Recommendation 12

HM Government · verbatim extract Not Addressed

We strongly agree with the Committee that effective innovation policy depends on clear, reliable regional and national data. Action on the Committee’s recommendations is already underway to improve regional reporting, impact tracking and analytical capability across the system. This includes work to enhance the granularity and accessibility of data on public R&D investment, business R&D, innovation activity and outcomes. We will continue to refine our approach to prioritise data that supports action, learning and collaboration across the R&D and innovation system. To track regional innovation and growth we will continue to develop innovative tools and insights. DSIT’s Innovation Clusters Map, which we refreshed in 2025, provides the most comprehensive national assessment of UK innovation clusters, bringing together data on research, business activity, investment and skills. Over the next year, the actions we will take to do this include: • Improving the granularity and transparency of regional and cluster data. • Developing metrics to monitor clusters’ performance over time, co- developing these with local leaders. • Ensuring robust monitoring and evaluation of the Local Innovation Partnerships Fund. Aligning all the above with the Innovation Clusters Map through its annual update cycles. While gathering better data and insights is an important goal, it is important to recognise the technical and methodological challenges involved, particularly in attributing local economic impact and capturing complex innovation dynamics. Similarly, we should recognise that better data often requires new or expanded collection methods and information management systems, which can take time and resource to implement.