“Innovation districts constitute the ultimate mashup of entrepreneurs and educational institutions, startups and schools, mixed-use development and medical innovations, bike-sharing and bankable investments—all connected by transit, powered by clean energy, wired for digital technology, and fueled by caffeine.”

This quote poetically described an emerging geography of innovation—innovation districts—chronicled in the research titled The Rise of Innovation Districts. Bruce Katz and Julie Wagner, now leaders at The Global Institute on Innovation Districts, co-authored the report. Innovation districts are underpinned by leading-edge anchor institutions and companies, driving R&D and advanced knowledge-intensive activities, and characterized by their physical compactness, transit accessibility, and robust innovation infrastructure. Districts leverage the density and proximity of their components to foster collaboration and innovation.

The research observed how the rise of districts is due to a confluence of macroeconomic, demographic, and cultural forces. The Rise of Innovation Districts has influenced policy and practice in the decade since it appeared, effectively defining and shaping the innovation district model worldwide. For example, the report highlights that:

  • The ability to conceive innovation requires the engagement of diverse entrepreneurs, thinkers and experts. This encompasses highly specialized, research-oriented actors dedicated to developing cutting-edge technologies, products, and services for the market. These individuals are adept at mastering complex technologies and technological processes.
  • An economy increasingly oriented toward open innovation has changed both where firms locate and how they interact. The rise of smaller companies engaged in R&D has prompted greater collaboration between firms of various sizes to develop and advance innovation.
  • An economy increasingly oriented toward open innovation has changed both where firms locate and how they interact. The rise of smaller companies engaged in R&D has prompted greater collaboration between firms of various sizes to develop and advance innovation.
  • Innovation districts also emerged given the growing role of technology on the economy, necessitating new knowledge exchange models. Their strength lies in their ability both to invent and prototype breakthrough technologies as well as solve technological challenges that emerge from the accelerated surge in areas such as production and decarbonization.
  • In the last few years alone, the accelerated rise and advancement of technology is undergirding new forms of competitive advantages that districts are capturing. GIID analysis identified that districts are highly differentiated given their work in advanced or enabling technologies such as quantum computing, artificial intelligence, big data, and nanotechnology. Artificial intelligence, in particular, is revolutionizing innovation, accelerating breakthroughs at an unprecedented pace. The growing agglomeration of tech-rich firms found in districts gives them natural advantages to serve as ‘Living Labs’ for new technologies and approaches that can be scaled to larger areas.

The atomized, collaborative nature of 21st century innovation demands more diversity and proximity than the monoculture science parks of the 20th century could provide. These parks, typically located on the periphery of cities, lacked the necessary density and urban vibrancy to foster spontaneous interactions and collaborations that spur innovation today. Urban areas, with their inherent characteristics of density, proximity, and accessibility, are conducive to the changes in how innovation is conceived.