Exploring the foundations of place based innovation: lessons from a spectrum of UK clusters

Work produced as part of the Innovation Caucus.

This report is part of a series related to the Understanding Cluster Growth Potential project.

The report builds on the foundation of previous research and methodology and asks specifically a) what has worked well in cluster development policies, b) what the role of the public sector has been, and c) how cluster policy thinking might be evolving. This project draws on a set of five cases – Harwell Space, Midlands Ceramics, Manchester Fashion Tech, West Midlands Advanced Materials, and Humber Net Zero – these cases were selected in conversation with UKRI to fill some gaps in the cluster knowledge base that were not covered by the previous projects.  These cases alongside the twelve cases from the Understanding Cluster Growth Potential series of projects have been considered to draw out key lessons and actionable insights from the UK RD&I ecosystem.