How the Bennett Institute unveiled regional strengths using RTICs
The Bennett Institute uses RTICs and geographical analysis to understand local economies in detail.
The Data City helped the Bennett Institute to conduct unique regional analysis to help inform public policy.
After attending a webinar on RTICs, Owen was impressed by our RTIC methodology. The Bennett Institute then decided to enlist the aid of The Data City to focus on exploring the regional economy and sector relatedness.
- Policy Research
- Data Services
- Platform License
- Regional Analysis
The Bennett Institute for public policy is dedicated to researching and rethinking public policy.
The Institute is also part of the UK-wide Productivity Institute set up to research the UK’s productivity puzzle. As part of this, Owen Garling, Knowledge Transfer Facilitator, leads the East Anglia Productivity Forum, focused on questions of productivity within East Anglia.
After attending a webinar on RTICs, Owen was impressed by our RTIC methodology. The Bennett Institute then decided to enlist the aid of The Data City to focus on exploring the regional economy and sector relatedness.
“ …the data helps people tell the stories they want to tell.
The Approach
Utilising both platform licences as well as our data services, the Bennett Institute set themselves up for success.
RTICs were the perfect fit for the project. They offered insights that couldn’t be found anywhere else, and allowed analysts at the Bennett Institute to explore regional strengths in different ways than they had previously. In particular by using RTICs to understand the connections between different sectors – a new use for our classifications.
“ …the geographic data was really important for understanding where these sectors were based.
The Data City helped the Bennett Institute to conduct unique regional analysis to help inform public policy
For example, it was often thought that the area between Cambridge and Norwich formed an ‘AgriTech corridor’ – meaning the areas between the two cities have high AgriTech activity. RTICs challenge this theory, instead showing that Cambridge and Norwich themselves are AgriTech hubs, but no ‘corridor’ between the two areas exists.
The unique structure of RTIC data made it possible to look into the relationship between sectors. Thanks to this, the Bennett institute was able to look into the relationship of key emergent sectors, like AI or Agritech, in East Anglia.