RICS research papers, Volume 7 Number 20
The construction industry’s poor reputation for innovation is underserved, and ignores many of the ‘softer’ aspects of innovation.
This is the key finding of research carried out by the University of Salford, which explores in more depth work published by National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts (NESTA) in their ‘Hidden Innovation’ report.
That report suggested that the construction and property industries have a poor reputation for innovation and, indeed, that this reputation appears to be backed by official statistics where innovation in the sector is not well represented by standard indicators.
“This reputation is undeserved”, claims Martin Sexton of the University of Salford, one of the members of the research team.
Their claim is that official statistics misrepresent the extent and nature of innovation that exists in the construction and property industries.
A closer analysis reveals that much of the innovation that exists in the sector is hidden from conventional measures.
By its nature, therefore, it is difficult to measure the precise extent of this innovation and disaggregate it from general improvement.
Nevertheless, those seeking to develop appropriate future policies and strategies to respond to the new challenges facing the industry need to understand the true nature of innovation.
The key findings are:
- The reputation of the construction and property sectors as lacking in innovation is undeserved.
- In fact there is a wide range of innovation occurring within the sector, but much of this is hidden from conventional measures and statistics
- Policies at a company or sector level aiming to increase innovation should be tailored to the varied and inter-related ways in which innovation occurs
