Science & Innovation Audit Update Note
May 2016Contents
SIAs Summary
An introduction to Technopolis
A short summary of each of the bids taking part in the first wave. An introduction to the advisory panel
National Innovation Plan – how to get involved….
SIAs Summary
The science and innovation audits are designed to map out local research, innovation and infrastructure strengths across the UK and will help identify and build on the potential of every region across the country by better evidencing investment decisions and highlighting opportunities for businesses to tap into.
Five areas were chosen to take part in the first round from 26 applications after a call for expressions of interest launched last November.
Ministers decided, following advice from our advisory panel that the first wave should consist of a small number of consortia and be used to test and refine the methodology being developed by our technical contractors. These five were announced on 16 March in the Budget document.
The consortia are:
Edinburgh and the Lothians City region South West England and South East Wales
The Northern Powerhouse Advanced Manufacturing Corridor (Sheffield City Region and Lancashire)
Greater Manchester and East Cheshire The Midlands Engine
The first wave of audits will pilot the methodology that will be rolled out more
extensively in two further waves. Calls for expressions of interest for these will be opened for 4 weeks in mid-June and November 2016. Methodological details will be shared as wave 1 progresses with interested groups to help future Consortia develop their ideas prior to the second call for expressions of interest.
Introducing Technopolis
Technopolis will act as the Technical Contractor for the first wave of Science and Innovation Audits (SIAs). They will provide local consortia with analytical support in order to improve their ability to map specific strengths and identify potential areas of strategic focus.
The SIA reports will be drafted using a common structure and build on a common methodological and analytical framework. However, within this common framework there will be flexibility to reflect the diversity of the consortia’s ideas. Technopolis will provide this common framework and will propose a standard set of indicators so that the consortia can prepare bespoke innovation profiles. Technopolis will also provide recommendations and guidance to consortia.
Technopolis has been in contact with key data holders around Government (including IPO, HEFCE, RCUK and Innovate UK). This has been combined with additional desk research in order to map relevant sources of information. Technopolis has also met with the Smart Specialisation Hub to discuss potential areas of collaboration and the extent to which their place-making group hold data that could be of use for the Audits. Technopolis has conducted preliminary meetings with each of the five Consortia and have proceeded to prepare a draft inception report, which has been circulated to the 1st wave consortia. Following iteration with these consortia the report will be shared more widely with those interested in applying for future rounds.
An overview: Phase 1 March-April 2016 Phase 3 July - September 2016 Phase 2 April-July 2016 Inception meetings with Consortia Deliverable 1: Inception report Interviews with data
providers Inception Meeting
with BIS
Analytical support to five consortia for
the development of their SIAs
Finalising data
aggregation SpecialisaSmart tion Hub meetings Data collection and
aggregation
Five consortia receive feedback on their SIAs and recomendations for improvement Deliverable 2: Final report Deliverable 3: Database
THE FIRST WAVE SIA CONSORTIA – In their own words
Edinburgh and the Lothians Region SIAThe audit in Edinburgh and the Lothians Region will focus on data-driven innovation. With knowledge, culture and technology internationally recognised as areas of strength, the region’s economy is driven by key sectors including informatics and computing, life sciences and health, financial services, creative industries and tourism.
Applications of informatics have already spawned a vibrant digital sector at the heart of the region. Data driven innovation offers further outstanding opportunities for regional growth. With a population of 1.3 million the region represents 30% of the Scottish economy, supporting 600,000 jobs and generating £33 billion GVA per annum. The consortium is led by the University of Edinburgh with a broad range of partners including: the City of Edinburgh Council (in partnership with five regional local
authorities); local digital and data-driven companies from a diverse range of sectors; trade bodies and innovation organisations including ScotlandIS, DataLab, the Digital Health & Care Institute, and Interface, a government backed partnership of all 23 Scottish Universities and Research Institutions. All these partners share a strong
interest in data-driven innovation, and are eager to take this opportunity to highlight the regions strengths.
The South West England and South East Wales SIA
This consortium brings together key organisations and businesses from South West England (Cornwall & Isles of Scilly, Gloucestershire, Heart of the South West, Swindon & Wiltshire, and West of England LEPs) and South East Wales:
Business/Business organisations: including Airbus, Boeing, BroadcomUK, Cray, EDF Energy, General Dynamics, GKN, Gooch & Housego, HiETA Technologies, Huawei, IBM, IQE, Johnson Matthey, Oracle, Renishaw, Rolls Royce, Toshiba; Business West, RegenSW, Science Parks, WEAF.
LEPs/Local Authorities.
Universities: Bath, Bristol, Cardiff, Exeter; Falmouth, Gloucestershire, Plymouth, Royal Agricultural, St Mark & St John, and the West of England.
Research Organisations/Catapults: including Met Office, National Nuclear
Laboratory, Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Rothamsted Research; Catapult Centres: Compound Semiconductor Applications, Future Cities, High Value Manufacturing (National Composites Centre), and Precision Medicine.
Our audit themes are:
Aerospace and Advanced Engineering – aerospace, defence and automotive related materials, structures and propulsion innovation; autonomous systems. New Energy Systems – nuclear, marine-based renewables (tidal, wave, lagoon
Next Generation Microelectronics – semiconductor/photonic materials and devices; systems development.
Digital Living Innovation Platform – integration of real-time data analytics and technology into business and the life of society and the citizen.
Resilience, Environment & Sustainability – capability in weather/climate research and their effects on society and the environment.
