Research

Innovation Dynamics and the Role of Quality Infrastructure (2012)

This report shows how the role of the infrastructure – standards, measurement, accreditation, design and intellectual property – can be integrated into a quantitative model of the innovation system and used to help explain levels and changes in labour productivity and growth in turnover and employment.

• The infrastructure is a key resource for the effective functioning of innovation and for economic performance more widely. Standards, design, accreditation, metrology and IP are all deeply embedded in the modes and styles of innovation practice across industry and commerce and in the public sector.
• They are complementary to, and supportive of, the other drivers of innovation, such as new technology, knowledge from the research base, organizational and managerial changes and marketing strategies.
• Notably, information from standards tends to be conjointly used with scientific and trade publications and with direct sourcing of knowledge from the research base.
• Certification to ISO 9001 by UKAS accredited bodies is positively and significantly associated with several modes of innovation and with productivity directly.
• The National Measurement System is part of or directly supports several types of innovation strategy and has a distinct impact on productivity.
• The innovation and efficiency promoting roles of the infrastructure are contributors to economic growth and productivity as well as to international competitiveness.

A full copy of the report is available from the UK Government website.