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In February 2023, the �ʶ�����published its new Innovation Strategy, Wales Innovates, followed up by a delivery plan in October the same year. This strategy was underpinned by three core commitments:

• Geographic and demographic equality,
• a thriving innovation culture,
• a joined up, collaborative way of working.

During the development of this strategy, the �ʶ�����engaged stakeholders, including the public, extensively to ensure it will drive a culture of innovation in Wales and support more people to participate in it regardless of their demographic or where they live. 

In 2019, Thinks Insight and Strategy undertook a piece of research to understand public attitudes to innovation of adults aged 18+ in the UK, commissioned by Nesta. As part of this, region specific reports were delivered, including one specific to Wales titled ‘Is Wales Getting Innovation Right?’. This report was used to structure the �ʶ����� Government’s engagement with stakeholders and the public. 

In April 2024, the �ʶ�����commissioned Thinks Insight to re-run the survey used in 2019 but this time specific to Wales only, to identify how, if at all, views of the �ʶ����� public have changed towards innovation over the last four years.

In order to do this, Thinks Insight conducted a 15-minute online quantitative survey with n=1027 �ʶ����� adults aged 18+, between 10 to 24 May 2024. Data was weighted by age, gender, region and socio-economic group to be representative of all �ʶ����� adults.  

• Overall, �ʶ����� public opinion towards the future has remained relatively stable since 2019. Uncertainty towards the future remains, and this uncertainty is particularly being felt by young adults (18 to 24 year olds). This is coupled with a sense of disempowerment in shaping the future of the country. 
   
• There remains a disconnect between how much influence the �ʶ����� public think they have on innovation, and how much they want to have on innovation. The �ʶ����� public continue to feel that they do not have an opportunity to shape the long-term vision for Wales, and are more likely to feel that there is a long-term vision for Wales now, than they felt there was for the UK overall in 2019.
   
• However, opportunities to shape the future are not equal: in the current system, there is felt to be more opportunity for those who are well-off or influential.
   
• The �ʶ����� public continue to have a good idea about what innovation is, most commonly defining it as ‘new ideas’. However, there is less awareness of innovation happening now in different aspects of society now, than 2019. 
   
• Innovation is generally perceived to have a positive impact on the lives of the �ʶ����� public – but clear winners remain amongst those who benefit from innovation the most. People on higher incomes, people in work, and people who live in towns/cities are still seen as those who benefit the most from innovation.
   
• 2024 has seen a slight shift in perceptions of how innovation should be targeted, with economic growth, improving education, and increasing employment all seeing significant increases as areas of innovation that are most important to society, vs. 2019. 
   
• The principles favoured by the �ʶ����� public to guide innovation funding and investing are consistent with 2019. The focus is perceived to be on helping the most people, benefitting the entire country, and solving social problems, even if it doesn’t impact the economy positively. 
   
• The �ʶ����� public understand that different actors are involved in different areas and stages of innovation, but they still want less private sector company control, and more influence for themselves. 
   
• There remains low awareness of the ‘Wellbeing of Future Generations Act’, along with the recently published innovation strategy for Wales, “Wales Innovates” – and those who are aware have not noticed any impact on decision makers.

Perceptions towards the future amongst the �ʶ����� public have remained relatively stable since 2019. In 2019, the �ʶ����� public showed uncertainty towards the future. 5 years later in 2024 this uncertainty remains, alongside a sense of disempowerment in shaping the future of the country.

• A majority (63%) feel uncertain about the future, a slight increase from 2019 (59%). 
  • This uncertainty is significantly higher amongst younger people vs. the �ʶ����� public overall, (73% of 18 to 24 year olds agree with the statement ‘I often feel uncertain about the future’, vs. 63% of �ʶ����� adults). 
     
• Over half (56%) say that they often feel the world is changing too quickly, consistent with 2019 (54%).
  • However, not all change is perceived as bad: over half (54%) also feel that change in culture and society is usually a good thing. 
     
• 61% of the �ʶ����� public continue to feel that they do not have an opportunity to shape the future, and this is significantly higher amongst those who are less aware of innovation (Defined as those who code ‘None’ on at least 6 codes at Q4 ‘How much innovation, if any, have you seen or heard about in each of the following areas?’) (78%) vs. those who are aware of innovation (Defined as those who code who code Any on at least 6 codes at Q4 How much innovation, if any, have you seen or heard about in each of the following areas?’) in Wales (42%). 
  • Approximately half (52%) say that in the current system, only people who are well-off or influential are able to get involved in innovation, consistent with 2019 (50%).

