New research explores how places can help spread prosperity by making the innovation economy more inclusive.

In February 2022, the UK Government’s Levelling Up White Paper set out a mission to increase expenditure on public research and development outside the Greater South East by at least 40% by 2030. It also outlined plans for new Innovation Accelerators in Glasgow, the West Midlands, and Greater Manchester.

To understand how, as part of the levelling-up agenda, places right across the UK can deliver truly inclusive innovation, the UK Innovation Districts Group and Connected Places Catapult initiated a Research Commission on Inclusive Innovation. A team, led by Metro Dynamics and Professor Neil Lee, explored the dynamics of innovation in local economies through interviews with people leading and working in innovation districts across the UK. The conversations covered how districts are delivering inclusive innovation on the ground, from involving local communities in setting their strategies to creating broad-ranging employment and training opportunities.

From this research, the report:

Identifies ten levers that leaders in the private and public sectors can pull to make the process and outputs of innovation more inclusive;
Highlights a number of successful projects and programmes demonstrating elements of successful inclusive innovation up and down the country; and
Provides recommendations for key delivery partners including innovation districts, national Government, and local governments.

Emma Frost, Chair of the UK Innovation Districts Group, said:

“Against a backdrop of environmental crisis, post-COVID uncertainty and a rising cost of living and inequality, it is more important than ever to widen the funnel of who participates in innovation economies in the UK. This is the only way that we will achieve the additionality and value generation that UK communities and economies need.”

“This research, jointly commissioned by the UK Innovation Districts Group and the Connected Places Catapult, has examined where places are starting to do just that. It is critical that we, as innovation district leaders and policymakers, understand the building blocks that create thriving, inclusive, and sustainable local innovation economies and how these can be delivered at scale.”

Sam Markey, Ecosystem Director for Place Leadership at Connected Places Catapult, said:

“Innovation does not happen in a vacuum; it happens in places and is shaped by people. Inclusive innovation is about making sure that the innovation economy creates opportunities for people and communities from all corners of the country – not just in London and the South East.

“We know that innovation currently represents just a fraction of the UK’s economic activity but it has a profound influence on increasing prosperity and future-proofing economic structures. For too many people the prospect of working in innovation is remote, and the benefits of new discoveries are disconnected from their own lives. We need a more inclusive innovation economy to activate the UK’s latent potential.”

Opening the Innovation Economy – the case for inclusive innovation Download

Earlier this month UK IDG members enjoyed an incredible visit to Newcastle hosted by Newcastle University and the Helix. Highlights included:

Learning about how Newcastle is supporting its innovation ecosystem and skills pipeline via the Urban Observatory, the National Innovation Centre for Data, the UK National Innovation Centre for Ageing, and the CPI

– Hearing from Dejan Bojic about the opportunities that #5G presents for innovation districts and from the North of Tyne Combined Authority about how they are putting this into action

Visiting the newly opened Newcastle United Foundation and seeing the range of fitness, STEM, and community programmes on offer

Thank you to our hosts for an inspiring study visit!

The 2021 State of the Relationship report prepared by the National Centre for Universities and Businesses (NCUB) was recently published, outlining how the relationship between the private and academic sectors has evolved over the past year.

In the UK IDG’s contribution, titled “How Innovation Districts Drive Inclusive Growth,” we made the case for putting innovation districts at the heart of the UK’s recovery from COVID-19 and the broader efforts to tackle regional inequality. While no means a panacea, innovation districts can help to drive local economic growth, generate new ideas, and build links between communities.

The full piece can be read here.

The UK is at an important inflection point in its ambition to create world-class hubs of innovation – places fueled by the technologies, the trust, the tenacity and the teamwork to become genuine destinations of discovery and drivers of new skills, good jobs and broad-based opportunity. Covid-19, Brexit, net zero and levelling up provide a compelling set of reasons to focus harder than ever on what it takes to really marry innovation with purpose and a placed-based mission.

