Fix the basics or risk choking off innovation in UK cities
Date: 10/10/2008A new report from the Centre for Cities is calling for cities - from Bristol to Newcastle - to focus on ‘getting the basics right' as the best way to support innovative businesses.
Innovation has driven economic growth in these cities in recent years. But public sector policies to promote innovation are too narrowly focused on science and technology and have created overlapping business and innovation support services, niche initiatives such as Science Cities or ‘gimmicky' science parks and innovation centres.
A vast number of innovation and support services is confusing for business. Birmingham's manufacturing firms alone must choose from as many as 55 different business and innovation support initiatives across 29 organisations and partnerships in the city.
The best way to support innovation is to make the city as a whole a more attractive place to do business. Overstretched transport links, slow planning decisions and unaffordable housing in Cambridge, Bristol and York are stifling innovation and its related economic benefits, such as higher incomes and new jobs.
Congestion: Greater Bristol is a UK leader in science and technology industries - particularly aerospace. But traffic speeds during peak times in Bristol have fallen by 15.8% over seven years, reducing the city's attractiveness to investors.
Unaffordable housing: Cambridge has established a globally competitive life sciences sector, but the city's residents now need to invest nearly ten times their salary to afford a house in the city (compared to a national average of 7.26 times), limiting the scope for the university and local business to pull in talented researchers and workers.
Slow planning: Whilst available land and smooth planning processes have attracted high tech firms like Microsoft and Cisco to Reading and the Thames Valley, York University has been in planning discussions about a £500 million project to expand their campus for at least ten years - and the formal planning process has taken three and a half years.
The report recommends that:
- Cities and national government need to deliver the right housing stock, better transport links and speedier planning processes to attract and keep innovative businesses and workers.
- National, regional and city governments need to further rationalise an already crowded collection of existing innovation and business support services to better support innovation in cities like Birmingham and Whitehall should drop plans for new ‘partnerships for innovation', which would add to the complexity.
- The government should let the six Science Cities themselves decide what to do with their Science City status - including dropping the brand altogether if they see fit
Hannah Brown, Research Manager at the Centre for Cities said,
"Even at a time of economic uncertainty, innovation is a key ingredient for business growth. But supporting innovation in Britain's cities isn't about gimmicky policy initiatives or niche business schemes.
"Instead, cities need to get the basics right - delivering good transport, better housing and faster planning decisions - to help businesses to innovate and compete. A better business environment in our cities will help the next James Dyson or Anita Roddick emerge."
Notes to Editors
Innovation, Science and the City by Chris Webber is available to download at www.centreforcities.org/innovation
In December 2007, Centre for Cities analysts produced Innovation and the City: How innovation has developed in five city-regions for NESTA.
For more information, please contact:
Rosamund Taylor, Acting External Affairs Manager, Centre for Cities
r.taylor@centreforcities.org / 020 7803 4316 / 07876 175 426
