Innovation does not happen in a vacuum: The importance of learning from each other

The landscape of innovation is changing. So too is the rate of growth in the innovation economy.

Over the last 15 years there has been a distinct shift away from more secluded, out-of-town innovation campuses towards new models that favour urban vibrancy, diversity, connectedness, and proximity. Over that same period, we’ve seen a dramatic increase in economic growth related to sectors typically classified as part of the innovation economy (Bio science alone is projected to become the world’s next trillion-dollar industry (McKinsey 2020)). More broadly, innovation is helping to fuel the Fourth Industrial Revolution which is said to be stimulating change at a rate 10 times faster and at 300 times the scale than the First Industrial Revolution in Victorian times. 

Clearly, innovation and specifically, Innovation Districts - where much of this activity is increasingly centred, have a key role to play in the local, regional and national economy. 

The UK Innovations District Group (UK IDG) was created to develop a supportive peer network of places and practices that aim to drive productivity and prosperity through place-based innovation. The 12 Innovation Districts that make up the group have a wide range of different expertise, structures and priorities yet benefit hugely from working together in a collaborative and conducive way to share knowledge and understanding.

Innovation clusters are undoubtedly exciting and progressive places with a clear focus on prosperity and growth. But they also have fundamental questions to address about the nature of that growth and how inclusive it can be, and the role that place-based innovation must play in contributing to this. At a time of rising inequality, these locations are faced with a huge challenge and responsibility: inclusive economic growth.

The NLA’s recently launched report Innovation Districts: Designing Inclusive Places explores just that, presenting key recommendations that different stakeholders should consider when creating an inclusive innovation district. The report showcases over 50 projects that are supporting and having a transformational impact on the education, healthcare, technology and innovation sectors offering a practical framework for how we think about designing and managing innovative places more inclusively. It asks a fundamental question “what do we want Innovation Districts to be and to deliver, and how do we best enable this?”

The report examines this through the different place-specific lenses of vision and strategy setting, physical placemaking, management and stewardship as well as employment and skills. 

At the launch, author Jack Sallabank (Future Places Studio) gave a summary of the report before the panel shared their reflections and answered questions for the 60 strong audience. Jonathan Burroughs (chair of the NLA Innovation Districts expert group) touched on the different roles that different sector leads need to play in this as well as the importance of the cultural dimension of innovation – a willingness to think outside the box and be brave. A different approach to risk taking, that feeds enterprise and entrepreneurialism.  

The panel discussed how organisations are attracted to these sorts of innovation clusters to access R&D, to access an enterprise mix, and crucially to access talent. The development of different and diverse skills and employment pathways is a key theme in the report. As captured in the panel discussion “diversity is a prerequisite for innovation”.  

This point was also a central tenor in the recent UK IDG report Opening The Innovation Economy: The Case For Inclusive Innovation In The UK . This report, which preceded “Designing Inclusive Places” examines the bigger economic case for innovation and the need for us to think more intentionally about inclusive innovation and the correlation between shared prosperity and improved productivity. It outlines how inclusive innovation practices can be embedded through the stages of design, delivery, diffusion. 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 as well as including case studies that highlight some of the successes, failures and challenges innovation districts face. There is a lot to be learnt from each other in order to create opportunities for people and communities across the UK.

The UK IDG’s next research project will dig deeper into how we measure the value of innovation districts. How do we capture the different types of value that is generated in these innovation clusters so we have a fuller, more holistic picture of Innovation districts that takes into account inclusive innovation priorities alongside traditional economic metrics? What are the best ways to frame success, gather data, and monitor progress? And how do innovation districts inform and align with wider city strategy and sustainability goals? By developing a metrics & measures framework the UK IDG hopes to address some of these questions and help shape districts’ progress towards inclusive innovation outcomes. 

Connecting with other groups and individuals who are doing similar research will be a key part of informing the research. So if you’d like to find out more please get in touch via email or LinkedIn as per below. 

Genuine collaboration and quality leadership are fundamental success criteria across all innovation districts. We need innovation districts to be places that break from the status quo; hyper connected places tuned into the diverse neighbourhoods in which they are part of in order to help generate new ideas and methods that can solve pressing problems. We need to be prioritising new urban models of innovation clusters that operate in sympathy with their cities and thrive off the dynamism and diversity of their urban mix and ecosystems. 

