Pilot Innovation Scorecard for Local Authority Areas in Wales

Background

Earlier this year, the Wales Productivity Forum collaborated with the Welsh Government and Cardiff City Region on a report, The innovative capacity of Welsh local authority areas: Introducing an innovation scorecard and some preliminary comparative findings. The report identifies data which helps us to understand the key drivers, barriers and outcomes of innovation in local authority areas of the Welsh economy, presenting these in the form of an Innovation Scorecard. The research was undertaken in response to calls for more granular insights into these issues than are presently available and used to inform policy decisions.

Findings

In 2023, the strongest Welsh local authority (LA) on the developed innovation scorecard was Flintshire, but with a strong showing in Cardiff, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire. Critically, in interpreting this and the position of Wales as a nation, none of the local authority areas in Wales are classified as ‘Leading’ when compared to the overall UK local authority innovation index score.

Neath Port Talbot is the poorest performing local authority on the scorecard for Wales, followed by Merthyr Tydfil, Blaenau Gwent, and Torfaen. Twenty of the twenty-two local authorities in Wales reported scores below that of the UK average.

Innovation Scorecard: Wales LA composite scores relative to the average 2023 snapshot (GB average=100)

Conclusions

The analysis undertaken in this report was very much in the spirit of a pilot exercise. It is accepted that more work needs to be undertaken in terms of data investigation, not least around the availability of finance to innovate, and critically more data which speaks to innovation in the public sector.

While rankings and league tables inevitably prompt comparative assessments and a focus on ‘winners and losers’, the real value in this exercise is in developing novel insight into both the individual and combinations of variables that drive innovation at a local authority level. Benchmarking at such levels of granularity can help interpret current performance and identify areas for further attention, and of potential improvement. It can also motivate renewed or revised policy interventions and encourage learning across different LAs.

Find out more

For more information, read the full report or the executive summary.