Study Aim: To understand what enables or inhibits scale-up of maternal and newborn health innovations. Methods: Fifty in-depth, key-informant interviews conducted in 2012 with federal and state government staff, development agencies, programme implementers and other civil society organisations, academics, researchers, experts and professional medical associations. About the study: A study of scale-up focussing on the north-eastern Nigerian states of Gombe, Bauchi, Yobe, Borno, Adamawa and Taraba forming part of the IDEAS project at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Scope: This summary presents evidence from the study. We focus on what interviewees report as the most important ways externally funded maternal and newborn health programmes can catalyse scale-up of their innovations, and the major challenges to achieving his. We include illustrative quotations from interviewees in italics. Target Audience: Government, development agencies and implementers in the field of maternal and newborn health.