'We need to be clear about what success looks like': Belfast could become global model for measuring whether innovation improves lives says King's College London
New King’s Business School white paper calls for a broader “inclusion capital” framework to assess how innovation impacts health, wellbeing, jobs and social mobility alongside economic growth
Belfast could become a model for how cities measure whether innovation is improving people’s lives, according to a new white paper co-authored by King’s Business School in London.
The paper, authored by Dr Robyn Klingler-Vidra (King’s Business School), Adrian Johnston (Innovation City Belfast) and independent researcher and organisational consultant Alex Glennie, argues that governments too often assess innovation through narrow economic indicators such as GDP, patents, and job creation.
While these measures remain important, the authors say they do not show whether the benefits of innovation are being shared across communities, or whether people are becoming healthier, more secure and better able to participate in economic and social life.
Using Belfast as a case study, the report calls for a clearer definition of what “progress” means in practice. Innovation City Belfast has set an ambition for the city to become the healthiest and most productive in the UK by 2035, but the authors argue this requires a broader approach than economic growth alone.
Instead, they propose an “inclusion capital” framework to measure how innovation impacts health, wellbeing, skills, education, social mobility, access to high-value jobs and entrepreneurship, alongside wider social and cultural conditions that support shared prosperity.
Dr Robyn Klingler-Vidra, said: "Innovation policy is often judged by whether it generates growth, investment or jobs. Those things matter, but they do not tell us enough about the wider societal impact.
"If governments want innovation to support healthier and more productive places, they need tools that can measure participation, opportunity and well-being alongside economic performance."
The paper highlights the Belfast Agenda’s commitment to inclusive growth, better jobs, improved training and reduced inequalities. It argues these goals can only be properly tracked if data across health, employment, education, innovation and social mobility is brought together in a more integrated way.
It also notes that 26.7% of Northern Ireland’s working-age population is economically inactive, compared with a UK average of 20.8%.
Adrian Johnston, innovation commissioner for innovation City Belfast, added: "Belfast has a real opportunity to show how inclusive innovation can be measured in practice.
"The city has strong partnerships across government, academia, business and the community, but we need to be clear about what success looks like and how we know whether we are achieving it."
The paper says cities first need to agree what “healthy and productive” means in practice, then they can identify the right measures, bring together data from across public bodies and partner organisations, and create a clear starting point to track progress over time.
The authors argue that the city or region that gets this right could offer a model for others around the world.
By measuring the wider impact of innovation, policymakers would be better able to allocate resources, design more effective policies and build places that are economically dynamic, healthy, inclusive and resilient.