As the UK Government continues to develop its national industrial strategy, the Cambridge Industrial Innovation Policy group at Cambridge’s Institute for Manufacturing has unveiled the UK Innovation Report 2025. 

This year’s report analyses the UK’s innovation landscape, by benchmarking industrial sectors against global competitors and delivering key insights into the country’s strengths, challenges, and opportunities. 

The report arrives at a particularly significant moment, with the UK Government placing industrial strategy at the core of its plans to deliver growth, emphasising investment, technology adoption, and high-growth sectors. 

Recent national consultations on scale-up financing, technology adoption, and industrial strategy have highlighted the demand for stronger data and analysis to guide decision making. 

The UK Innovation Report 2025 addresses this call by providing fresh data, deep insights, and expert perspectives to support informed policy making and strategic investment, which have significant implications for the UK's industrial strategy.

 Key findings from this year’s report include:

  • There has been a significant decline in the UK’s share of global manufacturing value-added, from 3.1% in 2000 to 1.9% in 2022 
  • The UK remains a global leader in government financial support for business research and development but lags in direct funding
  • Skills mismatches persist, with 37% of UK workers feeling overqualified for their jobs
  • The UK is a leading innovator in renewable energy technologies, ranking fourth in public R&D spending on low-carbon energy
  • Compiled by policy experts from the University of Cambridge, the report provides an easy-to-navigate overview of key trends across UK industry.  

Read the full report.

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