This paper synthesises findings from the TPI Knowledge Diffusion Research Programme (2023–2026), examining why the UK struggles to translate world leading research strengths into broad-based productivity growth.
Despite strong knowledge-generation capabilities and well‑constructed competition and regulatory systems, the UK exhibits weak diffusion of knowledge from its most prosperous regions and firms to the rest of the economy.
The research highlights structural features, including high regional concentration of R&D, institutional centralisation, and uneven absorptive capacity, that limit the spread of innovation and reinforce interregional disparities. Using novel empirical approaches across multiple studies, the programme demonstrates how relatedness, collaboration networks, skills dynamics, global value-chain shocks, and spatial patterns of public and private R&D investment shape regional innovation outcomes.
The findings reaffirm the view that the UK functions as a “hub with no spokes,” where knowledge spillovers insufficiently support lagging regions. The programme underscores the need for reoriented industrial and regional policies focused on enhancing diffusion mechanisms, strengthening regional capabilities, and improving the spatial balance of R&D investment.
Authors Raquel Ortega-Argilés and Philip McCann