Put simply, we all have a role to play in how we reinvent the model towards more equitable, inclusive and responsible innovation districts of which the UK IDG is proud to play a part.

Make sure to follow the UK IDG on LinkedIn for the latest updates or email hello@ukinnovationdistricts.com if you have any questions.

Opening the Innovation Economy: The case for inclusive innovation in the UK

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.” 

UK IDG April Visit to Newcastle

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!

UK IDG are Recruiting for an Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Consultant

Background

The UK Innovation District Group (UKIDG) is a peer network of ten of the UK’s leading innovation districts. Established in 2018, the group is focused on sharing best practice in order to improve shared prosperity and productivity generated by innovation districts.  We are interested in these new, changing forms of urban and economic geography and the role they play in responding to the inclusive growth challenge. 

UK IDG aims to bridge academic research, think tanks and government policy by connecting with practitioners, investors, businesses and innovators across every scale and sector to help better understand quality place-based innovation.

UK IDG is committed to building a fair and equitable society in acknowledgement of and respecting the fundamental human right of every person not to be discriminated against[1].  Through our work in urban innovation we support harnessing new opportunities and bridging the gap between privilege and discrimination, ensuring everyone benefits.

Purpose

As part of UK IDG’s work, we both seek to ensure diverse representation within our direct network and also support our members as they build inclusion into their place-based approaches. We are developing a D&I charter that forms an agreement defining how the UK IDG, as a membership body, incorporates equality and inclusion in its values and what that means for how we operate as a group, and ultimately for the places that our members are building.

As we develop this charter, we are seeking to work with an expert in inclusive design and inclusive practice to review our draft charter and develop an ‘impact framework’ that will sit alongside the charter and measure movement against our commitments.

The Role

The role will be on a contract basis and will act as an expert lead and advisor on the  development of UK IDG’s D&I charter and commitments. There will be initial work in developing the impact framework and reviewing the draft D&I charter. Following this, the role will provide an annual check on commitments and milestone delivery alongside any other D&I advisory support on an adhoc basis.

We are looking for someone with urban development and/or placemaking experience,

experience of working with a partnership organisation or network, and specific expertise in advising on and delivering Diversity & Inclusion programmes.

Services Provided

●      Review draft Diversity and Inclusion charter

●      Support drafting of a D&I commitment to include in membership criteria

●      Working with UK IDG’s manager, develop a D&I impact framework which would include:

●      Milestones and metrics to measure success of UK IDG progress, as an organisation, on diversity and inclusion

●      A template for member districts to use to build a baseline understanding of local community demographics (to measure how representative  each district’s programmes are of the broader community)

●      Framework for members to measure own progress against D&I targets and representation within each district

●      Attend at least one IDG meeting per year as part of annual progress review

●      Attend an agreed number of working meetings with the Chair and manager of UK IDG to progress delivery of the above

Resulting Outputs

●      Diversity and inclusion charter

●      D&I commitment included within membership criteria

●      Impact framework (as detailed above)

How to respond

This is an open tender for potential bidders to respond to. A selection of consultants have also been directly invited to quote for this work.

In your response to this brief please include:

●      Outline of approach

●      Relevant experience

●      Estimated number of days to complete the brief

●      Day rate

Applications should not exceed 2 x A4 pages

Please email response and any queries to hello@ukinnovationdistrict.co.uk by 25th April. We will aim to feed back by the 6th of May. *Note the deadline has been extended for submissions to the 13th of May.

If you wish to talk through any aspects of this brief in advance of responding please contact Claire via the above email.

[1] on the grounds of gender, age, language, disability, ethnicity, cultural background, sexual orientation, religious belief, education, work experience, occupation, socio-economic background, marital status and whether or not they have carer responsibilities.

UK IDG makes the case for inclusive innovation in annual NCUB report

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.

