New data collaboration to drive investment in innovation

The Data City has supported a new collaboration led by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) to help investment in growing businesses by the public and private sectors.

The initiative saw a group of economists and data scientists from Cambridge Econometrics, The Data City, and Innovation Caucus create a free tool to explore the nation's research, development, and innovation clusters on an interactive map. The map displays 3,443 innovation clusters with ten or more enterprises.

Data insight is informing government investment strategy. The government recently announced funding of £100 million for biotechnology initiatives to address global issues and promote economic expansion.

The Secretary of State for Science, Innovation, and Technology, Michelle Donelan, welcomed the Innovation Clusters Map as the next step forward. It provides the most comprehensive picture to date of firm-level innovation activity in the UK. It will help policymakers, investors, and many others better understand, engage with, and invest in the UK's ecosystem.

The UK research, development and innovation (RDI) ecosystem comprises of clusters. The project defined clusters as groups of firms, research capabilities, skills, and related industries that benefit from being based in the same location. The map helps investors, businesses, researchers and local government policymakers explore these clusters.

DSIT uses The Data City's platform and real-time industry classification (RTIC) methodology to produce a fuller picture of the UK economy. Delivered by cutting-edge AI, the platform combines all the data needed in one place, from open data sets and website text to company financials and investment data, to enable users to make impactful discoveries in minutes.

Commenting on the project, Alex Craven, CEO of The Data City, said: "Our RTICs enable the tool to provide a view beyond the traditional sectors by considering companies and industries in the emerging economy. The map provides fantastic insight into firm-level innovation activity across the UK.

"The ambition is to continually enhance the map over time. Combined with local intelligence and insight, it will help investors, policymakers, and others better understand, engage with and invest in the UK's thriving innovation ecosystem. It's a significant multi-agency project that will inform the big decisions to drive innovation and move our economy forward."

DSIT's aim is for the map to support an increase in private investment in innovation clusters and help build on public investment. It will enable clusters to communicate their propositions to investors and have access to the right support to bring them to fruition.

The Innovation Clusters Map debut is available to use for free at https://www.innovationclusters.dsit.gov.uk/