£2.2 billion RDA budget needs to improve delivery of innovation in the region

There is a growing recognition that how well our country can develop and exploit new ideas will be crucial to the future of both our national and regional economies. This is particularly pressing in the face of ever growing challenges to our international competitiveness.

The BCC's report, The Ideas Business: The Real Innovation Nation, maps out what innovation activity is taking place in the different regions by the business community and England's nine Regional Development Agencies (RDAs).

RDAs have a £2.2 billion budget to spend on a small number of priorities including "encouraging innovation" and "supporting enterprise". A snapshot business survey by the BCC however, found that while 74% of business respondents already invest in research and development, only a third were aware of the current regional support available for innovation.

The report found that while a great deal of activity is undoubtedly taking place and a great deal of public money being spent;

• Innovation policy remains too narrowly focused on science and academia rather than the companies do things better in new ways; and
• Some RDA activity is being duplicated by the private sector, creating unnecessary waste and inefficiency.

The report recommends that suggest several solutions to these problems, which would significantly improve the UK's ability to generate as innovative an economy, specifically:

• National government needs to remove the barriers that restrict a broader, more entrepreneurial approach to regional innovation policy;
• RDAs need to ensure that they add value by minimising duplications with the private sector and developing a better understanding of what local businesses want and need, and;
• Business organisations, such as Chambers of Commerce, need to learn from best practice in terms of supporting and representing private sector innovation.

Commenting on the findings in the report, David Frost, Director General at the British Chambers of Commerce, said:

"Maintaining a culture of innovation amongst UK businesses is essential to the future prosperity of our national and regional economies.  RDAs have significant budgets and it is important that in facilitating innovation, they join-up support with what is really happening in the private sector in their regions. There is a great deal of work to be done here if the goal of embedding a nationwide culture of innovation can be met, and the expertise of the entire business community must be brought to bear in meeting this. ”

Click here to download a copy of the report in PDF format>>

Ends

Media Contact
Sam Turvey
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Notes to Editors

Figure from Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform statistics for RDA Budget 2008-09: http://www.berr.gov.uk/regional/regional-dev-agencies/funding-financial-gov/page20136.html

The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) is the national voice of local business.
The BCC sits at the heart of a powerful nationwide network of Accredited Chambers of Commerce serving business across the UK, which employ over five million people.