Connected Places Catapult – Written evidence (STS0083)

About Connected Places Catapult

Connected Places Catapult is the UK’s innovation accelerator for cities, transport, and place leadership. Our purpose is to connect people, places, and businesses to a future of sustainable growth and prosperity.

We help businesses to grow by connecting the market, sparking innovative technologies, and accelerating commercialisation. We strive to create functioning markets where people, places and businesses are connected to the resources, ideas, and relationships they need for all to prosper.

Connected Places Catapult is part of the Catapult Network, established by the UK Government’s innovation agency, Innovate UK.

What would it mean for the UK to be a “Science Superpower?

An ambition for UK R&D which neglects engineering and innovation (that is, the application of science) is too narrow.

As we outlined in our response to the Committee’s earlier inquiry into Catapults (Nov 2020[1]), national science strategies are often concerned with the invention of the next breakthrough technology – new wonder materials such as graphene or harnessing the theoretical powers of quantum computing technology. However, this focus on invention risks overlooking the importance of wider interactions and enabling activities that both accelerate and anchor innovation ecosystems, and – through the creation of clusters – can capture the spill-over benefits of innovation activity to produce sustained gains in regional productivity.

We welcome the commitment to science outlined by the Government in the stated aspiration to establish the UK as a “Science Superpower”. However, the transformative power of science is realised when new ideas and technologies are implemented and integrated into industrial and commercial processes. Too many brilliant scientific discoveries never make it out of the lab or remain locked in academic papers unread by those businesses who could apply the knowledge. The pathway for systems level adoption and service innovation of R&D technologies is an iterative process, involving the matching of end user needs (market pull) with the art of the technically possible (technology push) through orchestration of regulation, engagement, collaboration and a coherent and aligned set of activities.

The transformative power of science and engineering is realised when new ideas and technologies are implemented and integrated into industrial and commercial processes. The objective therefore ought to be becoming a Science, Engineering, and Innovation Superpower, ensuring that each part of the UK’s R&D landscape is working together to unleash the transformative potential of UK scientific knowledge.

The Government has been right to recognise the role of Place in plans to foster greater science and innovation activity.

The UK has some R&D clusters which are truly world-class, but too many parts of the country have not yet had opportunity to contribute all they could to the innovation economy – or of enjoying the benefits that hosting such clusters enable.

The answer is not new institutions: there are universities, R&D facilities, and innovation centres scattered across the UK, but they have delivered varied levels of success in cultivating a local/regional innovation economy. There is therefore more to stimulating innovation-led regional prosperity than simply establishing new facilities.

Connected Places Catapult has invested heavily in understanding why innovation flourishes in some places and not in others, to better support place leaders to spark the innovation potential of their areas and achieve a shared future of sustainable growth and prosperity.

The high growth and high productivity centres in the UK and around the world have recognised and mobilised around their unique capabilities – their institutions, heritage, industrial, human, and natural assets – to realise that status. The presence of the innovation ecosystem in turn invigorates the host cities and regions through increased employment, investment, and productivity. Conversely, those places that are yet to realise their potential are characterised by misaligned (or sometimes missing) infrastructure, assets, and actors.

For the UK to be a Science, Engineering, and Innovation Superpower, existing and future R&D assets must be connected into flourishing local, regional, and national innovation ecosystems – they must be launchpads for economic renewal deeply integrated to their home regions, not isolationist ivory towers, with little or no connection to adjacent communities.

The conditions needed to cultivate nationwide innovation activity can be created with committed effort – and must be prioritised to achieve innovation-led levelling up. We therefore welcome the investments in regional Innovation Accelerators in Glasgow, Greater Manchester, and the West Midlands, but also the announcement of devolved spending powers for regional transport bodies in the Levelling Up White Paper since improvements in the smooth flow of people and goods within and between regions is also an enabler of innovation activity.

To become a Science, Engineering, and Innovation Superpower, more parts of the UK need to be activated as thriving hubs of innovation, plugged into a national engine.

Connected Places Catapult has first-hand experience working with place leaders to revitalise the innovation infrastructure and unleash new regional prosperity.

Since 2016, our team has partnered with public and private sector place leaders across the Belfast city region to align regional assets and activate a new innovation cluster – a forerunner of the Innovation Accelerators announced for Glasgow, Greater Manchester, and the West Midlands. The Belfast story is a powerful example of what can be achieved when public, private and academic leaders come together around a shared vision and strategy to achieve science and innovation-led levelling up. The resulting City Region Deal secured £500 million in public and private investment for the region’s innovation infrastructure, with a forecast impact of £2 billion GVA and 10,000 new jobs.

Drawing on this experience and a comprehensive review of other innovation hubs around the world, Connected Places Catapult has distilled the key ingredients and steps needed to seed, scale, and sustain hubs as flourishing drivers of regional value:

• The Hubs of Innovation Global Report[2] explores what pre-existing demand drives place-based innovation and examines the requirements of infrastructure, leadership and investment that fit the geography of an aspiring place of innovation.
• The Hubs of Innovation Playbook[3], developed in partnership with the UK Innovation Districts Group, is the culmination of analysis by globally recognised experts in innovation hubs, drawing on the experience of more than 30 global innovation clusters in order to understand the demand, pre-conditions, location requirements, and interventions or catalysts that enabled places to host successful innovation economies across different formats and scales.

