A new project to measure the UK’s levels of innovation has been launched by the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA).
The Innovation Index project, launched yesterday, will measure ‘innovation in the round’, said the organisation.
At the launch, NESTA representatives said the current methods of measuring innovation, such as number of patents lodged or number of businesses registered, ‘fail to capture the full range’ of innovations which take place in the UK.
Jonathan Kestenbaum, the organisation’s chief executive, said one problem with traditional methods of innovation measurement is the discrepancy between the number of patents which are lodged and the number taken up.
“Between 70% and 90% of all intellectual property is never used,” he said. “The trouble is, some people make as much out of other people’s ideas as they do from their own.”
“Perhaps most importantly, traditional metrics do not link innovation to the economic and social value it creates,” he added. “The Index will be rigorous, accurate and authoritative, and over time will drive up levels of UK innovation.”
David Currie, chairman of Ofcom, who will chair the Index advisory board, added that since current measures were created, the economy has changed from a manufacturing-led economy to a service-led one.
“We now know that different sectors innovate differently,” he said.
“Innovation has advanced where measurement has not. This is just the beginning of the process, we want to create and debate and work closely with industry to shape the index and ensure it contains clear insight for the main innovation actors in the UK.”
© Crimson Business Ltd. 2008