Report 2: A Framework for Universityled Creative Economy Innovation: Core Learning from the AHRC Creative Economy Hubs programme

This report is the second of three commissioned in late 2015 by the Directors of the AHRC Creative Economy Hubs (2012-2016). Together, they follow on from a preliminary report into the Hubs’ activities, titled Connecting to Innovate, further developing its focus on core Learning from the programme. To this end, the three reports bring together findings from observation work, data gathering exercises, and semi-structured interviews conducted between January 2015 and May 2016. Working with core Hub team members and selected project participants, these activities sought to identify, understand, and document the Hubs’ experience of working in the creative economy. The three reports were completed in January 2017. It is hoped that this articulation of core learning from the Hubs programme may prove informative for future HEI strategy in this arena. 
This second report analyses the innovation strategies developed by the four AHRC Hubs, mapping where similarities and differences have emerged over the course of their creative economy activity. By analysing such strategies across the Hubs programme, it seeks to show with greater clarity where a common innovation framework might be found for this arena as a whole, and identify how strategies can be tuned within that frame to support particular forms of cross-sector partnership. 
In the series, Report One discussed the rich potential for arts and humanities-led work in the creative economy as revealed by the four AHRC Hubs. The innovation strategies behind this work (analysed here in Report Two) are further explored in Report Three to reveal the organisational implications of the Hub model for actively gearing universities and the creative economy together.