urbannovation

Innovation and Cities

Those folks preparing the National Innovation Strategy* could do well to read the reports on innovation and cities from the U.K.'s NESTA (National Endowment for Science and Technology).

They should pay particular interest to the Innovation and the city (pdf) report and the Leading Innovation (pdf) report.

The conclusions sync right into our discussion of the role of cities and the critical role of transportation in building a competitive economy:

Here's an extract from the conclusions and recommendations:

Urban assets play a critical and under-appreciated role in supporting innovative activity

The urban skills base and specialist labour markets are the most important of these urban assets. Transport connectivity is also important as it enables accessibility – which, in turn, increases the rate of collaboration and networking. Policymakers should:

• Invest in the continued recovery and growth of large urban cores, particularly in transport infrastructure, skills and housing.


• Make skills, transport, physical infrastructure, property and housing key planks of innovation strategies.


• Recognise the links between the built environment, spatial clustering and networking.


• Use design to influence the sustainability and development of spatial clusters.

Could someone help me get that on the agenda?


*-which they so "creatively" dubbed Filipinnovation -hence my riff on the headline of this post

Image credit: Banksy on Chirag's building
by spectraverse