Welcome...
...to the UK Innovation Districts Group Monthly Digest, exploring the latest trends and insights in innovation, regeneration, inclusive growth, placemaking and the sustainable development of innovation districts.
The UK IDG is a network of twelve self-defined innovation districts from across the UK who you can read more about here.
Why the age of American Progress Ended: Invention alone can't change the world; what matters is what happens next.
"The Scourge of All Humankind
if you were, for whatever macabre reason, seeking the most catastrophic moment in the history of humankind, you might well settle on this: About 10,000 years ago, as people first began to domesticate animals and farm the land in Mesopotamia, India, and northern Africa, a peculiar virus leaped across the species barrier. Little is known about its early years. But the virus spread and, whether sooner or later, became virulent. It ransacked internal organs before traveling through the blood to the skin, where it erupted in pus-filled lesions. Many of those who survived it were left marked, disfigured, even blind"
Other Stories
Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove was in the North East where he signed a devolution deal. Council leaders across Tyne and Wear, Northumberland and County Durham met in Gateshead on Friday to sign the £4.2bn agreement.
ChatGPT is 'not particularly innovative,' and 'nothing revolutionary', says Meta's chief AI scientist. The public perceives OpenAI's ChatGPT as revolutionary, but the same techniques are being used and the same kind of work is going on at many research labs, says the deep learning pioneer.
China surpassing US in key innovation metric and evolving from ‘imitator’, Washington report says. Global market share of America’s firms and its allies at risk ‘in most high-value-added, advanced industries’ vital to national prosperity and security Think tank study finds China’s innovation in 2020 was 139% of its US equivalent, up from 78% in 2010.
Young Innovators Awards Winners 2022/23: The Young Innovators Awards empowers young people, aged 18 to 30, to turn their innovative idea into a reality. The annual competition from Innovate UK supports and celebrates young entrepreneurs with ground-breaking business ideas. This year, 94 Young Innovators Awards winners were selected from hundreds of applicants.
Research agency supporting high risk, high reward research formally established Science Minister George Freeman today announces the formal establishment of the Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) as an independent body.
UK startups could lose an average of £100,000 due to the government’s proposed changes to the R&D tax credit scheme, new research has found.
How to navigate the low-carbon transition with ETFs. Investors increasingly need partners and products that can help translate sustainability commitments into tangible portfolio allocation. How are ETFs serving that purpose?
The big idea: what’s the secret of innovation? How the wisdom of Homer Simpson can teach us important lessons about progress
Grants & Competitions
Freight Innovation Fund Accelerator: DfT and Connected Places Catapult will select up to 12 SMEs to join a 6-month programme, where they will each have the opportunity to access up to £150,000 of funding to trial their solutions. Applications are open until 5 February 2023.
The Water Discovery Challenge (‘Discovery’) is a £4 million competition for bold and ingenious innovation that can help solve the biggest challenges facing the water sector today and in the future.
Discovery aims to accelerate the discovery, development and adoption of promising innovations by the water sector. It aims to achieve this by directly supporting organisations with innovative propositions and facilitating their engagement with water companies.
Discovery is a 18-month competition that brings together a blend of financial and non-financial support to support innovations to launch and succeed in the water sector in England and Wales. Finalist and winning teams retain all intellectual property rights and equity in their organisation. Entries can be entered into the Challenge confidentially. Applications close on 5th April.
Podcasts
Discover the new podcast from Glasgow City Innovation District, Door to the District takes you behind the scenes of Glasgow businesses where you’ll discover bold enterprise and cutting-edge research across an array of industries, from Space and 5G to FinTech and Quantum.
Centre for Cities podcast, City Minutes, latest episode is hosted by Andrew Carter who is joined by Centre for Cities’ Director of Policy and Research, Paul Swinney, to discuss the findings of our new report: At the Frontier: The geography of the UK’s new economy. The report explores how new economy advanced tech industries are created in urban areas and what the Government should do to seize these opportunities.
UK IDG Members
Glasgow Tech Fest is back on April 19th! A key date in the tech calendar where you'll hear from founders, investors, & ecosystem builders through inspiring keynotes, panel sessions and fireside chats. Register here
Hosted by Downtown in Business in association with Knowledge Quarter Liverpool & Sciontec, a national conference will be held on 2nd March 2023 at The Spine, Liverpool, to explore innovative solutions to the challenges facing the UK & global economy. Book tickets.