UK Innovation Zones
The UK Innovation Map
Where innovation already is.
Britain's innovation economy is already extraordinary. The challenge is seeing how it connects.
Explore the companies, universities, research, capital, infrastructure and specialist clusters shaping Britain's innovation economy — and the 11 proposed UK Innovation Zones designed to connect them.
Built using authoritative public data and independently researched sources.
Existing ecosystem · UKIZ proposal
Explore by place
Where is innovation happening?
Cambridge, Oxford, Manchester, Bristol, London and every other cluster on the map.
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Explore by industry
Who is working on what?
AI, life sciences, quantum, semiconductors, robotics, advanced manufacturing, clean energy.
Explore industries →
Find organisations
Who is part of the ecosystem?
Investors, companies, universities, research institutes, accelerators, infrastructure and government programmes.
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Find what you need
What are you trying to achieve?
Capital, research, technology, customers, manufacturing, testing, talent, market access, government support.
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The default view
Britain already has innovation gravity.
- Innovation clusters mapped
- 19Innovation clusters mapped
- Sectors represented
- 16Sectors represented
- Institutions & organisations
- 83Institutions & organisations
- Proposed UKIZ missions
- 11Proposed UKIZ missions
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What do you want to discover?
Advanced filters
Existing ecosystem · industry
Organisation type
Government-designated areas
Shown as shaded areas, not points. Government designations — separate from the existing ecosystem and from UKIZ proposals.
Where does the innovation journey break?
Research → IP → Company → Capital → Customer → Scale → Export. Select a stage to use it as a map lens.
UKIZ proposal layer
Where is this industry?
Artificial Intelligence
7 clusters in Britain show capability in this area. Major clusters carry it as a primary strength; emerging clusters carry it as a secondary one.
Emerging & supporting
What the map shows
Britain's innovation economy is already here.
19 major clusters, dozens of research institutions, the Catapult network, national laboratories and government-designated growth areas. What is missing is rarely capability. It is the connection between capability, capital, customers and commercialisation.
About the data
Where this comes from.
The existing ecosystem shown here is drawn from authoritative public sources. Clusters are geographic concentrations of research and innovation activity, classified by the industries their institutions and companies work in. Government programmes are shown exactly as government designates them. UKIZ adds one layer only: proposals about what could be connected.
Data is reviewed periodically and every material record carries a source. Last reviewed: 15 August 2026.
View methodology →Compare places →Principal sources
- Department for Science, Innovation & Technology — UK Innovation Clusters Map
Reference dataset for the geographic concentration of R&D and innovation activity.
- UK Research and Innovation — Research and innovation infrastructure, centres, institutes and Catapults
Authoritative source for research institutes, Catapult centres and Innovation & Knowledge Centres.
- Catapult Network — Catapult centres and specialisms
Locations and specialisms of the Catapult network across the UK.
- GOV.UK — Investment Zones, Freeports and AI Growth Zones
Official designations, boundaries and sector focus for place-based government programmes.
- Office for National Statistics — Business, industry and regional economic statistics
Employment, business demography and regional economic context.
- British Business Bank — Small Business Equity Tracker
Regional distribution of equity investment across the UK.
- Companies House — Company register
Company registration, address and status verification.
Something missing?
Put your organisation on the map.
Britain's innovation economy changes quickly. If you represent an organisation that should be included, or believe information is incorrect, tell us. Submissions are reviewed against a source before publication.
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Suggest a correction
Nominate an innovation cluster
Propose a place that should appear on the map as a cluster in its own right. Supporting evidence is required and every nomination is reviewed manually.
What Britain could build
The map shows what Britain has. UKIZ is about what Britain could build from it.
Proposed by UKIZ · not a government designation