Measuring innovation
Published:
July 2008
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Measuring Innovation (PDF, 72 KB)
Evidence-based policy demands reliable data. Existing innovation metrics constrain policymakers by reinforcing a linear model of innovation that bears little relation to the innovation that is most relevant to the modern UK economy. Traditional metrics fail to adequately capture ‘hidden innovation’: innovation in services, the public sector and the creative industries, or new trends in open and user-led innovation.
Around the world, policymakers are demanding new ways to measure innovation. In Innovation Nation, NESTA was called upon to develop a new Innovation Index for the UK. Similar efforts are underway in other countries and in international bodies such as the OECD and European Commission. Correctly developed, these will ensure that the UK is better positioned to understand and support innovation in the future.
Over the next two years, the Innovation Index Project will mobilise the best of the UK’s innovation practitioners, researchers and policymakers to develop the most relevant, rigorous and accessible measures of innovation.