Innovative clusters and comptitive cities in the UK and Europe

Cities trying to create clusters of innovative companies and thereby foster urban prosperity need two key things, according to new ESRC-funded research - the right highly-qualified technical workforce and firms which function nationally and internationally as well as locally.

Findings from the ESRC�s Cities Programme might have implications for the current strategy administered through the Regional Development Agencies. This strategy is concerned with helping to create local clusters of linked economic activity.

In addition to highlighting these two key requirements for success, the research also emphasises how important the quality of life offered by cities is in attaining and retaining the right quality of labour upon which to build innovative companies.

The study was carried out in five European cities: London, Paris, Amsterdam (capital cities), Milan and Stuttgart (regional capitals). It differed from most research into innovative clusters by concentrating on the firms that were successful in being innovative. It also identified the geographical and support factors which helped to make these firms innovative, rather than comparing the successful ones to the unsuccessful ones.

In taking the five sample cities, each with very successful clusters, the study was setting out to find �how la cr�me de la cr�me of innovative firms are supported by their urban locations�. Participating companies were chosen on the basis that they had each won an EU or local award for innovation. The first survey was followed by a fuller sample from the London Metropolitan region of firms which had won awards. The total European sample was 160 companies. This was followed by interviews with 128 award winners in the London region.

Professor James Simmie and his team say: �A major reason for the geographic concentration of local, knowledge-based innovation systems is the relationship between the need for highly-qualified professional technical labour and the combination of economic opportunities and quality of life factors which appeal to this kind of labour, giving cities the ability to innovate in the global economy�.

London shows particular strength in this area, with highly-educated labour, access to international knowledge and experience, good opportunities for face-to-face contact with similar people in other leading centres, and a long history of succeeding as an international trading city.

The advantages which are common to all five cities include:

 sophisticated education and training systems (universities, research institutions, technology transfer, technical training)

 high speed and capacity telecommunications systems

 international airports

Innovative firms were observed to be working with other regions and at an international level as well as locally. This concept of �trading� was important in developing relationships between suppliers and the firm and particularly in enhancing customer and client links. Good local conditions were a factor in bringing a huge range and variety of possible �best practice suppliers� within reach. Innovative companies were shaped by competitors, which were seen as a source from which the companies could learn.

Competitors tended not to be in the local area but were national or international - which was where good transport and communications within the city came into their own. There were differences between the capital and the regional cities to the extent that local factors - suppliers, education and technology transfer institutions - were found to play important parts in the innovation systems of Lombardy and Baden-Wurtenberg, the regions surrounding Milan and Stuttgart. But these regional cities share with the other cities the need to attract, recruit and retain labour to provide �pools of specialists�.

For further information, contact Professor Simmie in the School of Planning at Oxford Brookes University. Tel: 01865-483450 Email: jsimmie@brookes.ac.uk Or, Lilian El-Doufani or Lesley Lilley in ESRC External Relations on 01793-413032 or 01793-413119 Or, Gill Saunders or Lucy Davies in the press office at Oxford Brookes University on 01865-484858

Notes to editors

1. More detail on the Competitiveness and Cohesion project: innovation clusters and competitive cities in Europe can be found at www.brookes.ac.uk/schools/planning/esrccity.html The purpose of the project, which ran between 1998 and 2000 was to examine and understand why innovative firms tend to concentrate in a limited number of city regions. It was based at the School of Planning, Oxford Brookes University, with co-fundholders at the University of Reading and University College London. An important aspect of the project was the close involvement of a user group of policy-makers and consultants from around the south-east region, including representatives from the DTI, government offices and county councils. The project was funded by the ESRC�s �3.5 million programme of research on Cities, Competitiveness and Cohesion. Visit the programme�s website at http://www.livjm.ac.uk/cities

2. The ESRC is the UK�s largest funding agency for research and postgraduate training relating to social and economic issues. It has a track record of providing high-quality, relevant research to business, the public sector and government. The ESRC invests around �46 million every year in social science research. At any time, its range of funding schemes may be supporting 2,000 researchers within academic institutions and research policy institutes. It also funds postgraduate training within the social sciences, thereby nurturing the researchers of tomorrow. The ESRC website address is http://www.esrc.ac.uk

3. REGARD is the ESRC�s bibliographic database accessible via the World Wide Web. The website can be found at http://www.regard.ac.uk