Evidence briefings

Cities worldwide are increasingly embedding smart technology to gather and analyse data, with global 'smart city' revenue expected to grow to $88.7 billion by 2025. Smart cities have a huge potential for improving sustainability, but are currently limited by market-focused economic models.

Increased investment in national and local infrastructure across the UK is fundamental to increasing productivity and economic growth. There is a pressing need to adopt a broad, integrated approach to infrastructure planning, valuation and engineering.

Stamp duty discourages house moving locally, slowing down the housing market. Replacing it with an annual local tax on the value of land or property could increase housing mobility and provide incentives to local authorities to build more housing and to property owners to use land more efficiently.

The Sustainable Care Research Programme, based at the University of Sheffield, is investigating how social care arrangements can be made sustainable. The new programme is focusing on the care needs of adults living at home with chronic health problems or disabilities.

Skills in the workforce are crucial for firms’ ability to putinnovative ideas into practice and increase productivity. Focus has traditionally been on high-level skills, but intermediate-skilled technicians and wider workforce skills are also essential.

The UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence (CaCHE) is a multidisciplinary consortium of 13 partners, led by the University of Glasgow and funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

A personal legal identity is crucial for accessing benefits and services, and is seen as a key driver for prosperity in developing countries. A digital identification system based on behavioural data can provide a legal identity for people in underdeveloped countries.

International students are a key source of funding for UK universities and are beneficial for the wider economy, with a government estimate of over £5 billion in income excluding tuition fees. Declining student numbers could be reversed with targeted policies.

The Economic and Social Research Council and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) jointly fund a £20 million dementia social science research initiative on interventions and care – the world's largest social science research programme on dementia and care.

The uneven spread of industry across Britain limits productivity and innovation in low-performing areas, with London productivity 32% higher than the UK average in 2015. A new analysis highlights patterns of industry distribution and business performance across the country.