Inclusion and diversity are important themes in sparking widespread innovation activity. During Britain’s Industrial Revolution, a time when Britain demonstrably was a Science, Engineering, and Innovation Superpower, it was often those who had been variously at the social, political, economic and geographic peripheries such as Quakers and other non-conformists (who were once excluded from traditional professions, Oxbridge, and public office) who: especially embraced innovative enterprise; helped fuel an outpouring of new ideas; and sometimes worked to build local social inclusion by addressing the iniquities of the industrial revolution that they themselves were a part of. They were amongst those who contributed to the emerging cities and other industrial areas where they were based, in their becoming social, political, and economic centres of power and influence which could not be ignored by central government or wider society.

The central role of these places in helping to define every aspect of modern Britain was overshadowed by the subsequent centralisation of power and influence during the world wars and afterwards. Whilst decentralisation is an essential ingredient of 21st century levelling up, the reverse seems to have been the case with the 20th century’s interwar and post war emphasis on concentrating power in Whitehall through central economic planning, sometimes at the expense of local government and local economic autonomy. The restrictive impact on the West Midlands economy of the 1945 Distribution of Industry Act and 1965 Control of Office and Industrial Development legislation, may be a case in point[4]. To reclaim its position as a Science, Engineering, and Innovation Superpower, the UK must take both inspiration and warning from history in building a shared sense of our different journeys and common destination.

In 2018, a research study commissioned by Oxfam[5] suggested that the U.S. was missing out on millions of inventors — “lost Einstein's” – due to inequality of education and access. To become a Science, Engineering, and Innovation Superpower, the UK must work to mobilise all the talent available – diversity and inclusion are economic as well as ethical imperatives. To enable this, with our strategic partners, the UK Innovation Districts Group, Connected Places Catapult recently launched a commission into Inclusive Innovation with outputs due this summer. We are also proud to be associated with the Professor Brian Cox Science Summer School, a growing initiative founded by Lord Andrew Mawson and Professor Cox with St Paul’s Way School, East London that, over the last decade, has offered thousands of secondary school students in the UK the chance to consider STEM careers. Science Summer School is now generating Innovation Platforms in five areas (East London, Northern Ireland, Rotherham, Surrey and Skelmersdale) bringing together business and industry, local schools, public sector, and local entrepreneurs – all focused around Professor Cox's ambition for the UK “to become the best place to do science and engineering in the world.” Public policy should take account of their learnings.

Investments in translational research and innovation ensure that the potential of research investments are realised.

The pathway for core technology R&D activity is often described as a linear process – from the germ of an idea, through research laboratory, trials and testing and finally a valuable commercial product. However, the pathway for systems level adoption and service innovation of these technologies is a much more iterative process, involving the matching of end user needs (market pull) with the art of the technically possible (technology push) through orchestration of regulation, engagement, collaboration and a coherent and aligned set of activities.

Navigating this process is a challenge for innovators: the UK has a vibrant and well-respected academic sector with plenty of exciting, innovating SMEs and a supportive research and innovation funding structure that supports product development and demonstration. Yet we still see innovators struggling to get into their target market and secure investment.

Because translational research and commercialisation support helps speed the application of brilliant British research, at Connected Places Catapult, we work to establish the mechanisms, programmes and networks required to enable the growth of highly productive, innovation ecosystems and to create shorter pathways to market for innovators.

We seek to de-risk innovation activity and R&D investment by ‘programmatising’ the innovation pathway, maximising the chance of success for those investing. We create a safe environment for innovators and market participants to build lasting commercial relationships, while acting as a central body that can apply the right intervention to maximise the chance of success for the innovators and their potential customers. Relationships such as these ultimately lead to investment and growth, as those involved understand the business case for innovation.

To realise its Science, Engineering, and Innovation Superpower ambitions, the UK Government should continue to invest in translational research through existing institutions, such as Innovate UK and the Catapult Network, in order to supercharge translational research and development activity.

We welcome the increase in Government spending on translational research through the uplift to Innovate UK’s core budget, though note that investment in this activity remains lower than many other countries. As Professor Richard Jones has noted, this reality limits private sector R&D investment and the potential economic impact of our genuinely world leading science and research base. Simply put, other countries often offer a more attractive environment for globally mobile private R&D investment. Despite this, Connected Places Catapult has proven effective at leveraging public funding to stimulate private sector investment in R&D through our collaborations with organisations such as Hyundai, Nissan, Vertical Aerospace and Port of Tyne.

Public procurement is an important yet underappreciated tool for stimulating private sector investment in R&D.

Public procurement is unfairly perceived to be a barrier to innovation.

Through our Challenging Procurement programme, which has drawn on sector experts in local government, business, and policy, and our Consortium for Research into Innovative and Strategic Public Procurement (CRISPP) with academic experts in innovation policy at the Universities of Birmingham and Manchester, we have shown that the key issue is not the rules and regulations but the culture surrounding public procurement. Even before the latest procurement reforms come into effect, public buyers have a range of mechanisms available for buying new solutions and services which can spark, rather than douse, innovation.

