A new study from Lancaster University and partners across Morecambe Bay argues that culture and creativity can play a central role in driving innovation, regeneration and inclusive growth in coastal communities.

The paper, 'Landing a Morecambe Bay culture innovation ecosystem', is one of ten peer-reviewed contributions to 'Innovation Ecosystems', the first i-PLACE Compendium, published by the Key Cities Innovation Network (KCIN), which showcases how cities and universities are rethinking innovation ecosystems for inclusive growth.

The collection brings together leading thinkers and practitioners from across the UK, offering practical ideas that could be adopted by cities and regions across the UK.

The Morecambe Bay contribution (which starts on Page 197), authored by Lancaster University's Dr Nathan Jones and Professor Edward Simpson, explores how a culture-led approach can support the development of a distinctive regional innovation ecosystem. While coastal areas often face economic and social challenges - including lower productivity, skills gaps and under-investment - the research highlights the potential of cultural assets, creative practice and community engagement to act as catalysts for change.

Drawing on work across the Morecambe Bay area, the paper proposes a model in which universities, cultural organisations, local authorities and communities collaborate to build a shared innovation ecosystem rooted in place.

By connecting creative industries with education, skills development and local enterprise, the approach aims to generate new opportunities while strengthening identity and resilience across the region.

The Compendium sits within i-PLACE, an open platform developed by KCIN to connect research, policy and practice in place-based innovation. Through annual publications, conferences and ongoing collaboration, i-PLACE provides a space for cities, universities, industry and communities to share ideas, test approaches and scale impact.

As the platform’s founding paper explains, its aim is to bring together “research, practice and policy to advance new thinking about place-based innovation” and to ensure that insights from local places inform national debates.

KCIN itself brings together 12 universities working with the UK’s Key Cities—a network of 22 urban areas—to develop scalable solutions to shared challenges, from inclusive growth to climate transition and skills development.

The Compendium continues a growing body of work demonstrating how civic partnerships can generate practical, transferable innovation across different places.

Lancaster University Pro Vice-Chancellor for Engagement Professor Sarah Kemp said:“This approach shows how culture-led innovation can offer a different model for regional development—one that is collaborative, creative and rooted in local strengths. There is real potential for places across the UK to learn from this and apply it in ways that reflect their own identity and ambitions.”

Chair of Key Cities and Deputy City Mayor of Salford Councillor John Merry CBE said: “The ideas presented in this compendium are both important and exciting. They show how our cities, working with their universities and partners, can develop innovative approaches that are rooted in local experience but have national relevance.”

Vice-Chancellor of the University of Salford and co-editor of the Compendium Professor Nic Beech added: “What distinguishes these contributions is their grounding in place. Each reflects real partnerships, real challenges and real opportunities—demonstrating how innovation ecosystems can be developed in ways that are both locally meaningful and scalable across the UK.”

The other contributions included in 'Innovation Ecosystems' are:

• The role of felt experience in place-based innovation (Glasgow/AHRC Place Programme): Reframing policy around people’s lived and emotional relationship with place
• Bath city-region as a hologrammatic creative canvas (Bath): Using creative infrastructure to drive inclusive regional growth
• Plymouth Sound National Marine Park as a model for place-based innovation (Plymouth): Harnessing natural assets for regeneration and innovation
• Mezzo-level: imagination as policy infrastructure (Essex): Embedding imagination within policy systems to enable place-based change
• Innovation “from the outside in” – rethinking regional ecosystems (Salford): Reconfiguring how regions engage with external networks and ideas
• From football city to civic lab: stewarding innovation (Wrexham): Building civic identity as a driver of innovation
• Innovator-driven enterprise: an approach to regional ecosystems (Bradford): Supporting entrepreneur-led regional growth
• Unlocking shared commercialisation pathways (West Midlands): Strengthening collaboration in university innovation
• Reaching further: integrating FE Colleges (Greater Manchester): Expanding participation in innovation ecosystems