A new wave of place-based innovation is transforming UK towns, cities and communities, today. Innovate UK’s £60 million programme is helping local authorities and businesses work together to deliver new solutions that improve local services and open markets for economic growth.
Provided by: Innovate UK
Places across the UK are seizing the economic and social opportunities that come with decarbonisation and creating warmer homes, cheaper local energy, new skills, and more secure work for their communities.
These pioneering places know what they need to do. But their teams are overstretched and they have limited resources and investment. Innovate UK is providing funding, insights, and specialist technical assistance to nearly 300 businesses and local authorities so they can adopt social, cultural, policy, and technical innovation and help their place prosper.
This has led to more collaborative approaches, more effective planning frameworks, and better procurement and financing models that are rooted in user-centred decision-making, ensuring new products and services reflect what local people actually want and need. It has accelerated the adoption of low-carbon solutions and opens up new markets for UK businesses at home and internationally.
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Discover how the Net Zero Living Programme is driving change in buildings and retrofit. Learn how we’re supporting local authorities to build the resources, skills, and capacity needed to accelerate demand for retrofitting homes.
Retrofitting homes can improve people’s daily lives. It supports good health and wellbeing for residents, it reduces bills, and it drives skills development which, in turn, strengthens local businesses, supply chains, and economies. However the challenges are not just technological. Retrofit done well relies on a confident workforce, market demand, clear standards and measures, accessible finance, and engaging communities to understand how people want to live.
Innovate UK’s Net Zero Living Programme has been helping councils recognise the true value of retrofit to their communities and showing how it can be achievable when it is treated as a place-based opportunity. Here we have collected together the very best insights from the innovative approaches tested during the programme so more local authorities can benefit from our learnings and best practice.
Learn how the Net Zero Living Programme has been helping local authorities engage their local residents, communities and business, and co-design innovations that reflect their needs.
Local authorities up and down the UK are reimagining the systems, services, and infrastructure that they rely on to help their places thrive. They are realising this isn’t just a technical journey, it’s a social one. When communities are genuinely involved in shaping local solutions, progress is made quicker, the transition feels fairer, and the results are more effective.
Innovate UK’s Net Zero Living Programme has been helping councils convene local people and move from consultation to active participation. Forums like citizens’ juries and community conversations have helped de-risk delivery by surfacing issues and opportunities early. Practical demonstrations and co-design have made it easier for residents and business to navigate complex regulations or choices. And shared ownership models are helping local people unlock the value of placed-based innovation.
Here we bring together frameworks, insights, and examples of community empowerment in action so more residents, businesses and councils can work together to improve their place.
Learn how the Net Zero Living Programme has been helping local authorities engage their local residents, communities and business, and co-design innovations that reflect their needs.
Local authorities up and down the UK are reimagining the systems, services, and infrastructure that they rely on to help their places thrive. They are realising this isn’t just a technical journey, it’s a social one. When communities are genuinely involved in shaping local solutions, progress is made quicker, the transition feels fairer, and the results are more effective.
Innovate UK’s Net Zero Living Programme has been helping councils convene local people and move from consultation to active participation. Forums like citizens’ juries and community conversations have helped de-risk delivery by surfacing issues and opportunities early. Practical demonstrations and co-design have made it easier for residents and business to navigate complex regulations or choices. And shared ownership models are helping local people unlock the value of placed-based innovation.
Here we bring together frameworks, insights, and examples of community empowerment in action so more residents, businesses and councils can work together to improve their place.
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