There is a groundswell of efforts aimed at increasing the inclusive and diverse character of innovation. This comes as technology and automation advance, and the returns to technologically enabled activities grow at an exceptional rate relative to traditional sectors. Non-profits, thought-leading businesses and governments are working to bring more of society into these activities in an effort to promote inclusive, equitable growth.

What’s more, research is emerging that demonstrates an economic case for diversity in the workplace, including the highly-cited McKinsey 2015 study, "Why Diversity Matters", which revealed that diverse firms are also financial outperformers. There is increasing convergence on the aim – greater diversity and inclusion (D&I) in innovation – but there remains incomplete evidence of knowledge of best practices in government efforts to promote D&I.

Filling this gap is the precise aim of this report. Commissioned by Innovate UK, this LSE Consulting report provides a novel review of policy initiatives aimed at driving D&I in business innovation. The review develops a broad but precise understanding of what practices and strategies have worked, and which have not across the eight mandatory national case studies identified by Innovate UK (Finland, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, the UK and the USA) and the two additional case studies of Israel and Estonia.

We highlight what inclusive innovation means across these ten countries, identify flagship programmes, present a new analysis of evidence of D&I in these countries, map synergies, differences and gaps in inclusive innovation policy, distil best practices in policy design, implementation and evaluation, and finally, offer recommendations for future collaboration across countries and stakeholders.

Impact / Media Coverage

FE News - "London School of Economics Global review of diversity and inclusion in business innovation"
4 February 2019