Cambridge has been revealed as the most innovative city in the UK, according to new research by MPA Group.
The study, conducted by the innovation funding specialists, found that between January to November 2016, Cambridge had an impressive 315.7 patents published per 100,000 residents.
Such entrepreneurship builds on the city’s long history of invention, with Cambridge famed for being the birthplace of the reflecting telescope, IVF, hovercrafts and iris recognition.
Coventry, home to the science and practice of holography, the classic bicycle and London black cabs, saw 108.9 patents published per 100,000 residents.
Derby came in a close third with 98.6 patents. The city is responsible for the creation of video game character, Lara Croft.
Oxford (78 patents per 100,000 residents), Aberdeen (60 patents per 100,000 residents), Slough (48 patents per 100,000 residents) and Aldershot (47.9 patents per 100,000 residents) followed, with Bristol (38.2 patents per 100,000 residents), Crawley (36.7 patents per 100,000 residents) and Gloucester (32.7 patents per 100,000 residents) finishing out the top 10.
The research also looked into the public’s knowledge of home-grown inventions and asked which UK invention the nation is most proud of.
Over half (51 per cent) of respondents selected penicillin, discovered in Oxford as the UK invention they are most proud of. This was followed by the MRI Scanner, created in Aberdeen (43 per cent).
Completing the top three is the telephone, attributed to British physicist Robert Hooke (42 per cent).
Despite the UK being home to some of the world’s most famous inventions, the public struggled to decipher which inventions we can claim as our own.
Research found that Brits failed to recognise the guillotine (6 per cent) as born in Halifax, Slough’s Ford GT40 racing car (11 per cent), and the defibrillator (13 per cent) created in Northern Ireland.
The top regions which were unable to identify any of the British inventions were found to be South West England (20 per cent), West Midlands (17 per cent ) and London (16 per cent).
“It’s amazing to see the vast amount of patent applications that have come out of Cambridge alone,” said MPA Group director Mike Price.
“With nearly 14,000 patent applications filed in 2016, we are excited to see the next revolutionary invention to come out of our country.
“However, it’s not just inventors that are leading the way for innovation, there are thousands of companies across the country investing into research and development.
“It’s great that this has been recognised by the government as being a vital part of business growth in the UK, and that companies can be rewarded through HMRC schemes like Patent Box and R&D Tax Credits.”