Introduction

  • A fresh look at the role of local, regional and broader eco-system factors in supporting innovation and exporting, growth and productivity. What aspects of local business eco-systems are most influential in shaping the innovation and exporting activities of firms of different types? How do these interact with firms’ internal capabilities?
  • We will also consider the interaction between innovation and exporting and any feedback between the two influences building on Harris and Moffat (2011)? Methodological issues arise here, as in the competition and local growth project, relating to the definition of ‘local’ and also issues around causality.
  • The LEP outlook data provides a rich set of local eco-system indicators both for the most recent period and historically covering factors generally considered as productivity drivers (e.g. skills, R&D investment, capital investment) and some more novel factors such as local amenity and emissions. Use this data along with individual establishment level data from the UK innovation survey (which also covers exporting and productivity). Inter alia this will provide a test of the linkage between the LEP Outlook metrics and key performance indicators.

KeywordsInnovation, productivity, exporting
ThemeInnovation, productivity and performance
Project DirectorStephen Roper