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Assessing the research and innovation performance of London's Knowledge Quarter.
Our findings
In 2024 University College London contacted Elsevier to ask for support in the provision of an analytical report assessing the research and innovation performance of London's Knowledge Quarter (KQ).
The KQ is a research and innovation district that spans from Camden Town to Holborn and Covent Garden in London and encompasses an area within approximately a one-mile radius of King's Cross. In recent years, this area has attracted a large number of academic, business, cultural, and media organisations focused on advancing and sharing knowledge. Today, it is home to a consortium of over 100 such organisations with over 70,000 employees, including scientific and knowledge-intensive institutions and companies.
As one of the board members that governs the KQ consortium, UCL wished to increase understanding of the KQ research and innovation activities as a whole as well as UCL's own contribution to these activities. In particular, UCL is interested in tracking KQ and UCL achievements in areas of research and innovation (R&I) falling under the eight UCL Grand Challenges, as well as in other priority areas for the national R&I community: areas from the UKRI 2022–2027 Strategy, the Science and Technology Framework list of critical technologies, and the GreatHealthcare Challenges of the UK Government’s Life Sciences Vision.
Achievements of particular interest were related to collaborative activity, responsible and sustainable research culture and research practices, as well as societal and economic impacts of research and innovation. To help in tracking attainments, a comparative approach was designed to benchmark the KQ against similar global innovation districts, and UCL against the key universities within each of those districts.
Key highlights:
- KQ and UCL recorded very strong performances in collaborative, research culture and impact dimensions.
- KQ and UCL frequently took the top ranking for collaboration with NGOs, with lower-middle income countries, and intra-district collaboration.
- In terms of research culture, KQ and UCL ranked first for OA availability of their publications, thematic relevance to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), gender equality in publication authorship, and quality of the mentorship of early-career researchers.
- Finally, UCL and KQ also frequently ranked at the top for the specific dimensions of policy-related impacts and health impacts investigated.
Key contacts:
- For more information about the dashboard and how it informs UCL planning, please contact enterprise@ucl.ac.uk
- For technical questions about the metrics and the assessment methods, contact e.vignola-gagne@elsevier.com.
Attribution Requirement Statement
The London Knowledge Quarter, University College London, and Elsevier welcome the fair dealing re-use of dashboard findings. If you use data or findings from this work, please provide proper attribution by citing it as follows:
London Knowledge Quarter, University College London, and Elsevier. 2024. UCL / Knowledge Quarter Innovation District Comparator. Available at: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/london/elsevier-study-university-college-london-an...