Measuring innovation for successful delivery

Innovation Nation, the recent Innovation White paper published by the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills requires National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) to develop an innovation index, with a view to launching a pilot n 2009.

As part of its work to develop an innnovation index, NESTA will work with Regional Development Agencies and the Innovation Research Centre to explore the scope for regional or sub-​national innovation measures that capture spatial innovation patterns.

As part of NESTA's call for ideas for the regional innovation index project, we organised a workshop for invited delegates from business, academe and public sector organisations to discuss the key questions posed by NESTA.

Attendees from the measuring innovation groupThe workshop was held at the Technology Innovation Centre, Birmingham City University on the 4th September 2008. The event was supported by Contact Knowledge Exchange, a regional intelligence hub that allows businesses to access, and benefit from, the many resources and capabilities available through the region’s universities.

 

Session 1: Innovation in different business sectors

Innovation in Services (PDF, 1.7MB)
Dr. Tim Bradshaw, Head of Innovation, Science and Technology, CBI

Manufacturing Innovation: a UK/​US Comparison (PDF, 197KB)
Prof. Stephen Roper, Professor of Enterprise, Centre for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises, University of Warwick

Session 2: Innovation policy and the importance of the evidence base

West Midlands Innovation Strategy (PDF, 240KB)
Dr. Phil Extance, Director of Innovation, Advantage West Midlands

Measuring regional innovation -​ building an evidence base for policy (PDF, 84KB)
Brian MacAulay, West Midlands Regional Observatory

The final presentation outlined the key questions on the potential for developing comparative metrics for regional innovation indices. It provided the focus for discussion on the efficacy of existing data as appropriate measures for innovation.

This was followed by discussion, the synthesis of which was used to inform the regional submission to NESTA's consultation on developing a regional innovation index.

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