Diversity in R&D and Innovation.
One size does not fit all: A cross-country comparison of policy instruments used to support firm-level innovation and science
Innovate short, innovate long
The dire consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on many firms across the UK continue with depressing implications for employment and future prosperity. The government has invested heavily in supporting businesses through the furlough scheme, loan schemes and rate relief. The strengths and limitations of these measures have been widely covered in the media, but less… Read more
Assessing the impact of Covid-19 on Innovate UK award holders Survey and case-study evidence Wave 2 –October/November 2020
Understanding the role of IP protection in UK firms’ growth, productivity and innovation 1998-2016: Patents, trade marks and registered designs reconsidered
Understanding the role of IP protection in UK firms’ growth, productivity and innovation 1998-2016: Patents, trade marks and registered designs reconsidered. RP No 90
One size doesn’t fit all in terms of R&D and innovation
While some of us have been able to work at home during the Covid-19 crisis – and may have actually improved our productivity – this has not been the case for most of those involved in research and development (R&D). Lock-down has meant no access to laboratories or the specialist kit needed, so many R&D… Read more
Assessing the impact of Covid-19 on Innovate UK award holders Survey and case-study evidence Wave 1 – June/July 2020
The interrelationship between R&D, Innovation and Productivity: Evidence for micro-enterprises
Do firms really learn from failure? The dynamics of abandoned innovation. Research Paper No 88
Do firms really learn from failure? The dynamics of abandoned innovation.
Collaboration and Knowledge Transfer between SMEs and Universities. SOTA review No 42
University-Industry Collaboration: Are SMEs Different? SOTA review No 41
International sectoral R&D trends after the global financial crisis: What can we learn for current policy?
R&D: What can the Great Recession tell us about the likely impact of COVID-19?
It seems increasingly clear that the economic impacts of COVID-19 will be startlingly sharp for the UK and other world economies. The great unknown at present is whether the historic quarterly contraction we’re expecting to see in Q2 of 2020 is followed by a rebound, or a deep and painful recession. What’s also difficult to… Read more
R&D and innovation after Covid-19: What can we expect? A review of trends after the financial crisis
Covid-19 and the implications for future innovation
Over the last few days we have seen some inspiring and innovative responses to the Corona Virus crisis by UK firms and universities. The JCB-Dyson collaboration to produce ventilators and the UCL-Mercedes AMG collaboration to develop other breathing aids are outstanding examples. Necessity is the mother of invention after all. But what of the wider… Read more
Shake-up of geographic origin labels scheme “must educate consumers to support UK food heritage”
Education of consumers and minimising red tape is essential as the UK develops its own ‘geographical indication’ (GI) labelling system for traditional food products following Brexit, new research shows The introduction of a new system for protecting unique British food products such as Cornish pasties and Melton Mowbray pork pies will depend on better educating… Read more
Small firms and patenting revisited
Small firms and patenting revisited. Research Paper No 85
Let’s stop talking about ‘innovation’…
The term ‘innovation’ is widely used and abused. What do you imagine when you think of ‘innovation’? Something new? New technology? New drugs or the latest app? Any or all of these could be innovations each of which will have very different impacts on society and the firms and consumers they touch. A new edition… Read more
Pathways to efficiency, pathways to growth: Evidence from the UK Innovation Survey
Pathways to efficiency, pathways to growth: Evidence from the UK Innovation Survey. Research Paper No. 83
Local knowledge innovation, exporting and productivity
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.
Keywords | Innovation, productivity, exporting |
Theme | Innovation, productivity and performance |
Project Director | Stephen Roper |
Tweets #research
- RT @HowardPeartree The lack of diversity in #innovation is a 'wicked problem'. @innovateuk and @KTNUK we believe that everyone's… https://t.co/UNEA1BPso6
- The involvement of women, ethnic minorities and other under-represented groups in #innovation and #entrepreneurship… https://t.co/AIIUi0hAsB
- RT @maria_wishart Essential reading on diversity in innovation https://t.co/8qkrQR8ero
- New ERC SOTA Review out today by @DrLornaTreanor reviewing the evidence on #diversity in R&D and #innovation - read… https://t.co/4KNT4H9K8X
- RT @NICRErural Help us become the ‘go-to resource’ for rural enterprise research and insight by joining us as a policy advisor – f… https://t.co/JF5doSC348
The Role of Innovation in Small Business Performance: A Regional Perspective.
