New studies show range of ways universities can act as innovation agents in creative clusters.
Three new research studies from Cardiff University highlight the impactful role that universities play in driving innovation across the creative industries.
The research, from academics at the Centre for the Creative Economy, underscores the value of collaboration between academia and industry in fostering growth, stimulating and enabling creative innovation and enhancing competitive advantage.
The pieces, all published in the City, Culture and Society journal, consider the places, people and policy dynamics of creative clusters and their role in supporting innovation in their clusters and local economies.
The first, “Universities as innovation agents for the creative industries”, is an exploratory study of 385 creative firms and econometric analysis written by Dr Marlen Komorowski and Máté Fodor, which showed that businesses engaging with academic institutions experience a significant boost in their innovativeness. This engagement not only amplifies the impact of funding, but also strengthens access to networks, skills, knowledge and training opportunities.
Dr Komorowski said:
“Our research shows that for firms engaged with a university, funding’s marginal impact on innovativeness is approximately 30x stronger. In other words, every pound of funding connected to a university was 30 times more effective at boosting innovativeness. We also found that universities do more than generate knowledge – they shape firm-level innovation processes.
“This data shows how place-based, university-embedded innovation is working: connecting firms to universities makes every pound invested in networking, training, and funding work harder across creative clusters.”
The study was built on the Cardiff University-led initiative Clwstwr (2018 – 2023), part of the AHRC’s Creative Industries Clusters programme, which funded more than 130 research, development and innovation (RD&I) projects with the Welsh screen sector.
The second study, led by Professor Justin Lewis demonstrates how universities – in collaboration with research councils – can support the economic, social and cultural value of the creative industries.
Professor Lewis, Co-Director of the Centre for the Creative Economy at Cardiff University and Director of Clwstwr, said:
“We show how universities can be active cultural intermediaries to support creative industry clusters – which are usually made up of hundreds or thousands of small, independent companies – in the UK and beyond. The article stresses the importance of moving beyond the current dichotomy between a celebration of the economic power of the Cultural and Creative Sectors and Industries and a pure focus on cultural and social values. Universities are well placed to enhance the economic, social and cultural value of creative sectors.”
The third, research by Professor Sara Pepper considers the evolving role of the staff working in higher education institutions in the UK who undertake innovation activities with colleagues from the creative and cultural industries. This research found that the staff employed by universities across the UK to undertake the delivery of creative cluster programmes have a diverse range of skills and experience from work in both academia and creative industries.
It found these staff are central to the success of creative industry clusters, despite a wider lack of understanding about their work, skills and role within cluster ecosystems. The study also revealed that most interviewees reported low levels of institutional support and limited understanding and recognition of their roles designing, leading, managing and delivering RD&I programmes.
Professor Pepper, Co-Director of the Centre for the Creative Economy at Cardiff University, said:
“These findings highlight a critical but often overlooked part of the innovation system. The staff working at the interface of universities and the creative industries are essential to the success of cluster development, yet their roles remain under-recognised and under-supported.
“In the current policy landscape, where collaboration is key to economic growth strategies, there is a need to better understand and value these roles to fully realise and enable their impact.”
Professor Lewis and Professor Pepper now lead Media Cymru – part of the UKRI’s flagship Strength in Places Fund programme – which is turning the Cardiff Capital Region into a global home for media innovation with a focus on fair, green growth. Media Cymru will be showcasing the groundbreaking innovations that they have funded at PLAYBACK – a festival of innovation in Cardiff this September.
All three articles appear in a special section on high-level intermediation in creative industry clustering: University-industry collaboration and the Creative Industries Cluster Programme (CICP). To view them, click here.
