Funded by Innovate UK, the Innovation State of the Nation Survey (INSN) aims to provide a timely and robust understanding of business innovation across UK firms. The annual INSN survey is a telephone survey covering around 2000 firms including micro-businesses (with 5-9 employees). It is designed to provide representative coverage by firm size band, broad sector and region. Analysis by frontier v non-frontier firms is also possible highlighting differences in innovation behaviour at, and behind, the technology frontier.
The design and coverage of the 2023 ISNS survey questionnaire was developed after extensive consultation with IUK staff and external stakeholders. This emphasised the need for a broadly-based approach which is strongly grounded in innovation as a business process. The emphasis is around why businesses are choosing (or not) to invest in innovative activity and their aspirations for that innovation. Key policy lessons may be around what interventions are necessary for these business-led aspirations to be achieved.
To find out more about the Innovation & Research Caucus visit the website here
Publications
INSIGHT FROM INNOVATION STATE OF THE NATION SURVEY ( 2023 & 2024)
Stephen Roper / Ully Yunita Nafizah
Business innovation – creating or changing products, services, and business methods – is crucial in driving productivity and growth. Evidence from the UK Innovation Survey (UKIS), published earlier this year, currently covers the period up to 2022. Despite some survey-to-survey variation, this suggests a downward trend in the proportion of innovation-active UK firms. The UKIS also suggests an increasing gap between the proportion of larger and smaller firms that are innovation-active.
New data from the Innovation State of the Nation Survey (ISNS) brings the story to date based on data collected in early 2023 and 2024. The ISNS is an annual survey covering 2,000 firms. It aims to provide a representative view of UK firms’ R&D and innovation activity, which can help identify particular challenges and opportunities for policy development and support.
Download the report and associated data here
INNOVATION STATE OF THE NATION _2023
Stephen Roper / Rita Nana- Cheraa / Carol Stanfield
Drawing on data provided by over 2000 UK companies the Innovation State of the Nation Survey provides a detailed and timely view of firms’ innovation activity. Data was collected during 2023q1. In each company information was provided by the member of the management team with responsibility for aspects of product/service or business model innovation. Uniquely we provide the first detailed profile of innovation in UK micro-businesses (with 5-9 employees). The ISNS 2023 survey was conducted at a particularly uncertain time due to continued post-COVID stresses, continuing disruption from Brexit, and the cost of doing business crisis. Despite this, 61.4 per cent of firms reported changes to their products or services during the previous 12 months, with 28.3 per cent suggesting that at least some of their innovation was new to the market. Innovation, both new to the firm and new to the market, was evident across all sectors, sizebands and regions of the UK, with even the smallest micro businesses reporting significant shares of new to the market innovation
Download the report and associated data here
HOW WELL DO BARRIERS AND ENABLERS PREDICT REGIONAL INNOVATION?
EVIDENCE FROM THE INNOVATION STATE OF THE NATION 2023
Ully-Yunita Nafizah / Stephen Roper
This report provides an overview of innovation activity across regions in the UK. We explore the regional contrasts in the link between innovation outcomes and the enablers of and barriers to open innovation. Based on the evidence base, we identify a “two-speed” innovation economy – a group of four ‘baseline’ regions where the propensity for innovation is consistent with the enablers/barriers, and a group of ‘over-performing’ regions in which firms seem more capable in translating the enablers into higher innovation propensity. We also suggest regionally differentiated innovation supports.
