Innovation in Cities
The UK’s cities face an unprecedented economic challenge. They need to foster the economic growth necessary to recover from the deepest recession the UK has seen for decades. And they must do this at a time when public spending is dramatically reducing. This is doubly problematic for many British cities. It means far less money will be available to pay for traditional regeneration and economic development projects. But at the same time, it means that cities cannot rely on the expansion of the public sector to provide growth; indeed they will have to rely on the private sector all the more, as the public sector shrinks. The paper Driving Innovation In Cities also references a number of specific Manchester projects that have already demonstrated the value and importance of innovation on a city-region basis – projects coming out of Innovation Manchester such as Manchester Masters and Manchester Fablab, and the Innovation Boardroom amongst others.