This briefing introduces you to the “Improving Inclusive Innovation Outcomes” (i3o) programme – the issues we are trying to address, how we do
it, where and with whom we are working, our preliminary findings to date, and how you can get involved in the future.
At its core, Inclusive Innovation is an approach to development and change that enables local businesses and communities to participate in and benefit from innovation-led growth.
Ambitious places use Science, Technology, Research and Innovation (STRI) strategies to deliver growth – often focused on Innovation Districts (IDs) and other nodes of activity in their urban eco-system. However, too often, STRI-led growth can increase inequalities and polarisation in the cities and neighbourhoods where it is located.
Policy and decision makers are increasingly concerned to deliver inclusive growth but often struggle with the inclusion dimensions of innovation. Contested definitions and limited accessible, tested policy development and delivery management tools and frameworks can inhibit or distract from making STRI programmes in general and IDs in particular, inclusion rich. i3o’s approach helps local leadership teams design, develop,
deliver, measure, monitor, and evaluate inclusive innovation priorities and projects.
The i3o team works with local partners to help places and particularly their IDs to:
• Agree their place-based ID definition of Inclusive Innovation – what outcomes they are trying to achieve, how the benefits of their success can be distributed more fairly, and what agency and influence local businesses and communities will have
in this process.
• Utilise and tailor proprietary inclusive innovation tools and frameworks to determine local strategic priorities and choices for inclusion-rich development. The i3o team facilitates the process with case study research, stakeholder discussions, deliberative workshops and participant round tables.
• Produce a report with actionable insights for future policy and programme delivery specific to the context of the place, its role players and particular institutional arrangements, augmented with relevant insights garnered from across the world.
• Participate in and benefit from knowledge exchange and learning in the wider i3o Community of Practice with other case study places and i3o collaborators.
i3o is currently working with four participating cities, with ‘pathfinder’ institutions from each city as core i3o partners.
Newcastle, UK: Initially focused on Helix ID and now the new Health Innovation Neighbourhood (HIN) and wider North East Combined Authority region.
Pittsburgh, US: Focused on Hazelwood Green ID as a driver and enabler of city region reinvention and inclusive growth.
Medellín, Colombia: From inclusion insights on Ruta-N ID’s role in post-conflict turnaround to how it will evolve in the city’s recent wider STI designation.
Belfast, Northern Ireland: A counterpoint city to Medellin using STRI as a key growth driver which needs to reinforce post-conflict community cohesion.
Future i3o participants can exchange experience and adapt how these cities have used i3o tools and frameworks to generate meaningful impacts for your specific challenges. i3o is a contributor to many leading academic and practitioner institutions in inclusive innovation globally. We have been commissioned to produce a policy book and academic article for the Regional Studies Association and are working with partners at the UK
Innovation Districts Group, the Connected Cities Catapult (UK), the Global Innovation Districts Group and the Brookings Institute (USA). We regularly present our work at local and international conferences, events and forums.
Whilst all i3o collaborations are tailored for the specific place, several consistent takeaways are relevant across all our partner cities:
