Innovation has been a subject of serious academic and policy interest for several decades. The 'creative industries' have been studied for a shorter period of time, but perhaps more intensely. However, we do not understand well the process of innovation within the creative industries, nor how waves of innovation from elsewhere impact upon them. Since they represent a large and fast-growing part of our economy, this gap in our understanding needs to be remedied.

Working with the Manchester Institute of Innovation Research, this research project uses the tools of 'traditional' innovation research to explore, analyse and compare innovation in four sectors that are critical to the UK's creative future: videogames development, product design, advertising, and independent broadcast production.

Technology is an important driver of innovation in all four sectors, but much innovation remains 'hidden' - uncounted by traditional innovation indicators. Moreover, the sectors studied display varied abilities to adapt to new technologies and increasing competition.

NESTA seeks to pioneer new areas of innovation research but also to link these firmly to our areas of practical experimentation. The conclusions reached here will inform our future work on both the measurement of innovation in the UK and in the programme development of our Creative Economy Team.