Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps the Government has taken to map the geography of place-based science and research strengths.

This Government has created, and will shortly publish, an interactive digital tool to map the UK’s innovation clusters. The tool is the first of its kind will give investors, researchers and policymakers unprecedented visibility of the UK’s established and emerging science and research strengths and innovation assets. By providing investors and others with more insight into the breadth of innovation strengths and opportunities that exist right across the UK, this tool will support our ambition to drive more investment into the UK’s clusters of R&D and Innovation excellence.