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UK must drive innovation beyond 'golden triangle' - Scotland heralded as exemplar in call for tailored strategies to drive growth across UK

13/12/2007

"Much of the UK's innovative potential is being overlooked because of government's tendency to focus on London and the South East, yet with tailored innovation policy, strong leadership and the proper incentives, nations and regions such as Scotland and the North East of England have the capacity to rival high-tech regions such as North Brabant, Scania and Frankfurt."

In "Leading Innovation: Building effective coalitions for innovation", one of three reports on the role of place in innovation, NESTA highlights the £32bn productivity gap between regions outside the South East and the UK average and warns of the 'vicious cycle' which sees ever greater public investment in high performing areas.

According to NESTA CEO Jonathan Kestenbaum, "more needs to be done to exploit the wealth of new ideas and solutions outside the Golden Triangle. This is vital for our future prosperity". The research calls for the creation of tailored national and regional strategies that will support the development of ideas from across the UK to their full potential.

With the right conditions and with the right government support, innovation can happen anywhere. What's needed is a policy framework that takes greater account of the widely differing needs of nations, regions and localities and allows individual areas to play to their strengths; and strong national and regional leadership and partnerships to drive the resulting strategies forward.

Scotland provides as many lessons as Golden Triangle

NESTA heralds Scotland as an exemplar of the way in which 'ordinary nations and regions' can contribute to the UK's productivity problems. It argues that the experimental nature of Scottish innovation policy could also make the nation a test bed for ideas for the whole of the UK, citing the Scottish-born 'proof of concept funds', developed to bridge the early-stage equity gap, as a prime example.

In a second report, "Innovation and the city: How innovation has developed in five city-regions", Dundee is given as a good example of the role a city can play in driving innovation. Its vibrant life sciences sector demonstrates the critical role played by a local champion – in the form of Sir Philip Cohen, former head of life sciences at the University of Dundee; a strong coalition of local organisations; relevant assets (the proximity of the University and skills base it provided); and the role of both large and small firms (entrepreneurial scientists and big pharmaceutical companies).

Commenting on the reports findings, Paul Benneworth, Centre for Knowledge, Innovation Technology, and Enterprise at Newcastle University, author of Leading Innovation: Building effective coalitions for innovation, said:

Dermot Finch, director of the Centre for Cities, and author of "Innovation and the city: How innovation has developed in five city-regions", added:

"Not every city can imitate Dundee's success in life sciences, or Coventry's strength in engineering design. But that doesn't mean there success stories have to be a one-off. All of the UK's cities should make the best use of their assets and play to their economic strengths. They need to capitalise on their unique selling points and work closely with local businesses and universities to foster the right conditions for innovation to thrive".

Speaking at the launch of the report, Minister for Competitiveness, Stephen Timms said:

"To compete successfully in the global economy, it's essential that every region plays its part in raising the productivity and prosperity of the UK. My department is working closely with the new Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills in support of their objective to encourage innovation across the UK. DIUS will be publishing a Science and Innovation strategy in the Spring 2008 and are actively engaged with a range of stakeholders, including NESTA."

Jonathan Kestenbaum, CEO of NESTA, concluded:

"Recent reforms to regional and local government represent a real opportunity to create individual strategies that properly reflect strengths and weaknesses. What this requires is immediate action from government and local leaders".

A third report on "Rural Innovation", which looks at the multitude of news ideas emerging from the UK's rural areas, was also published this week.

NESTA Spokespeople and the report authors are available for comment and interview. Please contact our press office on 020 7438 2608 or 2643.

About the reports
Leading Innovation: Building effective coalitions for innovation was written for NESTA by Dr Paul Benneworth and Prof. David Charles, Centre for Knowledge, Innovation, Technology & Enterprise (KITE), University of Newcastle.

"Innovation and the city: How innovation has developed in five city-regions" was written for NESTA by the Centre for Cities.

About NESTA
NESTA is the National Endowment for Science, Technology & the Arts. With endowed funds of over £300 million, its mission is to transform the UK's capacity for innovation. It does this in three main ways: by working to build a more pervasive culture of innovation in this country; by providing innovators with access to early stage capital; and by driving forward research into innovation, with a view to influencing policy.