The Local Policy Innovation Partnership (LPIP) recently held a networking event. In this blog, Rebecca Riley reflects on her key takeaways from the event.
Activities linked to the impact and engagement agenda, which once might have been seen as peripheral by universities and mainstream academics, are now moving to the forefront. This was seen at the recent Second Place Partnership Conference, hosted by the LPIP Hub, where those interested in places and how partnerships can create and drive innovation in policy gathered to share experiences so far.
Place growth and development
UKRI’s strategy clearly highlights the role of universities in place growth and development as a priority. This was further reinforced by Rt Hon Bridget Phillipson MP, UK Secretary of State for Education in a letter published the same day as the conference in which she stressed the need for universities to ‘make a stronger contribution to economic growth’ and to ‘play a greater civic role in their communities’. The LPIP programme is a UKRI flagship programme, plotting four very different approaches, one in each nation. The event brought the LPIP teams together with the wider network of place-focused research leaders the LPIP Hub, partners and UKRI funders.
Key takeaways from the day
My main reflection on the day focuses on the importance of long-term investment in people and the necessary infrastructure for partnership working alongside investment in scientific research that makes a difference and responds to place need. Previous strategies have tended to overlook place as a consideration in deciding where and how to invest but the LPiP programme recognises that the full benefits of investment in research will best be achieved if effective place partnerships can extract them.
My takeaways from the day:
1. Places need different infrastructure approaches which take account of the need of the specific assets, partners and opportunities at a place level. This infrastructure needs to be established for the long term. We have learnt from the LPIP pilots that new partnerships take time to establish, often by the time they have been built and become successful funding for activities has ended. Sustainability in funding is therefore key for long-term change and demonstrating the impact of local partnerships.
2. There needs to be complementary funding which enables developmental, and co-created approaches to place based requirements. All the LPIPs are emerging in a time of government and policy upheaval, with insecure budgets, local authorities still suffering fundamental austerity effects and new models of local government emerging so that partnerships are on highly unpredictable foundations. Despite this, the pilots are overcoming many challenges to embed partnership working.
3. There is lots of evidence about policy models, but none so far has truly grasped or fully explained the complexity of place relationships. A flexible approach is needed, depending on circumstances and the range of partners in any given context. This means place based partnerships need a toolbox of approaches which they can draw on and requires highly adaptable and entrepreneurial leadership distributed across all partners.
4. There are shared agendas across the four pilot areas, and opportunities to create communities of practice and shared learning, which can be spread and scaled across the place network being developed by the LPIP Hub, the 4 LPIPs and beyond. All of the LPIPs are looking at key barriers to inclusive, sustainable growth with research questions emerging such as getting people into good employment and future jobs, looking at business and individual resilience in the face of local circumstances, sharing data across partners, how to use it and how it can change decision making.
5. There is a key role for the LPIP Hub in creating the spaces for this shared learning and a safe space to talk about failure and opportunity. Enabling network growth, collaboration and developing an open space innovation across the pilot areas and transferring of ideas across other place-based investments.
Next steps and learning
We are now working on the next steps in the learning, this will include more opportunities to come together and learn, share best practices and enable the LPIPs to access the services and skills of the Hub partners. Now that the LPIPs are at the end of their set-up phase, they are starting to deliver some great outputs and enhance local collaborations to address policy questions. In all this activity it’s also important to remember that these place approaches build on programmes, expertise and knowledge that has gone before. The LPIPs are experimental in their design and are encouraged to challenge existing local policy approaches, design and create novel interventions and facilitate real changes to lives and businesses. The key learning will be how this can change the business-as-usual approaches between place partners and how universities working with partners can change the fortunes of places.
This blog was written by Rebecca Riley, Professor for Enterprise, Engagement and Impact, City-REDI, University of Birmingham.
Find out more about the Local Policy Innovation Partnership Hub.
Disclaimer:
The views expressed in this post are those of the author and not necessarily those of City-REDI or the University of Birmingham.