The Northern Powerhouse Advanced Manufacturing Corridor (AMCorridor) SIA
This audit will be delivered by a consortium which represents the key innovation partners in the Sheffield City Region (SCR) and Lancashire Local Enterprise
Partnership (LEP) areas (areas that define the Northern Powerhouse AMCorridor). The Consortium includes industry, two components of the HVM Catapult, universities, funders, innovation bodies, and the two LEPs. It is led by Professor Sir Keith Burnett (VC, The University of Sheffield, SCR LEP Board member), and Professor Mark Smith (Vice-Chancellor Lancaster University, Lancashire LEP board member).
The SIA will focus on advanced manufacturing, the advanced engineering that supports it and the research excellence that underpins it. It will also explore the opportunities presented to the UK by a unique co-location of research, innovation and production facilities within the AMCorridor geography.
The SIA will provide data to help all parties interact in better ways to secure new business, increase international trade, and build new industries. It will ask whether linkages between the outstanding science base and industry are strong enough, and will inform new approaches to industrial engagement where the use of the best new technologies is matched by exceptional leadership and management.
The Greater Manchester and East Cheshire SIA
This consortium brings together a group of public sector, private sector and academic partners to cover a functional economic geography sitting at the heart of the Northern Powerhouse.
It covers a population of more than 3 million, with around 100,000 businesses, and GVA of over £60 billion. Such a grouping reflects current and emerging strengths, with the overall aim to drive forward opportunities for further scientific discoveries and innovative breakthroughs in order to support both local and national economic growth. The work undertaken through the audit will be a key factor to help address the gap related to the prosperity, health and productivity of the Northern Powerhouse. The Consortium will be led by the University of Manchester, the Greater Manchester Local Enterprise Partnership, and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority. The audit will focus on the “core strength” areas of Health Innovation and Advanced Materials; as well as the “fast growth opportunities” around Digital, Energy, and Industrial
Biotechnology. It will also consider the synergies and crossover between them. Through the audit partners are keen to maximise opportunities from the Health Devolution deal with national government to address local health outcomes.
The Midlands Engine for Growth SIA
This consortium covers an area which is at the centre of the UK, is the heartbeat of the nation’s economy - home to 11.5 million people and with an economy of £222 billion/ year and annual research expenditure of over £4.25bn. The Midlands Engine has a strong advanced manufacturing base, enhanced by a diversity of sectorial strengths which puts the region in a position to take advantage of economic growth, productivity and skills opportunities. The region is seen as critical to the recovery of the UK
economy - in the last year private sector employment in the Midlands grew three times faster than London and the South East.
This Science and Innovation Audit will cover the whole Midlands Engine for Growth, including 11 LEP regions, 2 core cities, 27 universities and 25 science parks. It will assess strengths and opportunities across all innovation priorities identified in the Midlands Engine for Growth prospectus (December 2015): Manufacturing, Engineering and Transport Technologies; Agri-food and drink manufacturing and production;
Healthcare, Life Sciences and Translational Medicine; Energy and Low Carbon Technologies; Creative, Digital and Design Sector.
A broad audit consortium will draw expertise from across the region and from all relevant sectors as well as ensuring involvement of LEPs, HE, Science Parks, Business, RTO and other partners.
Introducing the Strategic Advisory Group
The Smart Specialisation and SIA strategic advisory group was formed in February 2016 and has an important role advising BIS on Smart Specialisation and innovation policy in England. The group will also advise on the strategy for the Science and Innovation Audits and has already advised BIS on our approach to the first wave of audits. They did not comment on which specific consortia should go forward in the first round. The final decision on the 1st wave consortia was made by ministers as set out in the published call for expression of interest in November.
The panel members are:
Chair: Charlotte Hayes - Deputy Director, Innovation & Place, BIS Stian Westlake - Executive Director of Policy and Research, NESTA;
Professor Stephen Roper – Director of the Enterprise Research Centre and Professor of Enterprise at Warwick Business School;
Professor Roy Sandbach – also Chair of the BIS Smart Specialisation Hub advisory Group, Chair of the Innovation Board of the North East LEP, President-elect of the Royal Society of Chemistry Industry and Technology Division Council, and Director of the National Centre for Ageing Science and Innovation at Newcastle University. Roy is also a former senior Procter & Gamble research and development executive;
Gillian Docherty – CEO of the Data Lab. Gillian has held a range of senior leadership roles at IBM UK, including Leader for Software Business in Scotland and Territory Leader for General Business Scotland. She is on the Board of Tech Partnership Scotland and is also a Board member of the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce; Alexandra Jones – CEO of the Centre for Cities. Alexandra is also a member of the London Stansted Cambridge Corridor Commission and on the Board of the Heseltine Institute at Liverpool University;
Professor Joe Sweeney – Head of Chemical Sciences at the University of Huddersfield and Royal Society Industry Fellow;
Jane Elliott – CEO of the Economic and Social Research Council and former
Professor of Sociology and Head of the Department of Quantitative Social Sciences, at the Institute of Education, University of London;
Professor John Goddard - Emeritus Professor of Regional Development Studies and formerly Deputy Vice Chancellor, Newcastle University; advisor to the European
Commission on Smart Specialisation
National Innovation Plan – how to get involved….
The government is preparing a National Innovation Plan, and we’re asking you to share your expertise and views to help shape it. We have launched a new engagement exercise and value contributions over the next 4 weeks on seven key themes, namely:
How regulators can drive innovation;
How to deliver culture change in public procurement
Getting the UK to the forefront of Open Data opportunities How infrastructure can unlock economic opportunities Creating the best pool of innovation finance
Helping the UK make the most of opportunities offered by challenger businesses
How a strong intellectual property system can drive growth and innovation
We are asking organisations like yours to contribute to the accompanying survey, but equally importantly, to share it using your channels, including social media.