Regional Innovation & Regeneration Centre

The Regional Innovation and Regeneration Centre (RIRC) carries out interventions, programmes and research projects that enhance the innovation, productivity, wellbeing and community wealth of Wales. Its work allows practitioners to implement policies based on robust, academically underpinned research.

The Centre’s research focuses on:

• Organisational innovation – predominantly circular economy (reducing waste and reusing materials) and foundational economy (essential services like housing, education, food, healthcare and utilities)
• Innovation networks (how organisations collaborate)
• Regional innovation
• Asymmetric devolution in the UK (how different parts of the UK have varying powers from the UK Government)
• Delivery of economic development policies

Part of the Cardiff School of Management, the Centre also supports local and regional economic development through executive education programmes such as the Circular Economy Innovation Communities.

Commissioning organisations

• Welsh Government
• Wales Innovation Network (WIN)
• Innovation Caucus
• Welsh European Funding Office
• UK Shared Prosperity Fund

Research partners

• Swansea University
• Aberystwyth University
• Bangor University
• University of Lancashire
• SGH Warsaw School of Economics
• Tampere University

Key staff

• Professor Nick Clifton
• Dr Gary Walpole

Latest publications

View the latest publications from the Regional Innovation and Regeneration Centre

News

Research conducted by Cardiff Metropolitan University, Swansea University and University of Central Lancashire was included in the Welsh Government Minister for Economy’s cabinet statement.

The study, ‘A Scoping and Feasibility Study for a New Foundational Economy Academy in Wales’, focuses on support for the foundational economy (FE) in Wales.

Cardiff Met research praised by Welsh Government Minister for Economy

Find out more

Visit the Regional Innovation and Regeneration Centre website to find out more about the Centre, its directors, and its programmes and courses.

Visit Regional Innovation and Regeneration Centre’s research explorer page to learn more about its members, research outputs, collaborations and how its work contributes to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.