Building Back Better : the role of cities and innovation districts

Image: (Plague in an Ancient City, Michiel Sweerts) City Journal

“ Cities will bounce back, and their role in providing the right places and networks to support innovation and growth will be more important now than ever ”

The Covid-19 crisis poses big questions for cities. Throughout history people, businesses, knowledge producing organisations such as universities, cultural bodies and professional institutions, and investors have been attracted to cities because of the concentrations, diversity and flows of ideas and opportunities they provide, enabled by density, access to a large workforce via the public transport network, and close networks of face-to-face collaboration. These trends have led to the emergence of innovation districts in city centres and well-connected nodes in the UK as well as globally. These very factors that have underpinned the success of cities are now challenged by a new, dangerous, communicable disease, physical and social distancing, and the experience of mass working from home. Why locate and force people to commute to and cluster in urban centres when there is the risk of disease and we can work from our homes?

But cities will bounce back, and their role in providing the right places and networks to support innovation and growth will be more important now than ever for six reasons.

First, it is in cities where we have the best prospects for the rapid innovation needed to tackle societal and health challenges. We need rapid innovation to tackle the crisis and its implications. Cities and innovation districts can connect innovators, entrepreneurs, the health and social care system and other providers of public services to work together to tackle societal and health challenges. The focus could be on products and services which would realistically and significantly meet a societal need that has emerged or increased due to the Covid-19 pandemic, or the need of an industry that has been severely impacted and disrupted. This could be in the field of healthcare, public health, community support, online and home delivery. This could be part of a wider mission-orientated approach to supporting innovation-driven economic growth. A £20 million competition has been launched by Innovate UK to support firms responding to new and urgent needs as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Second, now is an opportunity to use our cities and innovation districts as test-beds. The real world will look and operate differently as we move out of lockdown into a test-trace-isolate phase. We will need to rapidly change the way we manage transport systems, buildings and urban logistics. For example, cities are reallocating road-space from cars to pedestrians and cyclists, and the Government have announced a trial of drone delivery of medical supplies. There may be new use cases and increased demand for autonomous transport, for example the type of driverless pods that have been trialled at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Research by Arup for Nesta has looked at how cities can develop tools for testing innovation in the real world. Once we move into the economic recovery phase, test-beds can have a continued role.

Third, building ecosystems for innovation-led entrepreneurship can be part of the recovery plan. Our cities will need to shape and help deliver a major economic stimulus package of regeneration, infrastructure, housing and economic growth projects to kickstart economic recovery. Think a modern-day Marshall plan to put in place the building blocks for a more productive future economy. This needs to encompass soft infrastructure as well as physical projects. Cities should get behind innovative start-ups and scale-ups. These high growth businesses, which make a huge contribution to the economy through their investment in people, technology and innovation, are likely to find securing finance harder. Cities and Government should back innovation districts as projects that can kickstart and sustain the right type of future growth.

Fourth, collaboration in cities will become more, not less important, and we need to design and curate our physical spaces accordingly. Firms and organisations are already reflecting on what they have learned in recent weeks to consider the future for their offices and estates. Whilst there is scope for them to have less office space, they are also experiencing the inefficiencies of mass working from home, the challenges in collaborating across disciplines and organisations, the difficulties in building the relationships and implicit trust that come from face-to-face discussions, the sheer time and energy required to run a Zoom meeting compared to a physical one, the loneliness and lack of fun and enjoyment. This experience will re-enforce the need for firms to have the right office space in urban areas. They may need less of it, and its primary function may shift towards supporting collaboration and away from providing banks of desks. People will want to interact, to share ideas, and to share each other’s company in urban spaces between the buildings. Offices, campuses and urban spaces may be reconfigured around a primary function of supporting collaboration and interaction, away from providing desk capacity.

Fifth, inclusive growth will become an even more important policy priority. This crisis is going to lead to a huge shake-out in the labour market. Entrepreneurship could offer a new career path for people who have lost their jobs. There will be a need and an opportunity for many people to gain new skills as employment in some sectors decreases, and opportunities are created in others. The organisations involved in innovation districts have a role to play here in supporting people to adapt and rebuild their careers. We need to use this opportunity to consider how we value, pay and offer better security key workers in sectors such as health, social care, retail, deliveries and hospitality. We should consider how we can reshape the labour market in these sectors, many of which have to date been associated with low wage, low skilled, and insecure work.

