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Catching the wave: harnessing regional research and development to level up

Lookup NU author(s): Liz Shutt

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Abstract

This report seeks to make a contribution to the debate on the role that research and development (R&D) funding could play in supporting the levelling up agenda in the UK. While our argument draws upon many of the insights already developed, here we seek to flip the debate and look at the issues through a different lens. Our starting point is to focus on productivity, how the residual value between inputs, including the input from research and knowledge exchange, affects the outputs in a sector or economy.1 Improving productivity lies at the heart of the challenges faced by so-called ‘left behind places’. There is considerable debate about solving the productivity problem that the UK faces and, we hope, in this report, to offer a contribution to addressing that problem. Hence, unlike other reports, which focus on the importance of research funding and how to allocate it between institutions, we are focusing on issues of place and the needs of our regional economies. In this report we explore how we should improve the impact of research and knowledge exchange to elevate our left-behind places. We set out the drivers behind regional inequality and the characteristics of left-behind places that must be transformed from challenges into opportunities in order to level up. We then examine the role that universities can play in supporting and securing levelling up through research and development activities. The announced uplift in research funding to 2.4 per cent of GDP by 2027 is exciting and welcome but if it is not developed with a place-based ecosystem in mind it will not have the desired impact on inequality or productivity. As the recently published Innovation Strategy has recognised, despite considerable success in research, the UK continues to lag behind many OECD countries in productivity.2 Some of this lag is related to the extent of imbalance between regions. Therefore, our focus is not on research per se, but how research creates innovation that enables enhanced productivity; which in turn should support levelling up left behind places. We argue there are several gaps in this chain within our current system: i. We need to work with (not for) regions to develop a shared, long-term agenda. ii. We can draw on regional assets to set direction. iii. If we want to impact regional productivity we have to deliver effective knowledge translation. iv. If regional transformation is the goal, then the success metrics need to reflect that transformation.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Stuart M, Shutt L

Series Editor(s): Nick Hillman

Publication type: Report

Publication status: Published

Series Title: HEPI Report

Year: 2021

Pages: 72

Print publication date: 21/10/2021

Online publication date: 21/10/2021

Acceptance date: 18/09/2021

Report Number: 144

Institution: Higher Education Policy Institute

Place Published: Oxford

URL: https://www.hepi.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Catching-the-wave-harnessing-regional-research-and-development-to-level-up.pdf

Contents: Foreword by Julia Roberts, Practice Lead, Education, GatenbySanderson 7 Introduction 11 1. Catching the wave, the experiences of San Diego, Lincoln and Värmland 19 2. Working with (not for) regions to develop a shared long-term agenda 33 3. Drawing on regional assets to set direction 39 4. Delivering effective knowledge translation 45 5. Better success metrics 53 6. Implications for the policy and funding environment 57 Endnotes

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