Recommendation 7

HM Government Acknowledged

The government partially agrees with the recommendation and strongly agrees with the principle of tracking impact of R&D locally. We are strengthening transparency and providing insights on regions and clusters across our R&D investments. Firstly, we publish regional data through UKRI’s annual publication of regional funding allocations using ONS International Territorial Levels (ITL), alongside project level data available via the Gateway to Research portal (public database of UK-funded research projects). We will continue to improve this data to increase its utility for local partners and other stakeholders. Secondly at cluster level, DSIT’s published Innovation Clusters Map provides a consistent view of UK innovation clusters and includes firm-level data to support analysis of funding and activity within and across clusters and there will be future annual updates to continually improve it with new data. Work is ongoing with delivery partners to improve the availability and consistency of regional R&D data, including data relevant to innovation ecosystems and local economic strengths. We are delivering this because we strongly agree with the Committee that quality data on the geographic distribution and impact of public R&D funding is essential. Thirdly, we will continue to strengthen data capability across government in order to have a more complete view of where R&D investment is being delivered. We will ensure that the government’s internal data on R&D spend captures where spend is happening, allowing us to have a clear view on where R&D is delivering impact in line with the Committee’s recommendation. This complements the existing Government Research and Development Survey (GovERD) Official Statistics publication reporting UK government R&D expenditure and activity, with geographic breakdowns at International Territorial Level 1 (ITL1) regional level as reported in the GovERD 2023 data (ONS, 2025). On the Committee’s recommendation around impact tracking, our approach is that each place-based R&D intervention is supported by tailored monitoring and evaluation frameworks already. This continues to be central to the delivery of place-based programmes such as the Innovation Accelerator Pilot, which had an evaluation strategy agreed with local partners, which is informing the evaluation of the new £500 million Local Innovation Partnerships Fund – the largest ever place-based innovation programme. We are using these insights to support R&D funding across the UK. On diffusion and take up, we agree these are important outcomes, though more complex to measure consistently at firm level and fine geography. Nevertheless, there are a number of data sets we already use to inform our innovation policy. Nationally, the UK Innovation Survey provides regular evidence on adoption trends, complementing the firm-level and project- level funding data available through the Gateway to Research portal. More recently, DSIT has also published findings from the Innovation Diffusion and Adoption Survey. In line with our overall approach to data, new collection methods and information management systems are likely to be needed. We will take a considered and holistic view of data improvements and continue to refine it over time, recognising that we must strike a sensible balance between data collection and the administrative burden this may impose on funding recipients.