Assessing the Role of Universities in a Place-Based Industrial Strategy: Evidence from the UK

The UK Government's Industrial Strategy White Paper, published in November 2017, focuses on promoting several key technologies of the future, in order to promote innovation and future economic performance. Universities play a key role in the delivery of the strategy, marking the culmination of nearly two decades of policy reviews that have continually promoted ‘third stream’ activities of commercial engagement with industry. Given the spatial focus of the strategy, this paper seeks to assess the regional distribution of competitive public research funding within the strategy’s priority sectors. The paper contributes to debates on the effectiveness and spatial implications of the industrial strategy through arguing that while the funding landscape for research in the priority sectors is spatially uneven across the UK, this could provide an opportunity for a place-based strategy to be implemented which builds on the strengths of each region.