Opportunity to shape the long-term vision for Wales:

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Agreement in there being a long-term vision for Wales is significantly higher in 2024 (32%) than 2019 (17%).

Agreement that there is a long-term vision for Wales:

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Of the statements tested, the �ʶ����� public in 2024 are most likely to agree that allowing people to take risks and fail is what drives society forward (71%), indicating appetite for innovation and change. 

• There are no statistical differences in agreement of �ʶ����� adults with the statements tested about the future, between 2019 and 2024. 
• Notably, the �ʶ����� public are less likely to be negative about the long-term future of Wales in 2024, vs. how they felt about the future of the UK in 2019 – 30% of the �ʶ����� public disagree with the statement ‘I feel positive about the long-term future of Wales’, vs. 38% who felt the same about the future of the UK in 2019.

The �ʶ����� public have a good understanding of what ‘innovation’ means, consistent with 2019. 

• Unprompted perceptions of the definition of ‘innovation’ remain similar to 2019, with the focus being on new ideas or concepts or improving and adapting something existing for the better.

• Despite high awareness of what innovation is, overall recognition and awareness of innovation in different areas has decreased since 2019.

Climate change (67%), improving education (48%), and making Wales’ population healthier (47%) remain the top 3 areas of innovation heard about, but all have seen a reduction vs. 2019.

Percentage of people who have heard about innovation in the given areas:

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• Younger people (18 to 24) are more likely to have heard about innovation vs. the average, and particularly vs. older age groups (55 to 64 and 65+) for all areas, except addressing causes to climate change - for which awareness is largely consistent across age groups. 
  • The biggest age difference in awareness by age is around innovations making Wales a more equal society: 55% of 18 to 24s have heard about this vs. 32% overall with older age groups hearing about it less (20% for 55 to 64 year olds and 26% for 65+).

In areas where the �ʶ����� public are aware of innovation, in general, this innovation is seen as having made the �ʶ����� public’s lives better. 

• More than two in five �ʶ����� adults say that each of the areas tested have made their lives better. 
• The two areas that see the biggest improvement in score are areas that in 2019 were asked about the UK as opposed to Wales, safety and equality. ‘Making Wales safer’ and ‘Making Wales a more equal society’ see a 6% and 7% increase respectively vs. when the statement was asked about the UK in 2019.

This, coupled with an improvement in the score of ‘Improving local communities’ points to local, �ʶ�����-specific innovation having impact.  

Perceived impact of innovation on the �ʶ����� public’s lives:

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In Wales, some individuals are perceived as clear 'winners' due to innovation, while other groups are seen as less likely to benefit. 

• Groups defined as benefiting more from innovation remain broadly the same as 2019, with the top three remaining as people on higher incomes (66%), people in work (64%), and people who live in towns and cities (62%). 

Top 10 groups most positively impacted by innovation - % selecting each group:

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• We also continue to see consistency with 2019 when looking at whether ‘people like you’ are perceived to benefit from innovation. Those who are from socio-economic group C2DE are significantly less likely to say innovation had a positive impact on them (41%) vs. those from group ABC1 (58%). 
  • Older age groups, 55 to 64 and 65+, are also less likely to say innovation has had a positive impact on them (47% for each) vs. younger age groups, 18 to 24 and 25 to 34 (62% for each).

The trend of innovation being perceived to negatively impact people who are unemployed, older (65+), or on lower incomes continues since 2019. Around a quarter of the �ʶ����� public state that innovation negatively impacts each of these groups. 

Top 10 groups most negatively impacted by innovation - % selecting each group:

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• These groups are also perceived to feel the lowest positive impact from innovation according to the �ʶ����� public, with almost as many people seeing innovation having a negative effect, as a positive effect. 

2024 sees a shift in the areas of innovation that the �ʶ����� public thinks are most important to society – with economic growth, improving education, and increasing employment all seeing significant increases vs. 2019. 

• Growing Wales’ economy (54%) is seen as the most important area of innovation to society, and has seen the biggest increase in perceived importance since 2019 (43%), which may be due to the Cost of Living crisis since this research was previously conducted. 
  • Whilst improving local communities has also seen an 11% increase since 2019 (13% to 24% in 2024), the perceived importance of innovation in this area is much lower. 
• The �ʶ����� public are now more likely to see improving education (45%) and increasing employment (41%) as more important to society vs. 2019 (35% for education and 28% for employment). 
• However, the �ʶ����� public are now less likely to see innovation that addresses the cause of climate change (35%) and innovation that addresses safety (28%) as important than in 2019 (47% for climate change, and 40% for safety). 