Measuring the gap – Measuring diffusion
Introduction
- Significant progress has been made in recent years in measuring firms’ intangible investments and their productivity effects. However, measures of the diffusion and implementation of digital technology practices across populations of firms are much less well developed and often provide only a partial view of the process of pre-adoption, adoption and implementation. This means it is difficult to benchmark or calibrate the impact of policy initiatives, such as Made Smarter or other similar measures, designed to promote digital take up and implementation.
- Taking its inspiration from multi-dimensional models of high-performance work practices (HPWP) developed in the HR literature and the management practices literature this project aims to develop a suite of diffusion indicators and pilot test their links to firm level productivity. The focus here will be on (a) developing usable metrics (b) examining their distribution and relationship to key firm characteristics such as age, sector and size and (c) relating these to productivity.
- The outcome should be three measurement scales for ‘digital readiness’, ‘digital adoption level’ and ‘digital implementation’ of proven reliability which can be used in other studies and policy analysis.
Keywords | Productivity, difussion , implementation |
Theme | Innovation , Productivity and performance |
Project Director | Lee Hopley |
Tweets #research
- RT @HowardPeartree The lack of diversity in #innovation is a 'wicked problem'. @innovateuk and @KTNUK we believe that everyone's… https://t.co/UNEA1BPso6
- The involvement of women, ethnic minorities and other under-represented groups in #innovation and #entrepreneurship… https://t.co/AIIUi0hAsB
- RT @maria_wishart Essential reading on diversity in innovation https://t.co/8qkrQR8ero
- New ERC SOTA Review out today by @DrLornaTreanor reviewing the evidence on #diversity in R&D and #innovation - read… https://t.co/4KNT4H9K8X
- RT @NICRErural Help us become the ‘go-to resource’ for rural enterprise research and insight by joining us as a policy advisor – f… https://t.co/JF5doSC348
The Role of Innovation in Small Business Performance: A Regional Perspective. Research Paper No 82
Britain’s Innovation Challenge: the expansion of employment in higher value-added sectors
Although productivity growth across the developed world has fallen, the data is clear that productivity in the UK is lagging other industrialised countries. One of the challenges with policy development to improve productivity is that there needs to be some consensus as to what the underlying issues are. But for the UK there is currently… Read more
Exploring the link between training and innovation using the Longitudinal Small Business Survey.
Exploring the link between training and innovation using the Longitudinal Small Business Survey. Research Paper No 80
Getting the right recipe: collaboration strategies for radical and incremental innovators in services. Research Paper No 77
Getting the right recipe: collaboration strategies for radical and incremental innovators in services.
Small firms and formal intellectual property protection: A paradox?
We know that firms use knowledge protection mechanisms to limit imitation and enhance their ability to appropriate the returns to their innovative investments. Recent research at the ERC suggests that both formal (e.g. patents) and informal (e.g. secrecy) knowledge protection mechanisms are important for the innovation returns of small firms (those with fewer than 50… Read more
Strengthening Sectors – ERC’s 6th State of Small Business conference
Understanding small business dynamics is central to our work at the Enterprise Research Centre and once a year we gather at the Shard in London with 150 researchers, stakeholders, policy makers and small business owners to discuss and debate the state of the small business community. The sixth of these events was held at the… Read more
Innovation and productivity: How strong is the connection?
Innovation and productivity: How strong is the connection? ‘Innovation’ is a much used (and abused) term employed to describe everything from flea collars for dogs[1] to electric cars. As a result, measuring innovation can be tricky, particularly in service sectors where firms’ relationships to customers are often individual and bespoke. Fortunately, the kind people at… Read more
Benchmarking local innovation – the innovation geography of England: 2019
Innovating into trouble: When innovation leads to customer complaints.
Innovating … into trouble!
