Happy New Year !
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.
Visual Capitalist, a company who make data more accessible has mapped the world’s most innovative countries using data from the United Nations WIPO Global Innovation Index with the UK ranking 4th.
Other Stories
Greater Manchester’s burgeoning innovation ecosystem has taken another major step forward with the signing of an agreement with the UK's national innovation agency, Innovate UK. The MOU between Greater Manchester Combined Authority, Innovation Greater Manchester and Innovate UK commits the parties to closer collaboration to boost innovation and R&D in the city-region.
At COP27, the UN Climate Change secretariat launched version 1.0 of the Virtual Hub site - a tool for collating government entities’ demand for climate and sustainability solutions - designed to be a platform of global ambitions to tackle climate change. Read more about green hydrogen, bamboo & beans!
The UK government has appointed five industry leading experts to make use of post-Brexit freedoms by driving innovation in cutting edge sectors that will be vital to Britain’s future growth.
The Social Mobility Commission have published a report that identifies the current barriers to finding and using socio-economic data, to outline an ambition of what an improved data environment could look like and how it might benefit future policy-making. The research acts as an aspirational paper to stimulate discussion and engagement across the government.
Grants & Competitions
The Department for Transport is offering innovators grants of up to £30k to undertake early stage, high-risk research, and development projects. They’re looking for ideas that can help decarbonise the UK maritime sector and support its transition to zero emission shipping. The team are keen to consider a wide range of new clean maritime technologies and encourage applicants to think creatively. Apply here. Applications close 15th January.
RIBA’s exhibition Long Life, Low Energy: Designing for a circular economy looks at the circular economy and its role in RIBA’s strategy for a more sustainable, net zero architecture in the future.
Given the significance of the subject matter and the high levels of press interest in the exhibition, RIBA would like to showcase further works completed in 2022 under one of more of the following headings:
Buildings that use sustainable or recycled materials as core construction components
Buildings that are self-sufficient or net positive in energy consumption
Buildings that are demountable and no longer linear in terms of lifespan, with materials and components allowing for future reuse
Buildings that have successfully been re-configured for reuse without the need for demolition
Find out more details here. Applications close on 16th January.
Podcasts
Centre for Cities podcast, City Talks, latest episode is hosted by Andrew Carter who is joined by urban economic development expert John Houghton to discuss his Solving the riddle of the sands blog series, which examines how we can revive England’s struggling seaside towns.
The DNA of Cities podcast presented by Prof Greg Clark CBE and Caitlin Morrissey examines How do cities acquire traits? speaking to experts about the forces & events that they believe cause cities to accumulate their unique DNA.
Connected Places Catapult's 2022: A year in review revisits some of the stories & fascinating guests featured last year - from the BBC’s former Science Editor, David Shukman to one of Britain’s most well-known rail enthusiasts of Great Railway Journeys fame, Michael Portillo and much more.
UK IDG Members
Arrow supports businesses by connecting them with expertise from across Newcastle University, strengthening the local economy along the way. Over the last four years, the Arrow programme has helped over 150 businesses to step into the future.
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.