About the institute

In 2002, the ESRC Centre for Social and Economic Research on Innovation in Genomics (Innogen) was formed to enable the social sciences to have an influence on the evolution of innovation in life sciences, focusing on the important governance roles played by regulatory systems and stakeholder perspectives. As part of the ESRC Genomics Network, Innogen’s research provided a sound basis for decision-making in science, industry, policy and public arenas related to the life sciences. This body of work layed the foundation for the establishment of the Institute for Innovation Generation in 2013, supporting innovation-related decision making across an expanded range of sectors:

offering in-depth, rigorous research in areas such as global health and development, food and energy security, emerging technologies and the bioeconomy.
providing impartial, non-partisan, evidence-based advice to public, private and social sector stakeholders.
enhancing the skills of participants engaging with the innovation process.

The Innogen Institute Foundation Document below outlines the organisation of the Institute, as well as its mission and a list of activities to achieve these objectives.

Download our poster celebrating 20 years of Innogen research here.

Our Mission

The Innogen Institute is a collaboration between the University of Edinburgh and The Open University that produces high quality research and supports the delivery of innovation that is profitable, safe and societally useful. We build, nationally and internationally, on fundamental and applied research in science, medicine, engineering and social science.

Our Aims

To build and consolidate new social science approaches and methods to meet the challenges of supporting innovation in the 21st century in developed and developing countries.
To develop an integrated programme of research, consultancy, advice and teaching in support of responsible, sustainable innovation that contributes to economic growth in the UK and abroad.
To develop close collaboration across all Colleges of the University of Edinburgh and all Faculties of The Open University to ensure that the Institute's work is optimally informed about scientific and medical developments and the innovation opportunities that arise from them, and to contribute to the delivery of impact from their research.