Making innovative places (part three - conclusions)

Concluding thoughts on the first NESTA Summit: Making Innovative Places, held on 12 December at NESTA's head office in London.

Some further observations on the Place Summit we held last week.  Read back for some earlier thoughts on the event.

5.    It’s a jungle out there – John Goddard took issue with the concept of an ecosystem, claiming that in an ‘ordinary region’ (another Benneworth-ism – not as insulting as it sounds), it was less a smoothly-functioning ecosystem and more a policy-strewn jungle.  Looking at the recent roll-call of recent ‘place-based’ initiatives, he might have a point.
  Watch John Goddard's speech (as part of the panel session)   

6.    It’s the people, stupid – the more the researchers and panellists talked about absorptive capacity, about leadership, about innovation beyond science & technology, the more we came back to a common theme: people.  AnnaLee Saxenian is known as the originator of the concept of ‘brain circulation’ in her research into the origins of the growth of Silicon Valley.  Notably, however, innovative people are far away from traditional innovation policy, which touches on them only rarely – such as the carriers of ideas in Knowledge Transfer Partnerships.  When AnnaLee talked about policy, she talked only about the importance of indirect policies (no ‘innovation policy’ in sight) – and in particular about immigration laws and the role of the (previously) most excellent California Community College system.
    See AnnaLee Saxenian's keynote speech 

7.    Crisis, what crisis?  There was, unsurprisingly, some scholarly disagreement during the day.  Paul Benneworth’s work (and that of a team from the Young Foundation in a forthcoming NESTA publication on local social innovation) pointed clearly to the role of crisis in forcing a city or region to get its act together.  This, however, posed a problem for our path dependence specialists, who seemed to imply that a region had very limited ability to change direction, crisis or no crisis.  Ron Martin gave the example of the North West of England in the 19th century which continually failed to adapt to the rise and rise of overseas cloth producers, despite massive mill closures.  I think that the key to unlocking this dichotomy is in a word that Paul used: perception.  The crisis needs to be seen, comprehended and acted upon by the existing regional leaders.  If that’s the case then urgent action can result.  If it’s not, then stagnation and collapse won’t be far away.

My final comment is one of observation and challenge.  Richard Leese talked of a city’s ‘strategic capacity’ in decision-making and leadership.  Charlie Leadbeater observed that Richard himself had over the course of 20 years walked the line between civic boosterism and challenge – something that is often missing in other regional leaders.  The challenge, therefore, is how to develop more regional leaders like that: sophisticated consumers of analysis who are able to take what works, challenge what doesn’t and bring people with them on their regional innovation journey.

What do you think?

Comments

[Rob Hopcott]

Ref: 6. It’s the people, stupid –

In the Exmoor and West Somerset area, I have been pressing the need to make discussions about policy easier between ordinary people and between people and Local Government for many years.

The criticism I get most often is that 'talking about change or regeneration' is not 'doing change or regeneration'.

It is my belief that the more we get people talking together locally about regeneration and social improvement, the more likely we are to identify projects that will enhance our rurally deprived area and they needn't cost millions of pounds.

In the real world, we bring farmers together to create a farmers market. Estate agents gather together in the same part of town to create a market for properties. The City of London is made up of people having financial services in common.

Why should the concept of a 'local ideas market' be so criticised?

Frequently, businesses locate themselves close to motorways because they can achieve more efficient distribution for their products.

Is it too far fetched to imagine that a rural area could create a cyberspace highway to it's door that would be at least as efficient in creating local jobs and regeneration?

The cyberspace highway may be composed of links to like minded people or other thinkers, or it may be a series of related discussion boards concerning local issues, but the beneficial effect in improving average local wages may be the same.

The vital key to success is that every member of the community is actively encouraged to participate in all or part of the regeneration discussion.

I would love to know what you guys think on this issue.