UK Innovation Map
Compare placesDifferent, not ranked.
Two or three clusters, read side by side across sectors, research, companies, capital, infrastructure, government designations and UKIZ relevance. There is no score and no ranking: British clusters are different from one another, not better or worse than one another.
Choose up to three clusters
- London
- Cambridge
- Oxford
- Manchester
- Birmingham & the West Midlands
- Bristol & Bath
- Sheffield & Rotherham
- Leeds & West Yorkshire
- Liverpool City Region
- Newcastle & the North East
- Teesside & the Humber
- Edinburgh
- Glasgow & the Central Belt
- Belfast
- Cardiff & South Wales
- Southampton & Portsmouth
- Cornwall & Plymouth
- Nottingham & Derby
- Norwich & the East
Side by side
| Dimension | Newcastle & the North EastNorth East | Southampton & PortsmouthSouth East | ManchesterNorth West |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sectors | Clean Energy, Mobility & Transport Technology, Advanced Manufacturing Supporting: Life Sciences, Digital Technologies, Robotics & Autonomous Systems | Defence & Security, Robotics & Autonomous Systems, Advanced Manufacturing Supporting: Clean Energy, Digital Technologies, Advanced Materials | Advanced Materials, Life Sciences, Digital Technologies, Creative Industries Supporting: Artificial Intelligence, Advanced Manufacturing, Financial Technology, Engineering Biology |
| Research |
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| Companies | Not recorded on the map. | Not recorded on the map. | Not recorded on the map. |
| Infrastructure |
Offshore renewable test facilities, battery production investment and university research centres. | Not recorded on the map. Naval and maritime engineering facilities, photonics research centres and port infrastructure. |
National materials and graphene facilities, teaching hospitals and clinical research capability, and a major broadcast production estate. |
| Capital | Infrastructure and development finance, with limited venture capital relative to industrial scale. | Prime contractor supply chain finance and public programmes rather than venture capital. | A growing regional investor base and northern funds, with growth rounds usually led from London. |
| Government programmes |
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| No place-based designation recorded. |
| What exists | Offshore renewable energy testing at national scale, battery and electrification investment, ageing and life sciences research and a strong engineering base. | Maritime, naval and defence engineering, marine autonomy, photonics research and a major port and logistics complex. | Advanced materials research including graphene and 2D materials, a large health innovation base built on hospitals and universities, a substantial digital and cyber economy, and the biggest broadcast and creative cluster outside London. |
| What's missing · UKIZ interpretation | Supply chain retention. Britain builds offshore capacity while importing much of the equipment; local firms often serve as installers rather than manufacturers. | Routes for smaller innovators into defence and maritime procurement, and a civil market for capability developed for defence customers. | The step from materials discovery to volume production, and a growth capital base proportionate to the research output. Health data at population scale is under-used by industry. |
| What could connect · UKIZ interpretation | Offshore testing capability connected to Teesside and Humber industrial land, Sheffield manufacturing research and domestic energy buyers. That is an energy supply chain rather than an energy market. | Marine autonomy and photonics connected to Plymouth marine capability, Bristol robotics and offshore energy operations: the same technologies serving defence, energy and shipping. | Materials research connected to Sheffield and Midlands manufacturing, and health innovation connected to Leeds health data capability: a corridor rather than three separate cities. |
| UKIZ relevance | The region has the industrial land, the ports and the skills base. The proposed North East mission focuses on retaining the supply chain, not only the assembly. | Marine autonomy is where defence, robotics and clean energy meet. The proposed Cornwall & Devon marine mission connects to this capability directly. | Manchester has scale in four different economies that rarely commission from each other. The relevant missions concentrate on connecting health, materials, digital and creative capability. |
| Last verified | 15 August 2026 | 15 August 2026 | 15 August 2026 |
Proposed by UKIZ · independent · not a government designation