This workshop, held at our Annual Conference in Coventry on 13th October 2008, is the second event on innovation held by the Observatory.
On 4th September 2008 we held a workshop examining issues underlying the measurement of innovation. This yielded some interesting and thought provoking discussions, two of which formed the basis of the workshop at our Annual Conference:
- The importance of networks and the facilitation of the exchange of ideas in delivering successful innovation.
- The role of innovation beyond the commercial environment to incorporate the contribution that the public and third sectors can have on innovation.
The workshop was split into two sessions, each with two presentations. The first presentation outlined the broader perspective on the theme while the second looked at a particular piece of research that has informed the policy discussions.
Innovation Owners Network
In the first session Professor Adrian Cole of Birmingham City University talked about the Innovation Owners Network and how it brings businesses together to promote and deliver collaborative thinking for successful innovation. Download Adrian's presentation (pdf, 1.2mb).
Karl Dalgleish, Director of the workshop sponsors Ekosgen, followed with a presentation on their recent survey research looking at the value to businesses in the region of business networking through the cluster activities delivered through the West Midlands Economic Strategy.
Measuring regional innovation: the challenges
Brian MacAulay spoke briefly in the second session of the workshop on the challenges of measuring regional innovation (ppt, 800kb).
Brian provided an overview of the Observatory's work to support the innovation strategy. This includes analysis on R&D expenditure in the West Midlands and the initial work to estimate a regional innovation index. Brian also highlighted the importance of understanding innovation as an evolutionary process.
Innovation in the public and third sectors
Dr. Barbara Good of the Technopolis Group concluded the workshop. Barbara outlined the findings of research on the role and implications for policy of innovation in the public and third sectors (ppt, 161kb).
She outlined the proposals to NESTA for a survey to identify the level of innovation activity in the public sector which are being actively considered by Government.
The speakers' presentations are available on the downloads tab at the top of this page.