As part of our new partnership with CPC, the UK Innovations District Group is proud to have supported in the making of this report. It reflects our ambition to connect the people and places leading innovation; to create a national network informed by each other’s experiences, and driven by a shared spirit of purpose and co-operation to rethink the priorities and path to success after Covid-19. We hope it will be the start of further research and yet more shared resources and diagnostics that help us all learn and improve together.

You can find the report here.

Welcome

Welcome to the UK Innovation Districts Group Monthly Digest. Join us as we explore trends, lessons and new insights into innovation, regeneration, inclusive growth, placemaking and the sustainable and accessible creation of Innovation Districts and Knowledge Quarters.

The UKIDG is a network of eight self-defined innovation districts from across the UK including: Glasgow Riverside Innovation District, Knowledge Quarter Liverpool, Leeds Innovation District, Knowledge Quarter London, Belfast Harbour, Bristol Temple Quarter, Newcastle Helix and Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. As a group, we aim to make the case for our urban centres and their potential to advance research in areas such as AI, medical sciences and the humanities, while growing the UK’s wider economy.

Each of our Monthly Digests is dedicated to ensuring that you are kept up to date with the latest thought leadership and research in this area.

Top News

Hubs of Innovation Report
Connected Places Catapult new report explores the role of Districts, Corridors and Quarters as hubs of the Covid-adjusted innovation economy. The innovation economy has been one of the defining features of the last economic cycle. How places become places of discovery and job creation has rapidly become a worldwide preoccupation for cities, local governments, regions and nations.

READ MORE

Other News

The Global Institute of Innovation Districts have published the report The Global Institute in 2021: Harnessing Innovation Districts to “Build Back Better”.

MHCLG announces 3 new levelling up and community investment programmes which aim to level up communities. The UK Community Renewal Fund, The Levelling Up Fund and The Community Ownership Fund.

BEIS launch the Net Zero Innovation Portfolio, a £1 billion fund– to accelerate the commercialisation of low-carbon technologies, systems and business models in power, buildings, and industry.

The Business Desk viewpoint article discusses how Innovation policy must be localised, granular and inclusive to level up the North.

Centre for cities podcast, City Talks, speaks with Jason Segedy and Kenan Fikri on America’s Legacy Cities

ELIEZ virtual event took place to showcase some of the innovations that have come out of East London Inclusive Enterprise Zone (ELIEZ), celebrating disability-led innovation.

Wired article explores Why location is key to startup success and how Co-location can help your science and tech startup find top talent, inspiration and support.

Seedsprint article outlines 5 European Innovation Districts You Need to Know.

Partner News

Glasgow Riverside Innovation District is engaging local stakeholders and community members to inform it’s 20-year strategy. They want to provide a step change in the way people and communities are connected to innovation decision-making and to ensure it identifies the most productive forms of interaction between academic communities and the surrounding public.

Global Disability Innovation Hub on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park has been announced as the first organisation to be awarded the status of World Health Organisation (WHO) Official Collaborating Centre on Assistive Technology.

Leeds School of Arts sees £80 million Investment in a new hub for creative education in the city and acts a gateway to the planned Leeds Innovation District

Innovations welcome!

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UK IDG is delighted to announce a new partnership with Connected Places Catapult (CPC).

With growing interest in the future of innovation districts and the role which they can play in supporting national, regional and local economies, we are pleased to partner with CPC to help extend our resource, research and reach.

In the fallout from Covid–19 and Brexit, now is a critical time to reassess what innovation and economic policy needs to deliver and how best to achieve this. UK IDG seeks to amplify the experience and expertise of practitioners and delivery partners on the ground in innovation districts across the UK; to create a united voice, from across different sectors, into government and policy makers. In support of this, our new collaboration with CPC aims to:

develop a deeper understanding and promote the value of innovation districts in raising productivity, shared prosperity and contributing towards levelling up
raise awareness of the role and potential of innovation districts and their various delivery models
shape and co-ordinate joint funding proposals to government
grow and deepen the UK network of innovation districts and the interfaces between them.