Areas for innovation that are most important to society - % selecting each in their top 3:

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• Different demographics see different areas of innovation as more important to society: 
  • Younger people (18 to 24) are significantly more likely to consider improving education (53%), making Wales safer (38%), making Wales a more equal society (34%), and improving the arts and creative sector (9%) as important vs. these areas’ respective averages. 
  • Older people (65+) are more likely to consider making Wales’ population healthier as important vs. the average (57% vs. 45%).
  • People from socio-economic group C2DE consider making Wales safer a more important area of innovation vs. the average (34% vs. 28%).

The level of importance the �ʶ����� public place on these areas of innovation also broadly aligns with the innovation areas that the �ʶ����� public believe the Government should fund and invest.

The principles favoured by the �ʶ����� public to guide innovation funding and investment are broadly consistent with 2019:

• The Government should continue to invest in innovation that benefit a greater number of people – even if this impact is small.
  • 82% of the �ʶ����� public support the statement that ‘The Government should invest in innovation that has significant positive impact on a small number of people’ vs. a larger impact on a smaller number of people (18%) – this remains consistent with 2019: 

• Innovation should benefit the whole country, focusing on making everywhere in the country prosperous, rather than improving the overall economy which may cause an imbalance in impact (i.e. some places doing better than others).
  • 69% of the �ʶ����� public want innovation to benefit the whole country, regardless of whether progress in better-off areas is slower, compared to just 31% who say when investing in innovation, government should focus on making everywhere in the country more prosperous, even if some areas do better than others.
  • This has become slightly more important to the �ʶ����� public than in 2019, overtaking solving social problems, even if there is no economic benefit, as the second most important principle: 

• Solving social problems should be the priority of innovation, economic benefit is not a ‘must’ when investing in innovation.
  • Despite a slight decrease since 2019, 65% of the �ʶ����� public believe the Government should invest in innovation if it solves social problems, regardless of economic benefit (vs. 71% in 2019). This is opposed to 35% who believe innovation should only be invested in if it has an economic benefit: 

In 2024, whilst the �ʶ����� public still believe innovation should focus on long-term benefit overall, fewer people agree than in 2019.

• Despite the majority of the �ʶ����� public still thinking innovation should focus on long-term issues, even if it means ignoring present issues, there has been a significant drop from 61% in 2019, to 52% in 2024:

• This slight shift towards innovation benefitting the present is also echoed in the change of public opinion towards it being important that innovation improves the lives of current generations, rather than focusing on future generations. Despite a relatively even split between this opinion and innovation improving future generations, wanting it to benefit current generations is now the majority opinion (53% in 2024, to 46% in 2019):

In the remaining areas, there is less agreement on the principles that guide innovation:

However, some opinions differ by demographics:

• Younger age groups (62% of 18 to 24s and 63% of 25 to 35s) are more likely to say that the use of innovation and new technology should be limited if it has the potential to lead to inequality, vs. older people (48% of people aged 65+). 
  • Women (62%) are also more likely to hold this opinion than men (48%).

Older age groups (58% of 55 to 64s and 60% of people aged 65+) are also more likely to see innovation as worthwhile even if some people lose their jobs, vs. the youngest age group (41% of 18 to 24s).

Whilst private sector companies remain the actors that are perceived to have the most decision-making power over innovation, more people believe that the Government has decision-making power over innovation in 2024, than in 2019. 

• The parties that the �ʶ����� public believe have the most power over innovation remain consistent with 2019. The majority believe private sector companies (74%), the �ʶ�����(64%), and local universities (54%) are perceived to have the most decision-making power. 
• However, people who see the �ʶ�����as influential in 2024 has seen a significant increase from those who saw the UK government as influential in 2019 (64% from 31%). Local government also sees a significant increase in 2024, from 32% in 2019 to 47% this year. This could indicate that activities by the �ʶ�����are increasing awareness of its innovation actions. 

How much decision-making power over innovation the �ʶ����� public thinks each group has - % selecting influence:

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However, there is a disconnect between who the �ʶ����� public thinks has power and who they believe should have power. 

