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Research conducted at UCL on innovation and innovation systems in Central and Eastern European countries is rooted in a neo-Schumpeterian perspective rather than in mainstream transition perspectives. This research has impacted policy process and analysis through the lead researcher's extensive participation in high-level advisory activities for international organisations (World Bank, European Commission, UN Economic Commission for Europe, etc.) and national governments in Central and Eastern Europe (Czech Republic, Belarus, Ukraine, Slovakia, Slovenia). This led to significant changes in research policy and funding, e.g. a new call within the European Union's FP7 programme and changed innovation strategies in Slovenia and Belarus.
Governments and international agencies have traditionally understood innovation to comprise the production and marketing of new products or processes that lead to economic growth and which emerge from corporate research and development (R&D) expenditure. The research underpinning this case has shown that innovation is a more complex process than was previously understood and takes different forms in different sectors. It has led the British Government and the OECD to measure, and to collect data on, innovation in new and more sophisticated ways; and to offer new guidance to firms on the factors that drive innovation and the most appropriate forms of innovation in different sectors.
Work undertaken at the University of Manchester (UoM) forms a central plank of the UK Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) `Economics Paper 15' (EP15), and provides key support to the growth agenda championed by the Coalition Government (2010-date); with the `Innovation and Research Strategy for Growth' (IRSG) published on 8th December 2011. More explicitly, IRSG prioritises business research and development (R&D) in areas where the UK excels, whilst also seeking to develop a wider UK innovation ecosystem that includes universities alongside key knowledge producers. Impact can be observed in recent developments in R&D investment support, and in the strengthening of stronger programmes and policies to support innovation. The research also features strongly in European Union (EU) research, and within the context of shaping the Australian innovation agenda.
The ESRC Innogen Centre brought together a multiplicity of disciplines for a large 12-year research programme (2002-14) on the impact of regulation on innovation dynamics in the life sciences. Research design promoted interactions between stakeholders to achieve policy impact. Innogen developed a range of tooIs to disseminate research findings and influence policy in Europe, the African Union (AU), Kenya, Qatar and at the OECD. We used secondments and temporary placements to achieve impact, as well as more traditional activities and outputs, resulting in major policy impacts in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
The integrated conceptual framework developed (1993-) by Martin Fransman has influenced the way policy makers, regulators and analysts understand the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector — the most important driver of productivity and global economic growth since 1945. It has improved their appreciation of how innovation happens, while explaining why different countries and companies have been winners/losers as the sector has evolved under conditions of globalisation. His framework has been used to formulate integrated development policies in telecommunications and science & technology in the UK, Brazil, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam, and has guided the construction of global innovation ecosystems by several Japanese companies.
The promotion of innovation adoption in high-tech small firms (HTSFs) has long been a European priority, but despite decades of attention, there is still a dearth of innovative HTSFs and, worryingly low participation levels of HTSFs in European R&D and innovation funding programmes. To capitalise on emerging high-tech markets it is imperative that HTSFs have the capacity to exploit these new opportunities and crucially, to contribute to the development of a modern economy. This multidisciplinary impact case investigates how to encourage the involvement of HTSFs in European funding projects. The impact of this research includes; methods for promoting the adoption of high-tech innovation across Europe and the development of European HTSF innovation and R&D funding policy recommendations that feed into the European Parliament, Horizon 2020 and numerous national and European high-tech associations and influential EC innovation networks.
Open University (OU) research into private sector investment and innovation processes in Africa and their equity implications has achieved wide national and global reach. The research has had direct impact on the health and agriculture sectors and in innovation policy, leading to requests for further policy-oriented research, the inclusion of research results into policy and practitioner publications, and direct implementation into policy. It has contributed to the integration of health and industrial policies, and has generated new policy approaches to strengthen health innovation systems, including science capacity building. Through the major Research into Use programme, it has influenced policy processes to improve food security outcomes, and been instrumental in achieving a Digital Emmy award in 2011.
Research by SPRU — Science and Technology Policy Research — at the University of Sussex changed the way in which government records and supports innovative activities and led to new policy measures, including the Innovation Index, the Public Services Innovation Laboratory, the Whitehall Innovation Hub and the Government Annual Innovation Report. These policy initiatives address SPRU's research findings that innovation was previously only narrowly conceived in policy, being seen as an activity driven by commercial R&D. The new policies, which generate benefits in both business and the public sector, are underpinned by SPRU research that revealed areas of innovation in the economy previously ignored, for example in innovation in the public sector and in the creative industries.
Research undertaken at the Centre for Research in Innovation Management (CENTRIM) has demonstrated the company characteristics that contribute to successful innovation. The research provided the core body of knowledge used by the Managing Innovation training programme that has been used by more than 5,000 managers worldwide. The programme presents the findings of research in powerful, accessible and usable ways. It has been adopted by some of the world's most innovative companies, including Medtronic, Cisco Systems and Abbott Laboratories, to stimulate personal development and organisational change. A Managing Innovation train-the-trainer programme has been developed that has provided intensive development for certified trainers and facilitated the roll-out of this programme through Australia, Brazil, Chile, Denmark, Poland, Mexico, Tanzania, USA and Venezuela.
Research at the Centre for Business Research (CBR) contributed to the 2010 Hauser report, which advocated the establishment of Technology Innovation Centres (TICs), and played a central part in subsequent discussions and decisions about the realisation of the report into legislation. This led to the UK government announcing a £200m programme to establish these centres, subsequently termed Catapult Centres. To date, seven Catapult Centres have been established (cell therapy, digital economy, future cities, high value manufacturing, renewable energy, satellite applications and transport) and the policy is set to expand in two further areas, energy systems and diagnostics for medicine. In July 2013, a further £185m was committed to the programme. Private sector funds are intended to bring public and private funding together on the programme to over £1 billion in the next few years.