Explore Britain
Innovation happens in real places. Explore what is being built there, who is doing it and what life around it is actually like.
Hefin Owen from Wales / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0Destinations
Manchester
North West
Innovation
Life
You probably didn't know
Britain's national materials institute is headquartered here.
Source: Henry Royce Institute
Cambridge
East of England
Innovation
Life
You probably didn't know
Genomics and biomedical research at campus scale.
Source: Wellcome Genome Campus
Bristol & Bath
South West
Innovation
Life
You probably didn't know
A jointly run robotics laboratory of national scale.
Source: Bristol Robotics Laboratory
Glasgow
Scotland
Innovation
Life
You probably didn't know
More small satellites built here than anywhere else in Europe.
Source: Space Scotland
Sheffield & Rotherham
Yorkshire and the Humber
Innovation
Life
You probably didn't know
Sheffield hosts one of the largest applied manufacturing research campuses in Europe.
Source: University of Sheffield AMRC
Leeds & West Yorkshire
Yorkshire and the Humber
Innovation
Life
You probably didn't know
Leeds hosts national health digital and data organisations alongside its teaching hospitals.
Source: DSIT: UK innovation clusters map
Liverpool City Region
North West
Innovation
Life
You probably didn't know
Liverpool hosts a school of tropical medicine with international field programmes.
Source: Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
Newcastle & the North East
North East
Innovation
Life
You probably didn't know
The North East is a focus for battery and electrification supply chain investment.
Source: North East Combined Authority
Teesside & the Humber
North East / Yorkshire and the Humber
Innovation
Life
You probably didn't know
Teesside and the Humber host the UK's flagship industrial decarbonisation clusters.
Source: GOV.UK: Carbon capture, usage and storage
London
Greater London
Innovation
Life
You probably didn't know
London holds the largest concentration of venture capital investment in Europe.
Source: DSIT: UK innovation clusters map
Oxford
South East
Innovation
Life
You probably didn't know
Harwell hosts national scientific facilities covering space, energy, health and physical sciences.
Source: UK Research and Innovation
Birmingham & the West Midlands
West Midlands
Innovation
Life
You probably didn't know
The West Midlands holds one of the deepest automotive supply chains in Europe.
Source: DSIT: UK innovation clusters map
Edinburgh
Scotland
Innovation
Life
You probably didn't know
Edinburgh hosts one of the largest informatics research communities in Europe.
Source: University of Edinburgh, School of Informatics
Belfast
Northern Ireland
Innovation
Life
You probably didn't know
Belfast has one of the largest concentrations of cyber security employment in the UK outside London.
Source: Invest Northern Ireland
Cardiff & South Wales
Wales
Innovation
Life
You probably didn't know
South Wales hosts the UK's compound semiconductor cluster.
Source: DSIT: UK innovation clusters map
Southampton & the Solent
South East
Innovation
Life
You probably didn't know
The Solent hosts the UK's densest concentration of marine autonomy activity.
Source: DSIT: UK innovation clusters map
Cornwall & Plymouth
South West
Innovation
Life
You probably didn't know
Goonhilly provides deep-space communications services from Cornwall.
Source: Goonhilly Earth Station
Nottingham & Derby
East Midlands
Innovation
Life
You probably didn't know
Derby engineers aero engines, rail vehicles and nuclear systems in one city.
Source: DSIT: UK innovation clusters map
Norwich & the East
East of England
Innovation
Life
You probably didn't know
Norwich Research Park holds one of Europe's largest concentrations of plant and microbial science.
Source: Norwich Research ParkEvery mapped cluster now has a destination record. Each is an editorial reading of a place, sourced and dated, with the analytical record behind it.
The rest of the map
Each destination is an editorial reading of a place, sourced and dated. Behind every one sits the analytical record, the organisations, industries and evidence the reading is built on.
It's already happening
Bristol
A robot.
One of the UK's largest robotics research facilities, run jointly by two universities, in a city that also designs semiconductors and makes natural history television.
Explore Bristol →Anders Sandberg from Oxford, UK / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0Glasgow
A satellite.
A city that spent two centuries building ships and locomotives, now building small satellites in volume rather than assembling them from elsewhere.
See the evidence →Midwich Cuckoo / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0Manchester
A new material.
Graphene was isolated here, and the institutes that followed exist to take two-dimensional materials from the bench to pilot production.
See the evidence →Dave Pendlebury from Manchester, England / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0Cambridge
A treatment.
Genomics, therapeutics and clinical research concentrated around one river, one hospital campus and an unusual density of spin-outs.
See the evidence →Ardfern / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0Sheffield
The way things are made.
Advanced manufacturing research working directly with aerospace, nuclear and automotive engineering on the factory floor rather than in a paper.
See the evidence →Chemical Engineer / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0Before anything else
Kynance Cove
Cornwall: about 3.5 hours from Bristol; a long weekend
Lewis Clarke / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
Glen Coe
Highland, Scotland
Colin / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0Eryri (Snowdonia)
Gwynedd, Wales
Hefin Owen from Wales / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
Wye Valley at Symonds Yat
Monmouthshire / Herefordshire: about 1 hour from Bristol
Jeff Buck / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
Avon Gorge
Bristol
Tadeusz Hare / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0The River Cam
Cambridge
Ardfern / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0London and the Thames
London
Diliff / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 3.0
Clevedon Pier
North Somerset: about 30 minutes from Bristol
Saffron Blaze / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
Bristol International Balloon Fiesta
Bristol
mattbuck (category) / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
Barricane Beach, Woolacombe
North Devon: about 2 hours from Bristol; a weekend, not an evening
Nilfanion / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0Britain itself is part of the proposition. Every photograph here carries its source, licence and location.
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