Centre for Innovation Policy Research

We co-create knowledge through collaborative research on innovation which contributes to place-based policy development across Wales and the world.

We conduct policy-relevant research on creativity, innovation and the economy alongside collaborators from organisations across the public, private and third sectors in the UK and internationally.

Our research has a particular focus on the spatial and place-based nature of innovation. We promote sustainability and responsible innovation when identifying and developing policy-relevant research findings.

Amcanion

We develop distinctive and impactful research that builds from an inter-disciplinary base of expertise and deploys multiple methods to analyse and inform innovation policy development. Our activities include:

Conducting high-quality research
Producing research outputs
Generating research income
Promoting knowledge exchange and collaboration on innovation policy
Building networks to encourage policy-relevant research on innovation
Informing policy development in Wales, the UK and internationally.

We develop evidence-based understanding of the development, delivery and outcomes of innovation policy, broadly drawn but with a particular how focus on place-based activity.

For example, we are interested in how regional actors can rebuild their economies through innovative, place-based approaches to economic development.

This might include analysis of new approaches centred on, for example, the leveraging of public procurement, the use of innovation policies to promote economic activity such as city deals, challenge prizes and small business research initiatives, and the role of higher education institutions in economic development and regional innovation (see Morgan K, Marques P. 2019. The public animateur: Mission-led innovation and the 'smart state' in Europe. Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society. 12(23): 179-193).

In examining the complex non-linear dynamics of innovation policy in practice, our research builds on the multi-disciplinary expertise of CIPR’s members.

For example, our previous research has drawn on work addressing complex adaptive systems and the ‘inhabited institutions’ perspective in organization theory.

The Centre’s future research will also draw on institutional theories of organizational change to examine how policy innovation produces practice change and how these are promoted and sustained (see Bristow G, Healy A. 2014. Building resilient regions: Complex adaptive systems and the role of the policy intervention. Raumforsch Raumordn, 72: 93-102; Delbridge R, Edwards T. 2013. Inhabiting institutions: Critical realist refinements to understanding institutional complexity and change. Organization Studies, 34(7): 927-947).

We are also interested in partnering with policy makers and public sector bodies in the delivery of innovation policy through action research approaches.

Cyhoeddiadau dethol

Crawley, A. , Delbridge, R. and Munday, M. 2020. Selling the region: The problems of a multi-agency approach in promoting regional economies. Regional Science Policy and Practice 12 (3), pp.397-412. (10.1111/rsp3.12268)
Morgan, K. and Webb, B. 2020. Googling the city: in search of the public interest on Toronto's 'Smart' waterfront. Urban Planning 5 (1), pp.84-95. (10.17645/up.v5i1.2520)
Coenen, L. and Morgan, K. 2020. Evolving geographies of innovation: existing paradigms, critiques and possible alternatives. Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift / Norwegian Journal of Geography 74 (1), pp.13-24. (10.1080/00291951.2019.1692065)
Soroka, A. et al. 2020. Measuring regional business resilience. Regional Studies 54 (6), pp.838-850. (10.1080/00343404.2019.1652893)
Marques, P. et al., 2019. Spaces of novelty: can universities play a catalytic role in less developed regions?. Science and Public Policy 46 (5), pp.763-771. (10.1093/scipol/scz028)
Waite, D. and Morgan, K. 2019. City deals in the polycentric state: The space and politics of Metrophilia in the UK. European Urban and Regional Studies 26 (4), pp.382-399. (10.1177/0969776418798678)
Prokop, D. , Huggins, R. and Bristow, G. 2019. The survival of academic spinoff companies: An empircal study of key determinants. International Small Business Journal 37 (5), pp.502-535. (10.1177/0266242619833540)
Morgan, K. and Marques, P. 2019. The public animateur: Mission-led innovation and the 'smart state' in Europe. Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society 12 (23), pp.179-193. (10.1093/cjres/rsz002)
Webber, D. J. , Healy, A. and Bristow, G. 2018. Regional growth paths and resilience: A European analysis. Economic Geography 94 (4), pp.355-375. (10.1080/00130095.2017.1419057)
Bristow, G. and Healy, A. 2018. Innovation and regional economic resilience: an exploratory analysis. Annals of Regional Science 60 , pp.265-284. (10.1007/s00168-017-0841-6)
Morgan, K. , Munday, M. and Roberts, A. 2017. Local economic development opportunities from NHS spending: evidence from Wales. Urban Studies 54 (13), pp.3138-3156. (10.1177/0042098016658248)
Morgan, K. 2017. Nurturing novelty: Regional innovation policy in the age of smart specialisation. Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy 35 (4), pp.569-583. (10.1177/0263774X16645106)
Sensier, M. , Bristow, G. and Healy, A. 2016. Measuring regional economic resilience across Europe: operationalising a complex concept. Spatial Economic Analysis 11 (2), pp.128-151. (10.1080/17421772.2016.1129435)
Morgan, K. J. 2016. Collective entrepreneurship: the Basque model of innovation. European Planning Studies 24 (8), pp.1544-1560. (10.1080/09654313.2016.1151483)
Bristow, G. and Healy, A. 2015. Crisis response, choice and resilience: insights from complexity thinking. Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society 8 (2), pp.241-256. (10.1093/cjres/rsv002)
Delbridge, R. and Edwards, T. J. 2013. Inhabiting institutions: Critical realist refinements to understanding institutional complexity and change. Organization Studies 34 (7), pp.927-947. (10.1177/0170840613483805)
Mariotti, F. and Delbridge, R. 2012. Overcoming network overload and redundancy in interorganizational networks: the roles of potential and latent ties. Organization Science 23 (2), pp.511-528. (10.1287/orsc.1100.0634)
Kasabov, E. and Delbridge, R. 2008. Innovation, embeddedness and policy: evidence from life sciences in three UK regions. Technology Analysis & Strategic Management 20 (2), pp.185-200. (10.1080/09537320801931671)
Edwards, T. J. , Delbridge, R. and Munday, M. C. R. 2007. A critical assessment of the evaluation of EU Interventions for Innovation in the SME sector in Wales. Urban Studies 44 (12), pp.2429-2448. (10.1080/00420980701540960)
Edwards, T. J. , Delbridge, R. and Munday, M. C. R. 2005. Understanding innovation in small and medium-sized enterprises: a process manifest. Technovation 25 (10), pp.1119-1127. (10.1016/j.technovation.2004.04.005)

Cardiff Capital Region Challenge Fund

CIPR is partnering with Y Lab and the Cardiff Capital Region to develop and deliver a Challenge Fund. The purpose of the CCR Challenge Fund programme is to create commercial opportunities for companies, who are invited to propose solutions to major societal challenges identified through a competitive process by public bodies. The £10m Challenge Fund programme will run over three and a half years and includes £2m provision for research, management and operational activities that will be undertaken by CIPR and Y Lab in partnership with the CCR.

The Challenge Fund programme offers an opportunity for CU researchers to shape and develop a challenge fund initiative, undertaking primary research that informs the development of new policy and practice in the operation and delivery of the fund, while inputting to the practical application of research that contributes to public services innovation. This builds on the previous work of CIPR’s co-convenors and Y Lab and anticipates future opportunities as challenge funds are increasingly part of policy approaches to economic development and innovation.