Following the publication of our policy action paper, ‘Unlocking UK Innovation Districts to accelerate Industrial Strategy outcomes’ in September 2025, the UK Innovation Districts Group (UK IDG) is delivering on the key recommendations, building our evidence base, and sharing best practice.
Developed in collaboration with industry leaders, universities, and local and regional government teams, the report recognised the unique role innovation districts play in delivering sustainable economic growth. It set out a series of practical recommendations to accelerate this growth, including: ‘Enabling more investment into innovation districts’.
Last week (14 May 2026), UK IDG convened Members for the first of a two-part workshop: ‘Crowding Investment into Innovation Districts’. The session focused on the mechanics of place-based investment, supporting Members to explore how city-regions are attracting vital private capital alongside other income sources, and how they are using it to build thriving innovation ecosystems.
We know ‘crowding investment’ is mission-critical when it comes to transforming the UK’s R&D excellence into long-term economic prosperity, and this UK IDG workshop series, along with other investment in innovation themed events, is designed to stress-test learning and build the case for places.
Last week’s session explored the bottlenecks to investment experienced by our Members and the root causes of these pressure points. Led by UK IDG Chair, Emma Frost, participants from innovation districts and knowledge quarters analysed the impact that local capacity has on attracting and administrating investment, and discussed what the national support offer should be. Two clear themes that came through the discussion were:
- The business journey is under-designed
One of the most important gaps identified was the lack of a clear, district-level pathway for firms from spin-out or start-up to scale-up and long-term anchor. The workshop suggested that many places still treat commercialisation, property, finance and growth support as separate systems, when firms experience them as one continuous journey.
- Public finance needs better coordination
Too often public finance institutions operate in parallel rather than in sequence. The workshop pointed to the need for clearer roles between the Office for Investment, the National Wealth Fund, Homes England, the British Business Bank, Innovate UK, UKRI and local partners, so that projects can move through a coherent pipeline rather than bouncing between agencies.
Two very useful reference documents were used to help inform this work and frame the conversation. The forthcoming Lloyds Innovation Foundations paper: The economic potential for financing the UK’s Innovation Infrastructure, and the Pioneer and ‘The Crown Estate report ‘Beyond the Capital Gap for UK Research Commercialisation’ (March 2026).
Other UK IDG-supported activities planned throughout the year aim to gather evidence and insight that will inform the ‘Crowding Investment into Innovation Districts’ briefing paper due to be published by the end of the year. Events include roundtables and panel discussions at UKREiiF this week, and a peer-led discovery session at the UK Innovation Districts Summit in Liverpool in June. The events are designed to engage government agencies, financial institutions and placemakers to join our innovation district Members, to capture best practice and lessons learnt. Our ultimate goal is to ensure every innovation district has the capacity, the connections, and the capital to deliver inclusive growth for their communities and the wider UK economy.
If you would like to join the conversation and can add to our shared knowledge-base, we’d like to hear from you too: hello@ukinnovationdistricts.co.uk