From Research to Productivity: A Systems Analysis of UK Innovation Pathways
- Year
- 2025
Summary
In 2024, the British Academy and the Campaign for Science and Engineering (CaSE) commissioned Cambridge Econometrics to conduct an independent systems-based analysis of the strengths and weaknesses within the UK’s innovation system.
Successive generations of UK innovation and industrial strategy documents have emphasised the key role of quantity and quality of scientific research and researchers but also highlighted challenges associated with turning ideas into solutions for business growth and public good.
The UK’s track record across stages of the innovation system has historically been highly variable. At the time of writing, the Industrial Strategy (HM Government 2024) is the most recent of many reports that call this out explicitly, highlighting a particular weakness in technology adoption.
Overcoming these challenges requires a better understanding of innovation systems and the nature of links between innovation and economic performance. We need more evidence of the UK’s strengths and weaknesses across the innovation process – from research to commercialisation to adoption – in order to more effectively design and target interventions.
While many studies explore aspects of these questions, there are few that examine performance across the entire process. Furthermore, we know that the UK is more competitive in researching, commercialising, and/or adopting some technologies than others. Yet we have little comparative evidence of these advantages and disadvantages, which has limited the development of explanations and mitigating strategies.
This independent report by Cambridge Econometrics seeks to fill this gap by analysing UK performance across the innovation pathways of ten key technologies, selected for a combination of variety and relevance:
- Agricultural gene editing
- Artificial intelligence
- Industrial robotics
- Innovative galleries
- Mobile technologies
- Modern supply-side economics
- mRNA vaccines
- Offsite construction
- Quantum technologies
- Semiconductors
These case studies highlight the importance of targeted innovation policy for specific technologies and innovation pathways in order to generate economic growth and societal value.