Despite the popular perception, the UK performed well in a recent European league table for use of innovation-friendly procurement mechanisms. UK examples of innovation-friendly practice include:

• Public buyers in Wales are leaders in the SBRI (Small Business Research Initiative) mechanism. The NHS in Wales recently ran an SBRI seeking ways to reduce the time required to sanitise an ambulance after transporting a patient suspected of having COVID-19. After sifting through responses and undergoing physical trials, the winning supplier reduced the cleaning time from 2 hours, to just 30 minutes.
• The Scottish CivTech programme integrates a pre-commercial, outcomes-based procurement approach with solutions demonstration and business mentoring to foster innovative products and services.
• Supported by Connected Places Catapult, Network Rail used innovation-friendly procurement approaches to reach new suppliers and identify innovative solutions to a series of operational challenges, including trackside safety.
• National Highways recently used a Design Contest to engage suppliers and stimulate innovative solutions to identify and reduce graffiti.

Where research grants, such as the Technology Research Innovation Grants (TRIG) programme which Connected Places Catapult administers for the Department for Transport, are good for advancing R&D through the early stages of development and feasibility testing, procurement-based innovation has the added benefit of having a customer at the end of the process. The serious chance of a commercial contract encourages the private sector to invest in developing solutions to market needs. It also increases the chances of innovative companies securing private investment to undertake R&D; an SME already engaged in commercial dialogue with a potential client is a more attractive investment proposition than one without a clear route to market.

Use of innovation-friendly public procurement by place leaders also has the potential to drive regional levelling up, since it can be the spark that stimulates the formation of an innovation cluster. The creation of the Smart Belfast Framework[6] by city leaders in Northern Ireland, initially outlining five Civic Innovation challenges for the market to solve, can reasonably be cited as a catalyst for the region’s rise to prominence as an innovation cluster since 2016. 47 separate challenges have now been run by the city through the Framework, with 200 firms directly engaged in developing and demonstrating solutions.

The UK public sector buys goods and services worth £362bn annually (16% of GDP). To realise its Science, Engineering, and Innovation Superpower ambitions, the UK Government should seek to increase the volume of goods and services being procured using innovation-friendly processes. This would have the dual benefit of increasing public investment in R&D (in line with the commitment to invest 2.4% of GDP on R&D) and stimulating private sector investment in R&D. To support this change, the UK Government should look to learn from other countries where institutions exist to promote innovation-friendly procurement mechanisms and upskill public buyers in using them. Connected Places Catapult has commissioned research into this and will share it with policy makers and legislators in the coming weeks.

Collaboration and partnering with international partners is vital for solving global problems and advancing the UK’s influence over key innovation agendas.

Just as geopolitical superpowers extend influence beyond their own local geography, so too a Science, Engineering, and Innovation Superpower should cultivate global collaborations which enhance our international standing, shape global innovation agendas, and draw on foreign expertise.

Influence on this scale can be achieved through building strong international relationships and mentoring local talent in our international partners, while setting a strong example in our own domestic practices. However, in utilising the useful ‘Superpower’ term for science, engineering, and innovation, our minds should focus on fostering genuine two-way benefit, reciprocity, and learning, in our related global relationships.

There are many issues that cannot be wholly addressed in isolation, such as climate change, clean air and cyber technology, that the UK is well-placed to lead on. In a time of global upheaval and uncertainty, working together on common challenges builds mutual value and shared destiny. In aspiring to be a Science, Engineering, and Innovation Superpower, the UK should seek to establish international partnerships that drive multi-lateral collaboration on priority global challenges and bolster our soft power.

To support this, Connected Places Catapult has launched the Innovation Twins Programme[7], currently being piloted between Belfast and Sejong, South Korea, to improve opportunities for city-to-city partnerships knowledge-sharing and relationship-building across business, science, and research. The programme pairs cities with areas with complementarity assets and interests to accelerate research and innovation collaborations with the long-term ambition of creating opportunities for bilateral trade and investment and shared socioeconomic prosperity.

If decentralisation is a prerequisite to the UK becoming a Science, Engineering, and Innovation Superpower, how might this be reflected in the institutional evolution of the UK Parliament?

We would invite the Committee to consider whether, in addition to recommendations to government, the Committee itself, perhaps in coordination with House of Commons counterparts, could facilitate a pilot roundtable or similar – convening locally elected place leaders with academic and industry organisations, innovators, and other stakeholders, including Catapult centres, to discuss how they may better work together across the nation.

The remarkable expertise of past and present Members of the Lords Science & Technology Committee could place it in a unique position to contribute with experts in both Houses towards evolving such a national platform for local place leadership, hosted by the UK Parliament which could punctuate e.g., the national yearly calendar. Davos or COP provide similar galvanising moments at global level. Should this be worth further consideration, perhaps aspects of UK Parliament-hosted roundtables for Commonwealth parliamentary leaders in Westminster Hall or the Royal Gallery, could provide useful models.

4 April 2022