Programme on Regional Innovation

An opportunity to hear and discuss some of the findings from a unique transatlantic research survey comparing the innovative behaviour and performance of British and American companies.

Please note this event is fully booked; registration is now closed

The Cambridge-MIT Institute and the CBI are holding an invitation-only event at the CBI Conference Centre on Wednesday 8 February 2006 to discuss some of the findings from a unique transatlantic research survey comparing the innovative behaviour and performance of British and American companies.

This event, which is free to attend, is invitation-only. For more information, please contact Rachel Simpson, r.simpson@cmi.cam.ac.uk

Innovation Benchmarking

The Cambridge-MIT Institute-funded study - International Innovation Benchmarking and the Determinants of Business Success - offers for the first time a like-for-like comparison of 4,000 UK and US firms of all sizes and what they do to make themselves innovative.

The final report is available to download here:

At this workshop, researchers will be discussing with attendees some of their findings on key innovation issues including:

Universities and business innovation. How much do these firms tap into the knowledge base in universities through research collaborations or licensing? How highly, comparatively, do they rate their links with universities - or do they find their customers and/or their competitors more important as sources of knowledge?
Barriers to innovation. What prevents firms from innovating? Is it the lack of suitable sources of finance, too long a pay-off period, or a shortage of skilled personnel?
Public support. How many companies on both sides of the Atlantic use publicly funded business support schemes? How much financial support do they obtain and where does it come from?
Innovation efficiency. How good are UK and US firms at transforming innovation resources (eg skilled manpower, the acquisition of patents and licences and R&D expenditure) into innovative goods and services? The CMI research project International Innovation Benchmarking and the Determinants of Business Success is being jointly conducted by the Centre for Business Research at the Judge Business School, Cambridge University, and the Industrial Performance Center at MIT.

This research is likely to shed new light on a number of key policy issues. It will, for example, provide insights into the importance of the higher education sector to industry in both countries, and the current barriers to business innovation. These insights will prove valuable to academic researchers, businesses and innovation policy makers alike.