• Whilst the �ʶ����� public think the �ʶ�����(66%) and universities (61%) should have decision-making power over innovation – they are much less keen on wanting private sector companies to, despite thinking they have the most power at present. This is consistent with 2019 (57% want private sector companies to have decision-making power vs. 74% who believe they have).
  • Instead, the �ʶ����� public are most likely to say that the NHS (73%), the �ʶ�����(66%), and universities (61%), should have decision-making power. 
• There is also appetite for the �ʶ����� public to have some decision-making power over innovation, increasing from 2019. 59% want the general public to have influence vs. 52% in 2019, and 54% want to have influence themselves vs. 46% in 2019. 
  • This highlights another disconnect: the �ʶ����� public want more influence over decision-making than they believe they have. Only 24% believe the general public has decision-making power, with just 20% believing they themselves have decision-making influence over innovation. 

How much decision-making power over innovation the �ʶ����� public thinks each group should have - % selecting influence:

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When reviewing stages of innovation, the �ʶ����� public are clear on who should be most responsible for innovation at the different stages. This responsibility remains consistent with 2019:

• The introduction of universities in 2024 sees a clear perceived role for them to play in coming up with new ideas and developing new ideas. 

Overall awareness of what the �ʶ�����is doing regarding innovation is low. The majority of the �ʶ����� public are unfamiliar with Wales’ Innovation Strategy, Wales Innovates, with just 16% claiming to have heard of it. 

Note, Wales’ Innovation Strategy, Wales Innovates, was published in 2023.

Percentage of the �ʶ����� public who have heard of the below:

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• The majority of the �ʶ����� public are also unfamiliar with the ‘Wellbeing of Future Generations Act’, with only 18% claiming to have heard of it, similar to 2019 (14%). 

Even members of the �ʶ����� public who are aware of either the ‘Wellbeing of Future Generations Act’ or Wales’ Innovation Strategy, Wales Innovates, struggle to have noticed a difference in the way decision-makers have acted as a result. However, since 2019, there has been a slight increase in difference noticed by those aware of the ‘Wellbeing of Future Generations Act’, from 22% in 2019, to 26%. 

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Despite small base sizes, we do see some distinction between the ‘Wellbeing of Future Generations Act’ and Wales’ Innovation Strategy, Wales Innovates, in how they have impacted decision-makers in Wales.

• When asked about the ‘Wellbeing of Future Generations Act’, responses focus on strategic thinking and the environment:

• And when asked about Wales’ Innovation Strategy, Wales Innovates, responses focus on the economy and creativity:

There remains a real opportunity for the �ʶ�����to push and lead innovation within Wales. The �ʶ�����is considered second only after the NHS in terms of who the �ʶ����� public think should have decision-making power over innovation in Wales. 

However, there remains a disconnect between how much influence the �ʶ����� public think they have on innovation, and how much they want to have. There is appetite amongst the �ʶ����� public to be involved in shaping the long-term vision for Wales. 

A key aim of the 2023 Innovation Strategy, Wales Innovates, was to support more people to participate, and benefit from innovation, regardless of demographic. However, awareness is low and public still sees clear ‘winners’ when it comes to innovation benefits (richer, urban based individuals). Awareness of this strategy, its goal of encouraging participation and innovation equality, and how people can get involved could be increased. 

Awareness of innovation happening in different aspects of society is lower now, than in 2019. To support the �ʶ�����leading innovation, it would be beneficial to raise awareness of what it has already achieved in Wales. 

Since 2019, there has been a slight shift in the �ʶ����� public’s perceived priority areas for innovation. Economic growth, improving education, and increasing employment are all seen as more important to society now, than in 2019. These, along with making Wales’s population healthier, are the areas that the �ʶ�����should target to most align with the public’s thinks about areas for innovation. 

There are several areas that could be explored further through qualitative research with the �ʶ����� public: 

• Why has overall awareness and recognition of innovation in different areas decreased since 2019 in Wales? What could the �ʶ�����be doing to increase awareness of innovation in Wales? 
• People who are unemployed, older (65+), and people on lower incomes remain the top three groups perceived as most negatively impacted by innovation. With the new Innovation Strategy in 2023 underpinned by equality, why is it that these groups are considered to not benefit from innovation as much as others? 
• The �ʶ�����is seen to have influence over innovation decision-making and the �ʶ����� public support it to make decisions about innovation. However, what should this influence and decision-making look like, and how should the �ʶ����� public be informed of the �ʶ����� Government’s decisions relating to innovation?