The Innovation Accelerator (IA) programme is overseen by a programme board chaired by Indro Mukerjee (Innovate UK Chief Executive Officer) and including representation from:
- Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT)
- UKRI
- Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG)
- Department of Business and Trade (DBT)
The board meets quarterly, with additional meetings organised when decisions need to be made. As co-creation and cross-government collaboration are fundamental principles driving the programme, members of the Innovation Accelerator partnerships are formally invited to contribute to strategic discussions every other meeting.
Innovation Accelerator partnerships
Each Innovation Accelerator is led by a local IA partnership, chaired by an experienced business leader, bringing together representatives from business and industry, local government, R&D institutions and others, as relevant.
Partnerships are responsible for ensuring that the group is well balanced, and that its diversity reflects that of the region it represents.
The West Midlands partnership is facilitated by the Combined Authority’s existing Innovation Board chaired by Mike Wright (formerly Jaguar Land Rover).
The Greater Manchester partnership, chaired by Chris Oglesby (Chief Executive Officer of Bruntwood), is built around Innovation Greater Manchester. This is an existing partnership made up of representatives from business, academia and local government.
At Glasgow City Region, a new partnership has been established, chaired by John Howie (Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at Babcock International). It brings together representatives from the eight local councils with local businesses and academia.
Each partnership has been responsible for appointing the local funding panel that selected the projects for funding, following an independent assessment of bids through a process led by Innovate UK.
The partnerships are responsible for:
- developing and coordinating the strategic plans for each Innovation Accelerator
- supporting the delivery of those plans throughout the pilot period and beyond as they assess the impact of the programme
Each partnership has the responsibility to decide the local objectives for the Innovation Accelerators in each city region and report against those objectives to the programme board at least on an annual basis.
Innovate UK leads on operational delivery on behalf of UKRI. Dean Cook, Director of Place and Levelling Up, is the programme director and has accountability for ensuring the programme achieves its aims and objectives. He works closely with DSIT’s Innovation Ecosystems team, which has policy oversight of the programme.