Innovation is good isn’t it? We all love exciting new products or services which are useful and add value to our lives. For firms too innovation can be good for attracting new customers and increasing profits. But what happens when innovation goes wrong? We have all experienced this. Think about the last time you tried… Read more
Innovating into trouble: When innovation leads to customer complaints. Research Paper No 76
Micro-Businesses in Ireland: From Ambition to Innovation
University research and regional development. SOTA Review No 25
Innovation, open innovation and intellectual property rights: firm size differences. SOTA No 21
Unregistered IP rights and innovation: What is the evidence? . SOTA No 20
Trade marks and registered designs: Evidence on the links to innovation and business performance. SOTA No 19
Value of patents for the innovating firm. SOTA No 18
The impact of policy support on firms’ innovation outcomes and business performance. SOTA No 17
Public University Policy and R&D Success. SOTA No12
What are the barriers to start-up and scale-up in R&D intensive firms? SOTA no 11
The role of policy mix in driving business innovation. SOTA No 10
Diversity in Innovation Teams. SOTA No 8
What Supports the Adoption of Innovations Within Established (non-frontier) Firms? SOTA No 5
Organisational Learning and Innovation in Supply Chains. SOTA No 4
How Can We Attract and Retain More Internationally-mobile R&D? SOTA No 3
Innovation and Quality Management – What are the links? SOTA No 1
Exploring the links between design investment, innovation and productivity
Knowledge diffusion in supply chains
The study aims to examine the ways in which digital technologies and green practices are adopted through UK manufacturing supply chains, with the overarching objective of providing direction for policy and business support initiatives in this critical area.
The research will comprise one-to-one in-depth interviews with managers and will address the following research questions:
- How do managers at different levels in the supply chain experience best practice adoption processes?
- What are the chief barriers and enablers to the diffusion of digital technologies and green practices in supply chains
- What are the characteristics of supply chain relationships that facilitate/optimise diffusion?
- What are the management practices most likely to foster innovation diffusion in supply chains?
Keywords | |
Theme | Diffusion and productivity upgrading |
Tweets #research
- RT @HowardPeartree The lack of diversity in #innovation is a 'wicked problem'. @innovateuk and @KTNUK we believe that everyone's… https://t.co/UNEA1BPso6
- The involvement of women, ethnic minorities and other under-represented groups in #innovation and #entrepreneurship… https://t.co/AIIUi0hAsB
- RT @maria_wishart Essential reading on diversity in innovation https://t.co/8qkrQR8ero
- New ERC SOTA Review out today by @DrLornaTreanor reviewing the evidence on #diversity in R&D and #innovation - read… https://t.co/4KNT4H9K8X
- RT @NICRErural Help us become the ‘go-to resource’ for rural enterprise research and insight by joining us as a policy advisor – f… https://t.co/JF5doSC348
L&M capabilities – levering external assets for growth
Introduction
Levering external assets for growth for small firms, particularly those with ambitions to grow, external finance, advisory resources and knowledge for innovation and market development are critical.
How do internal and boundary-spanning management practices enable firms to most effectively take advantage of such external resources
Keywords | |
Theme | Leadership and management practices and SME performance |
Tweets #research
- RT @HowardPeartree The lack of diversity in #innovation is a 'wicked problem'. @innovateuk and @KTNUK we believe that everyone's… https://t.co/UNEA1BPso6
- The involvement of women, ethnic minorities and other under-represented groups in #innovation and #entrepreneurship… https://t.co/AIIUi0hAsB
- RT @maria_wishart Essential reading on diversity in innovation https://t.co/8qkrQR8ero
- New ERC SOTA Review out today by @DrLornaTreanor reviewing the evidence on #diversity in R&D and #innovation - read… https://t.co/4KNT4H9K8X
- RT @NICRErural Help us become the ‘go-to resource’ for rural enterprise research and insight by joining us as a policy advisor – f… https://t.co/JF5doSC348
Strategies for radical & incremental innovation
Introduction
We aim to explore three questions:
- There is a marked difference between the best-performing firms and areas and the worst-performing.
- How do internal and boundary spanning management practices influence adoption in different sectors and localities?
An analysis of L&M practices using existing data on professional services.
