History Matters research report

Buoyed by the success of Silicon Valley, Hsinchu region, or Helsinki, innovation is seen by leading regions as the key to staying ahead; and in those that lag, as an opportunity to catch up.

The result has been a plethora of ambitious innovation strategies. Unfortunately, the common thread has often been under-delivery.

This failure to deliver has been blamed on many things: lack of institutions, lack of ambition, and lack of skilled policymakers. However, what has been less straightforward to understand is the extent to which such change was ever possible.

In this research project, we have worked with leading researchers from Oxford Brookes and Cambridge Universities to use advanced economic techniques to uncover the extent to which ‘history matters’.

Published
July 2008

Author
James Simmie, Juliet Carpenter, Andrew Chadwick and Ron Martin

Report
Download the report (PDF)