The Centre for Progressive Policy has predicted that places with weaker economies will be hit hardest. Some of these cities and towns could create their own innovation districts, or projects to support people to start and scale up innovative and creative firms. There is an opportunity to strengthen and the role of healthcare providers as anchor institutions for growth. We can build on the community led and volunteer networks that have been established to support our neighbours, or vulnerable or lonely people. We need to consider the intergenerational dimension. Older people are most vulnerable to this disease and will suffer most from shielding, but younger people are seeing their education, careers and livelihoods being damaged significantly. We need a model that supports and values older people (there is an opportunity here for innovation districts as is being demonstrated by Newcastle’s National Innovation Centre for Ageing) as well as creating a more resilient and sustainable model of growth to benefit future generations.

Finally, history has shown us cities adapt and change in response to health risks and shocks. As Ed Glaeser has written, cities and pandemics have a long history. Throughout history, cities and towns have needed to strike a balancing act between providing the densities that support the collaboration, knowledge and innovation needed to accelerate economic growth, whilst also addressing the public health risks that density creates. In 1854 John Snow meticulously mapped the London cholera outbreak, identifying the source (a water pump). The Victorians built sanitation systems and hospitals and made health breakthroughs. Florence Nightingale advised on the design of the new Leeds General Infirmary that was opened in 1869. Liverpool created the first public baths of any city, and the world’s first school of tropical medicine. In what is today the London Knowledge Quarter hormones, vitamins and the structure of DNA were discovered. We are now going to need to adapt our cities once again.

After 9/11 many commentators predicted fundamental changes in urban areas, for example a shift away from tall buildings, and global travel. Instead we adapted our cities and transport networks with security measures to respond to the new normal.

With the growth of the internet and global communications, many predicted the death of cities and densities. In reality, as the economy has become more specialised, knowledge based and focused on intangibles, face-to-face proximity has become more, not less important. This will continue. Smart people will still want to work alongside other smart people, and collaborate, compare and compete in the spaces between the buildings. Knowledge producing firms and institutions will still want to be close to each other and have access to a skilled and creative workforce across a wide area. All of this will need to be supported by the right supply and curation of commercial space and formal and informal public and social spaces, and the right networks between corporates, start-ups and scale-ups, universities and major cultural institutions, investors, and city governments.

Whilst our towns and cities will be different as a result of this crisis, they will be central to the huge economic recovery effort needed. As Ed Glaeser has argued, “We have built our modern world around proximity, and Covid-19 has made the costs of that closeness painfully obvious. We can either reorient ourselves around distance or recommit ourselves to waging war against density’s greatest enemy: contagious disease.”

The challenges are significant. We have some difficult days ahead. Cities can shape and support the recovery, and build better, fairer, more resilient, sustainable and productive economies, and innovation districts have a huge role to play.

Article written by Tom Bridges, Arup’s Leeds Office Leader and Director Cities Advisory, in partnership with UK IDG

UK IDG January Round Table Event in Leeds

Yesterday, the UK Innovation Districts Group convened a great roundtable event at Nexus Innovation Centre coinciding with a week-long MIT teaching visit hosted by Team Leeds who are participating in the MIT Regional Entrepreneurship Accelerator Programme (REAP)

The roundtable was a senior strategic discussion around the launch of a pilot REAP UK Lite programme, exploring place-based innovation and the importance of networks & soft assets in maximising success. This is the first time MIT have delivered a condensed version of the REAP programme (over 6-9 months) and across a national UK cohort - a really exciting prospect with potential for rich transferable learning.

The six REAP Lite regions (delivered through the LEPs) are:

1) Leicester and Leicestershire LEP

2) Cumbria, Lancashire; and Cheshire & Warrington LEPs

3) North East LEP

4) West Midlands Combined Authority

5) Sheffield City Region LEP

6) Heart of the South West LEP

Key voices in the discussion included BEIS, Arup, MIT, Research England, Team Leeds, Innovate UK and of course, UK IDG partners.

Citizen Based Social Innovation

Download full Citizen Based Social Innovation report.

Innovation isn’t all about Tech. Though often the big tech rapid scale up innovations dominate the headlines, increasingly there is growing interest in social innovation processes and priorities.

In order to showcase practical examples of this from around the world, two UK IDG members, KX Knowledge Quarter and Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, jointly commissioned this report on citizen based social innovations and what can be learnt from them