Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to the UK Science and Technology Framework published on 6 March 2023, page 10, how the Government plans to measure the success of the stated outcome of accelerated translation, commercialisation and knowledge exchange through targeted support for local innovation clusters.

Strengthening clusters is a top priority for building our Innovation Nation.  By September, we will publish an interactive digital tool that will map these clusters, helping us attract investment and inform future policy, including measuring the success of policy interventions in growing these clusters.

We are investing £100 million to pilot Innovation Accelerators in three city regions, helping them become major, globally competitive centres for research and innovation, and the government will evaluate the effectiveness of this approach to growing successful innovation clusters. The Investment Zones programme will also catalyse some of the highest potential knowledge-intensive growth clusters.