WIREDGOV

The Science, Innovation and Technology Committee today publishes the government’s response to its report, ‘Flying Blind: Innovation, growth and the regions.’

• Read the government response [HTML]
• Report: Flying Blind: Innovation, Growth and the Regions [HTML]

The report identified “major shortfalls” in the government’s approach to tracking and sharing data on its policies to support innovation across the country, making it “impossible” to evaluate these policies and ensure funding is targeted effectively or to measure the economic benefits. 

In its response, the government accepts that reliable, more granular data is essential, but argues that there needed to be a “balance” between improving data collection, and the time and resources required to collect it. 

The government stated that over the next year it would develop “a more robust and joined-up approach” to monitoring innovation clusters but rejected the committee’s calls for a standalone national framework to develop these clusters. It said that this was already addressed through the industrial strategy.  

The government has, however, committed to publishing an updated innovation cluster map and to establishing a portal to connect innovators with public funding.  

While the government agreed that Catapults can and should do more to strengthen their impact on supporting innovation in the regions, it said this should remain “secondary” to their core role, which is focused on the national level. 

The government confirmed plans to introduce an improved approach to measuring Catapult performance ahead of the Catapults’ next funding cycle, which begins in 2028.  

Chair comment

Dame Chi Onwurah, Chair of the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee, yesterday said:  

“Delivering innovation driven growth across our country is a key goal for this government. I welcome their response to our report, which has input from multiple departments, reflecting the cross-cutting importance of research and innovation. It’s encouraging that several of our recommendations have been accepted, and that the government has recognised that better data is essential. 

“However, I'm disappointed that the government has declined to create a separate national framework to monitor and evaluate the development of innovation clusters. It seems unable to effectively measure its investment in this area and its impact. A national framework would help develop a stronger evidence base – without them, it’s difficult to see how the government can be confident that its policies have the intended impact. 

“The government says that it wants to leverage ‘at least £3 of private investment for every £1 of public investment’ and that UKRI is working to standardise the recording of private sector leverage across its portfolio. This is a welcome commitment, but without better data and more granular evaluation, the title of our report – flying blind – will remain an all too accurate reflection of the government’s approach to supporting regional innovation”. 

Further information

• About Parliament: Select committees
• Visiting Parliament: Watch committees