Creating an inclusive innovation ecosystem for London: Part 1
By Ahmad Bismillah (GLA), Christos Grammenos (IIPP) & Lidia Piccinino (IIPP)
In April 2022, UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP) MPA students entered the University of Oxford’s Said Business School’s “Map the system” competition, exploring London’s innovation ecosystem and the role of the Greater London Authority (GLA) as a policy-making organisation and the Mayor’s interventions to build a fairer, sustainable and prosperous city. This three-part IIPP-GLA collaboration will provide critical reflections and practical policy recommendations; illustrate innovation in policy; and how collective action can make London’s innovation ecosystem cleaner, equitable and inclusive.
As Britain’s foggy haze clears in a post-Brexit and post-pandemic era, the country lurches to find some political and economic stability, while facing the longest recession since records began. The energy crisis, rising inflation, job losses and increased uncertainty negatively impact an economic system and societal well-being, but innovations could shift power and prosperity.
An accelerated effort to improve the capital’s regressive relationship between innovation leadership and prosperity could create a new wave of innovation producers from London’s women and 40% of Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) Londoners, as well as 37% of Londoners not born in the UK..
The positive perception that innovative societies have better well-being, improved life satisfaction and economic prosperity (OECD,2021) is dismantled by London’s ‘Innovation Paradox’. The paradox is London’s contradictory state of being the city with the highest productivity in the UK and the second most innovative globally, while at the same time, having the lowest life satisfaction in the country (Institute for Government, 2022). Underlying that is that there is no correlation between economic capacity and well-being. A deep analysis of this ‘paradox’ will be presented in the following blogs of the series.
Whilst regional authorities and councils have limited ability to intervene directly, the recent demonstration of Liz Truss’s macroeconomic plan, dubbed “Trussonomics” — a regressive tax-cutting scheme to foster economic growth, in the spirit of Thatcherite supply-side economics — and its failure, suggests governmental policy can actually change markets and mindsets, against the neoliberal assumption.
This blog will examine interactions between different stakeholders to rethink and reframe an innovation ecosystem that creates value through public policy. There will be insights and practical recommendations for policymakers and other stakeholders on how inclusive design can transform local innovation capacity to create sustainable growth for all.
The (Economic) Crown
As the world’s fourth richest city, London’s 9 million+ residents are ordered into the City of London and 32 boroughs. The governing authority of London, the Greater London Authority (GLA), with the elected Mayor of London serving as its Chief Executive, manages the 1,572 km2 area which contributes over 22% to the national economy.
With London being the most productive region in the UK, it surprisingly suffers from the lowest life satisfaction. Inequality of income may be a factor, with the richest 10% having an income 10 times higher than the poorest 10% (Centre for London, 2021). On average, poverty in London is proportionally higher (27%) than it is at the national level (22%). A deep dive into the data suggests gender and race are contributors, with women (29%) and global majority communities (39%) being affected more than their white male counterparts.
“All that glisters is not gold”
London’s diverse population appear to only reap benefits as consumers, compounding the ever-widening income gap. To shift perceptions and power, women-led startups need to receive more funding. In 2020, this group received only 2.3% of Venture Capital Funding.
Within the capital, five inner-London boroughs are among 20 local authorities with the worst subjective well-being outcomes in England in 2021: Islington, Camden, Southwark, Hackney, and Lewisham. With London’s global majority community making up large parts of those population centres, this group is most at risk of being affected by the rising inflation, energy crisis and highest costs.
Inclusive innovation can bring new solutions to existing and new problems, bridging productivity and poverty. In this sense, we define Inclusive innovation as a multi-actor approach to innovation that brings diverse perspectives together to actively define, understand and solve challenges experienced in the local context, using a range of tools and knowledge, and creating and sharing value as an integral part of the process. The GLA can evolve to fill this gap by fostering cross-sectoral and bottom-up innovations and integrating policy innovations to deliver the Mayor’s commitment to improve the mental, physical, social and economic well-being of the city and its citizens. For instance, in Designing London’s Recovery, the GLA funded the charity organisation, Sustrans, to explore and propose a blueprint to make London streets and neighbourhoods more accessible for children. Sustrans was originally set up in Bristol in 1977 to tackle car dominance in cities, and now also acts as custodian of the UK’s National Cycle Network.
Incidentally, the Mayor of London has published an open call for innovators with ideas for preventing poverty. If you have a solution or an idea, apply here.
