Innovation Evidence Review

This evidence review synthesises key research and policy questions related to place-based innovation, focusing on strengthening local innovation ecosystems across the UK. It examines national and local innovation policies, the varying capacities of different places for innovation, lessons from existing interventions, and international examples. The review aims to inform the design of effective place-based innovation strategies by identifying key challenges and opportunities.

Policymakers and researchers should prioritise developing robust frameworks for measuring the impact of place-based innovation policies, conducting comprehensive case studies across diverse regions, and fostering cross-disciplinary collaborations to address local innovation challenges holistically.

“Innovation policies are increasingly ‘shifting away from top-down and centralised approaches towards policies that favour cooperative, multi-actor and often more ‘place-based’ approaches”. Dr Chloe Billing, City-REDI Research Fellow II.

Innovation Evidence Review:

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Please reference this paper as:

Billing, C. (2024). Innovation Evidence Review. The Local Policy Innovation Partnership Hub.

Meet the Author

Dr Chloe Billing

Chloe Billing joined the City-REDI team in November 2016 as a Research Fellow, working on the Urban Living Birmingham Project.

Chloe’s current research explores the routes to developing a regional innovation ecosystem, to better support the transfer of university technologies into key sectors and help grow our local regional economies.

Part of this involves understanding both the challenges that universities are facing with their technology-transfer mechanisms, as well as, the barriers to innovation amongst local firms (such as skills and other productivity constraints).

Chloe is the lead for the innovation theme for the Local Innovation Policy Partnership (LPIP) Hub. She is currently on maternity leave

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Publications

Community Empowerment and Living Heritage in 2026: Community-Owned Culture and Heritage in Local Growth Plans

This briefing paper was written at the advent of the UNESCO 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, and the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill coming into action in the UK. The paper provides an initial provocation as to whether 2026 could provide the strongest mandate yet

Business Cases and Place-Based Funding

This report critically examines the application of the Better Business Case Green Book model by practitioners when seeking to secure past place-based economic development funding. The business case framework is used to appraise and manage the development of an intervention, as set out in the HM Treasury’s Green Book guidance.

Valuing What Matters: Reclaiming Social Value for System Change

This policy brief argues that social value must be reclaimed as a driver of system change rather than reduced to compliance exercises. It outlines a stewardship approach across three dimensions – procurement, governance, and community voice – demonstrating how public spending can serve as anchor investment, align decision-making around a

Collaborative Innovation in Employment Policy: A Liverpool City Region Case Study

This policy briefing explores how the Liverpool City Region has sustained employment policy innovation across decades of national change. Drawing on programmes such as the City Strategy Pathfinder, Youth Employment Gateway, and Households into Work, it shows how trust-based relationships, boundary-spanning roles, and collaborative governance have acted as an ‘invisible

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Local Policy Innovation Partnership Hub

The Local Policy Innovation Partnership (LPIP) Hub seeks to address nationwide issues through local partnership and place.