Principle of place-based innovation “inherent in Innovate UK’s own strategic direction”
Innovate UK executive chair Tom Adeyoola has written to the House of Commons Science, Innovation and Technology Committee to follow up on his appearance at the committee earlier in the summer.
Since the July hearing, new Prime Minister Andy Burnham has set out plans to devolve a “substantially increased share of later-stage innovation funding to local leaders” in his Rewiring the State policy paper.
Adeyoola explains why this commitment is not in tension with Innovate UK’s approach:
“Since the Committee met in July, the Cabinet Office has published the Rewiring the State policy statement, outlining a new model for Government, including supporting mayors to foster local innovation systems and ensure regions are thriving places for people to live and work. Place-based and sector-focused growth go hand in hand: innovation is inherently rooted in place and thriving sectors rely on robust local ecosystems to sustain their growth. This principle is inherent in Innovate UK’s own strategic direction, a point we’d like to assure the committee of given the evidence and your letter pre-date the paper.”
His letter comes in response to the committee’s request for further information about issues raised during the July scrutiny session. The committee had sought clarity over when Innovate UK’s plans for the specific industrial strategy sectors it is working in would be published.
Adeyoola responds that the sector plans are a “subset of the UKRI delivery plans across the IS-8” and therefore subject to internal governance processes at UKRI, but that he intends to share them with the committee “in the autumn.”
The science committee – in keeping with its emphasis on regional research and innovation which has been a defining feature of its work under chair Chi Onwurah – had inquired whether the delivery plans would include allocations by regional cluster. Adeyoola observes that as IUK funding is awarded on a competitive basis, a regional breakdown in spend will not be possible until after awards are made.
The letter also reveals that, according to internal IUK analysis, 63.5 per cent of its funding went to regions outside the Greater South East in 2024–25 – a drop from 67 per cent in the last official UKRI publication, covering 2023–24, but indicative of a “general upward trend” over time.
Adeyoola also sets out various Innovate UK objectives and key results, which in the autumn plans will be accompanied by baselines and benchmarks. These include growth sectors “progressing towards global leader status” and more companies “achieving scale milestones, faster.”