Entrepreneurship and innovation in the North: Paper 3 from the Northern Economic Agenda project

Enterprise and innovation are two of the Government's 'five drivers' of productivity in the UK along with skills, competition and investment. The paper examines the arguments for Government intervention to promote entrepreneurship and innovation, asking why there are less entrepreneurs in the North and considering whether entrepreneurs do encourage positive spillover effects into the rest of the economy.

The aims of this paper are threefold. Firstly, it uses the latest economic theory and empirical evidence to examine the rationale for government intervention to promote entrepreneurship and innovation in the North, and elsewhere in the UK. Second, it assesses the performance of the northern regions in terms of the levels of entrepreneurship and innovation. Finally, it examines the effectiveness of existing policies to encourage entrepreneurship and innovation, particularly in the North.

This is the penultimate paper from ippr north's Northern Economic Agenda. To receive updates upon the final paper, Moving On - A Progressive Transport Policy for Northern England, being published email NEA to north@ippr.org.