Keywords | Leadership and management, SME performance |
Theme | Leadership and management practices and SME performance, Management and Leadership, |
Tweets #research
- RT @HowardPeartree The lack of diversity in #innovation is a 'wicked problem'. @innovateuk and @KTNUK we believe that everyone's… https://t.co/UNEA1BPso6
- The involvement of women, ethnic minorities and other under-represented groups in #innovation and #entrepreneurship… https://t.co/AIIUi0hAsB
- RT @maria_wishart Essential reading on diversity in innovation https://t.co/8qkrQR8ero
- New ERC SOTA Review out today by @DrLornaTreanor reviewing the evidence on #diversity in R&D and #innovation - read… https://t.co/4KNT4H9K8X
- RT @NICRErural Help us become the ‘go-to resource’ for rural enterprise research and insight by joining us as a policy advisor – f… https://t.co/JF5doSC348
Knowledge to money
Introduction
We aim to explore three questions:
- What are the causal links between IP protection, innovation, growth and productivity?
- What impact does the IP system have on SMEs, in particular?
- How does it influence the timing and scale of returns to innovation?
- How do these differences vary by sector? Matching IPO data with UKIS and the BSD.Leadership and management practices and SME performance
Keywords | |
Theme | Innovation, Productivity and Performance |
Tweets #research
- RT @HowardPeartree The lack of diversity in #innovation is a 'wicked problem'. @innovateuk and @KTNUK we believe that everyone's… https://t.co/UNEA1BPso6
- The involvement of women, ethnic minorities and other under-represented groups in #innovation and #entrepreneurship… https://t.co/AIIUi0hAsB
- RT @maria_wishart Essential reading on diversity in innovation https://t.co/8qkrQR8ero
- New ERC SOTA Review out today by @DrLornaTreanor reviewing the evidence on #diversity in R&D and #innovation - read… https://t.co/4KNT4H9K8X
- RT @NICRErural Help us become the ‘go-to resource’ for rural enterprise research and insight by joining us as a policy advisor – f… https://t.co/JF5doSC348
Innovation growth and productivity in SMEs
Introduction
The returns to public and privately funded R&D. Which types of innovation (NTM, NTF, organisational strategic etc.) have the greatest productivity payoffs? How do these payoffs vary depending on whether the innovation was publicly or privately funded? Analysis of the UKIS and matched BSD and GtR.
Keywords | Innovation research, Development, Funding |
Theme | Innovation, management and leadership |
Tweets #research
- RT @HowardPeartree The lack of diversity in #innovation is a 'wicked problem'. @innovateuk and @KTNUK we believe that everyone's… https://t.co/UNEA1BPso6
- The involvement of women, ethnic minorities and other under-represented groups in #innovation and #entrepreneurship… https://t.co/AIIUi0hAsB
- RT @maria_wishart Essential reading on diversity in innovation https://t.co/8qkrQR8ero
- New ERC SOTA Review out today by @DrLornaTreanor reviewing the evidence on #diversity in R&D and #innovation - read… https://t.co/4KNT4H9K8X
- RT @NICRErural Help us become the ‘go-to resource’ for rural enterprise research and insight by joining us as a policy advisor – f… https://t.co/JF5doSC348
Productivity of the UK’s small and medium sized enterprises: insights from the Longitudinal Small Business Survey.
Talking trademarks
We are all familiar with trademarks from “Google” to ‘McDonald’s”. But who are the UK’s most active trademarkers? And, how is the profile of trademarking changing in the UK? Some data recently published by the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) on domestic trademark applications in the UK suggests some of the answers. Before looking at the… Read more
SMEs are losing out in the innovation race
SMEs are losing ground to larger UK firms in terms of innovation. This is one of the key messages in new innovation data recently published by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). The data taken from the UK Innovation Survey (UKIS 2017) provides the first robust benchmark for levels of business innovation… Read more
Aiming high on R&D – Is the UK’s 2.4 % target achievable?
