Professional Consultancy to Support the Delivery of the Innovation South Science and Innovation Audit

In the 2016 Chancellor's Autumn Statement, the Innovation South Consortium, an Enterprise M3-led group of enterprise, innovators and researchers, was given the go ahead, to carry out a Government-endorsed Science and Innovation Audit (SIA). Success in the bid means the Consortium will now work, with Government support, and to a Government framework, to map these areas of outstanding commercial existing strength and potential in innovation and collect a robust and compelling evidence base for investing in the area. The Audit will particularly highlight where there is potential for the region, and therefore the UK, to lead global markets. The Audit will test the potential for these areas of innovation to build and develop world-leading ideas, products and technologies that will create jobs, increase UK productivity and drive growth. The University of Surrey and Enterprise M3 on behalf of Innovation South, are seeking to commission consultancy support to support execution and delivery of the Science and Innovation Audit. The SIA audit report will focus on Innovation South's internationally significant science and innovation strengths and will describe how these can unlock future productivity and growth. The ambition is to deliver a robust and convincing SIA report which will inform the UK Government's Industrial Strategy and provide the evidence base and rationale to underpin the prioritisation of science and innovation investments in the Innovation South region. It will be important to ensure that innovation strengths, clusters and economic potential in the enabling technologies and high-tech sectors, highlighted in the bid to Government, are strongly emphasised alongside scientific expertise in order to maximise commercialisation and business growth, employment and productivity benefits. There will be a requirement to ensure that opportunities for collaboration, connections and synergies between themes are captured, including engagement with wider partners. An important objective of the SIA process is to establish and / or strengthen links with other relevant parts of the UK and the wider region.