Manchester Institute of Innovation Research

Manchester Institute of Innovation Research (MIoIR) is a research institute based in Alliance Manchester Business School at the University of Manchester, UK. MIoIR is a centre of excellence in the fields of innovation studies, technology management and innovation management, science policy, technology policy, innovation policy and regional innovation, the study of emerging technologies (or em tech), responsible research and innovation, and research into socio-technical transitions with a focus on sustainability and digital transitions. MIoIR has also been known for research on service innovation and in particular the definition and early exploration of the concept of knowledge-intensive business services, through the work of scholars such as Ian Miles and Bruce Tether. The Institute consists of a group of internationally renowned scholars and experts, with more than 50 full members, approximately 30 PhD researchers, and a range of associated academics. Since the 1970s the institute and its predecessor bodies have contributed to the national and international debate about science policy and innovation (as noted in connection with UK debates by Agar) and helped develop the field of research evaluation and formulating the now widely used concept of behavioural additionality.

The Institute is currently housed in the newly refurbished Alliance Manchester Business School building on the corner of Oxford Road and Booth Street West, Manchester. For many of its earlier years it was based with the now-demolished Mathematics Tower of the University of Manchester. A number of the current members of MIoIR are also co-investigators of, or otherwise affiliated with, the ESRC-funded Productivity Institute, a national virtual institute with its headquarters at Manchester.