices
Hazards905NHS-1, crosswalked to UNDRR-ISC HIPs
Series54global, sector, strategic, technology, thematic
Country profiles195one site per country

Series in this context cyber, technology, infrastructure

  1. GLBGlobal SystemsThe state of interdependent global risk: the twenty domain indices aggregated to the world, the five core systems (water, energy, food, health, biodiversity) and their couplings, the global tail register and the gap…NXS-GRX-AR-000002Infrastructure · Cyber · Technology
  2. XTEarth observation and space systemsDependency on satellites for navigation, communications and observation; orbital congestion, debris and space-weather exposure.NXS-GRX-AR-000094Space · Technology · Infrastructure
  3. GSGlobal Cyber and digitalCyber capability and threat exposure, digital dependency, connectivity resilience and the cyber-physical channels into essential services.NXS-GRX-AR-000071Cyber · Technology · Infrastructure
  4. SRDigital public infrastructureIdentity, payments and data-exchange infrastructure as public goods, and their concentration, cyber and continuity risk.NXS-GRX-AR-000083Cyber · Technology · Infrastructure

All 54 series · The 20 domain indices

Country profiles China

CHNChinaall country profiles

Every country profile carries the source and licence of each value. Correct a value or reply

Hazard domains NHS-1

Geodata and API open

Open layers on an equal-area hexagon grid, shown as densities per km² or as symbols: People · GHSL 2025People · WorldPop 2025Built-up areaPortsAirportsRoadsRailwaysRivers and lake centrelines

/api/v1/public/grix · https://nexustandards.com/uni/{uni}
Developers · Data · Made with Natural Earth, Public domain; GHSL and WorldPop, CC BY 4.0

Snapshot of the Index registries pinned 2026-10-23 · 22c6eed. Research and risk-analytics information: not a rating, an official classification, a warning, a benchmark or advice.

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