ONS figures published this week suggest that the UK spent 1.67 per cent of GDP on R&D in 2016 ranking the UK 11th in the EU. These latest figures put the UK well adrift of the ambitious target of 2.4 per cent R&D spending spelt out in the Industrial Strategy. So, is the 2.4 per… Read more
Organisational capital, exploration and exploitation: Econometric evidence for UK services firms.
Organisational capital, exploration and exploitation: Econometric evidence for UK services firms. Research Paper No 65
How to skin a (R&D) cat.
Innovate UK recently launched a new loan scheme to support research and innovation in UK firms. This scheme – originally conceived in the austerity years – aims to provide an alternative way of supporting innovation alongside the UK’s innovation grants and tax credits. The new loans also suggest a subtle change in emphasis in UK… Read more
The taxpayer tech dividend: R&D grants provide £43bn economic boost, study finds
News release 7th September 2017 Largest ever study shows public R&D grants turbo-charge growth in UK’s industries of the future Innovation grants stimulated £43bn additional turnover and created estimated 150,000 jobs Employment is boosted by around a fifth, turnover by a quarter – but regional variations are substantial Taxpayer support for high-tech innovation benefits the… Read more
Assessing the business performance effects of receiving publicly-funded science, research and innovation grants – Research Paper No 61( Revised )
Assessing the business performance effects of receiving publicly-funded science, research and innovation grants.
Home Alone: Innovation and sales growth intentions among the sole self-employed. Research Paper No 59
Home Alone: Innovation and sales growth intentions among the sole self-employed.
Benchmarking Local Innovation
Accessibility, utility and learning effects in university-business collaboration. Research Paper No 57.
Accessibility, utility and learning effects in university-business collaboration.
Does learning from prior collaboration help firms to overcome the “two worlds” paradox in university-business collaboration? Research Paper No 55
Does learning from prior collaboration help firms to overcome the “two worlds” paradox in university-business collaboration?
Innovation policy: Driving equity or driving inequality?
Innovation policy: Driving equity or driving inequality? The need to boost levels of innovation in the UK is at the heart of the recent Green Paper on Industrial Strategy, and few would argue with the general proposition that innovation is good for growth. New products, new services and new ways of doing business help firms… Read more
The effectiveness of regional, national and EU support for innovation in the UK and Spain. Research Paper No 52
The effectiveness of regional, national and EU support for innovation in the UK and Spain. Research Paper No 52
Market failures in open innovation: implications and policy responses. Research Paper No 49
Market failures in open innovation: implications and policy responses.
Knowledge diffusion, innovation and productivity – changing the game in Wales
The current Brexit debate is important and the structure of the UK’s trading and migration arrangements with our international neighbours will influence our future prosperity. However, other more fundamental long term issues remain important for the UK around productivity. UK productivity lags significantly behind that of our main international competitors and Wales is at the… Read more
Brexit – the innovation bonus
Innovation is always risky. New technologies may not perform, or may take longer to develop than first anticipated. Customers may react negatively to new products or services and innovation may provoke a strong competitive response from competitors. Will uncertainty linked to the post-Brexit settlement increase or depress firms’ appetite for taking these innovation risks? It… Read more
Re-writing the innovation rulebook
Re-writing the innovation rulebook Have you ever heard of the Oslo Manual? Sadly it’s not a type of Nordic Kama Sutra but instead the official – OECD backed – rulebook for thinking about and measuring innovation. Over the last 25 years successive editions of the Oslo Manual have provided the definitive guide to what gets… Read more
Innovation and HR practices in five professional service sectors A report for the UK Commission for Employment and Skills
Innovation by design.
Good design is a delight. But the potential role of designers goes well beyond improving the functional or aesthetic aspects of a product. Research on design thinking has suggested there should be a design leadership effect when designers lead rather than contributing to firms’ innovation processes. But how big is this effect? Until now we… Read more
Work organization and innovation in legal services: analysis from a ‘deep dive’ study. Research Paper No 45
The future of productivity: Is innovation diffusion the answer?
Recent research by economists at the OECD presents a new perspective on what drives national productivity growth. This presents a challenge to the emphasis of current UK policy on world-leading innovation. The OECD start by recognising that in every world economy there are some ‘frontier firms’ which are internationally competitive and match global high standards… Read more