Tapping into talent
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) points out innovation policies have a twofold effect on local economies. Firstly, they potentially boost the capacities and opportunities of disadvantaged groups to merge into research and entrepreneurship activities. Secondly, local innovation policies can result in new products and services addressing the needs of underserved social groups.
Evidence demonstrates that inclusive organisations can promote cohesive social fabric and achieve long-term economic growth. Considering the socio-economic, socio-spatial and socio-technical implications, the GLA’s overriding focus across all policy areas should rest on three pillars of a thriving innovation ecosystem, inclusion, collaboration and sustainability.
The GLA has the potential to play a unique role in implementing design-led policies or adopting a missions-orientated approach, like the Mayor’s Recovery Missions, to de-risk investments and create value to shape tomorrow’s markets.
Creating solid foundations
Defining what works for Londoners should be at the heart of inclusive policy making. The London Office of Technology & Innovation (LOTI), an organisation created by London councils, offers a useful starting point. Looking at New York and a few Nordic countries, a first-step in defining innovation can fuse the social and economic benefits to systematically address sector failures and improve by designing better outcomes for Londoners.
A follow-up step would be to design a framework to address sector failures, by taking measurable steps to build a culture of inclusion and collaboration. The diffusion of power to create and improve value for money with partners, stakeholders and citizens involved can invigorate the city to be participatory change makers across the public, private and third sectors.
Reframing old chestnuts
As the UK’s capital since 1066 and crowned in a mythical halo, London is seen as elitist, expensive and inaccessible. Despite being a net contributor of nearly £40 billion to HM Treasury, policymakers are routinely challenged by London’s prowess in comparison with the rest of the UK’s towns, cities and shires, much maligned for attracting resources, brainpower and business to the seat of British politics.
This difference will only increase in a post-Brexit world. Contextually, the devolution of power and accountability directly leads to improved participation in economic growth for people and businesses, as policymakers are afforded flexibility to innovate.
Given the evidence, a persistent and exorbitant inequality in the UK’s capital will have significant repercussions on the well-being of the most vulnerable segments of the society but will also undermine Britain’s economic performance. Conversely, highlighting London as a global player will bolster the region’s capacity to surpass the UK government’s determinism and encourage external funding and partnership opportunities.
The right to govern, align and lead innovation to collectively deliver physical, social, economic and mental well-being for London remains untapped. A thriving, inclusive innovation ecosystem where production and export of services, products and technologies from its diverse population will enable further growth. Already rubbing shoulders with innovative cities like Tokyo, Seoul, Beijing, Paris and San Francisco, the city has the potential to become the world leader in the startup ecosystem according to the The Global Startup Ecosystem Report (GSER), an annual ranking about startups and innovation ecosystems, where London was considered the world’s second most innovative city in 2021.
Root and branch
Policymakers must establish partnerships, develop capacity and harness the potential of Londoners to develop innovative approaches and solutions. The oppositional political elements of City Hall and Westminster and consequential effects on central government funding arrangements have not made for easy bedfellows, but partial devolution and crises presents opportunities to improve sector collaboration and citizen outcomes.
Increased central government funding should be tied to the creation of realistic targets to improve management and direction of financial resources, while the formalisation of a chief innovation officer role would create continuity of leadership and staff. An outcome-focused innovation strategy where the focus is on the product or the service itself will attract partnerships and enable cross-sectoral work.
Unlike the private sector, the electoral cycle and the reactionary nature of policymakers impedes sustainable growth. Shifting to a human centred, design-led approach and employing systems thinking can create certainty of investment bringing sustained impact.
Shifting truth to (local) power
Partnerships with academia can infuse the existing innovation capacity of GLA with additional capacities, skills and positive feedback loops. The role of the capital’s academics can add value to the policymaking process by validating the impact of policies and facilitating knowledge transfer.
Despite the constrained funding means of the GLA, IIPP MPA students aspire to shift the balance from producers to sharers of resources to improve the problem-solving capacity of GLA policymakers, identifying gaps, intervention points and segments of population that would most benefit through GLA programmes.
London does not lack the talent, ambition or investment to create momentum for an inclusive innovation ecosystem. A co-produced strategy breathing new thinking and skills to create transformative outcomes for citizens through innovation can improve citizen well-being, the economic and social prosperity of the city and improve London’s standing on the global innovation scene.
