Cambridge, Imperial, UK Innovation Research Initiative moves into phase 2

Following the successful implementation of phase one of the Innovation Research Initiative, the formation of the UK Innovation Research Centre (UK~IRC), a number of research projects have been announced.

The UK~IRC, a collaborative initiative for research and knowledge hub activity in innovation, is a joint venture between the Judge  Business School at Cambridge University and Imperial College London Business School. Over the next five years the Centre will carry out research into how innovation can make businesses more competitive, improve public services delivery and help to meet the social, environmental and economic challenges.

Projects funded in phase two include research into the impact of changes in regulation in order to find new ways in which financial innovation can be developed and an examination public procurement to understand how demand is communicated.

A further project seeks to research how significant is the reinvention of forgotten innovations and inventions, thereby maximising the value of previous research and hopefully providing a rich seam of potential future innovations.

“The new projects provide an exciting complement to the research projects already being performed in the centre,” says Alan Hughes, Director of the UK~IRC.

The total funding amount for these projects is £1.5 million. Funding shared between the Economic and Social Research Council, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts and the Technology Strategy Board. Work will start on 1 October 2009.