At its meeting on 31st March, the NLA Expert Panel on Science, Technology and Innovation talked about how innovation districts can support inclusive growth and the challenges and opportunities of supporting local communities and enabling them to access skilled jobs.

The Panel heard a presentation about exciting plans to expand the British Library via a large development site in London’s Knowledge Quarter – in the heart of residential Somers Town. The British Library, their development partner and the planning authority are working together to think about how the development can meaningfully include the residential community in the plans and deliver tangible and accessible local benefits.

There was general agreement amongst panel members that there was an increasing focus in the corporate investment world on the importance of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors in decision making about growth, opportunity and risk.  

The Panel confirmed a conviction that innovation districts should be of and for their place, that the development of spaces for science and tech needed to deliver inclusive economic benefits for the places they were in and that these projects will be better if they are more inclusive. A wide-ranging conversation focused on the following key themes;

Early engagement with local stakeholder groups and residents about what matters to them can encourage a perception that new spaces are for local people and will benefit them. Innovative engagement methods such as training and employing local people to carry out peer-to-peer research can incorporate voices not usually heard. Co-designing public spaces with local people will create a greater sense of local ownership. A commitment to an on-going dialogue beyond the development phase and across the lifetime of a building can ensure that developments continue to support the communities in which they are based. 

Residents on the doorstep of science and tech campuses often feel that these spaces are not ‘for them’ and that the occupying institutions and businesses do not offer benefits or opportunities locally.

The design of spaces can mitigate this, by creating clear walking routes encompassing green, open spaces and through welcoming, public ground floors which incorporate community-focused uses.

More could be done to de-mystify what goes on in the buildings that make up innovation districts – working with communities to curate open events which demonstrate what’s happening inside the spaces and how people can get involved.

The Panel recognised a challenge in the fact that the global science and tech companies attract global staff and talked about how local communities could be better supported to access jobs at all levels of these organisations. Engagement of innovation districts with local schools and education institutions can develop a local talent pipeline. Initiatives such as Camden Council’s STEAM Programme and the LLDC’s East Education seek to create employer-led curriculum projects which provide young people with the skills they need to access 21st Century jobs.  

A thoughtful approach to local recruitment, including engaging with local job brokerage organisations, de-mystifying job descriptions and including workplace visits as part of the recruitment campaign can all increase access to employment opportunities by local people.

The Panel agreed to explore further work alongside the UK Innovations District Group to look at the ways in which the organisations that make up innovation districts engage with, welcome and benefit the residential and business communities in the area, and whether there is potential to share learning for the future; and to look at how stakeholders may collectively look to help to enhance skills where they will be needed.