New research published today by the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre (Creative PEC) reveals the vital role universities play in supporting place-based growth and innovation. The report ‘Creative Clusters, Geography and University-Industry Links‘ also shows that between 2011 – 2024 the relative importance of the creative industries to regional economies increased for every region and nation of the UK. As place-based ‘good growth’ moves up the political agenda, the findings also demonstrate how universities can adapt to local and regional creative economy strengths and maximise industry-education partnerships to support place-specific initiatives.
‘Creative Clusters, Geography and University-Industry Links’, published today, is by Dr Josh Siepel and Dr Zihan Wang, University of Sussex.
Key findings
- The share of regional employment in the creative industries has increased for all of the UK’s nations and regions.
- Universities have a vital role in catalysing, growing and sustaining creative clusters. Beyond the contribution of graduates, other forms of university – industry interactions, such as spinouts, research collaborations and Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, can help to support businesses and local growth.
- University spinouts within the creative industries often stay within the area of the university in which they were originally founded.
- The scale of creative jobs increases in the creative industries is substantial relative to the size of the locality. For instance, between 2022 – 24 there was an increase of 17,000 jobs in the East of England, 13,000 in the North West, 7,000 in Scotland, 5,000 in Northern Ireland and 3,000 in the North East and Wales.
- There is some evidence that the gap in creative industries employment between London and the South East and the rest of the UK may have narrowed (although may be explained by the rise of hybrid working).
- The report shows the 15 cities and towns which have seen the highest net creation of creative industry jobs between 2022 – 24.
About State of the Nations
The Creative PEC’s ‘State of the Nations’ series analyses the latest data across four thematic areas to inform the development of policies relating to the creative industries. Their scope is the whole of the United Kingdom, and wherever possible data is presented for all the nations and regions. Regular reports on each area will be published biannually over the five years of the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funding. The themes and corresponding Research Partners are:
- R&D, Innovation and Clusters (University of Sussex)
- Internationalisation (Newcastle University)
- Arts, Culture and Heritage Sectors (The University of Sheffield)
- Education, Skills and Talent (Work Advance).
