A Framework for Measuring Innovation District Performance: Input–Output Metrics for Policy and Practice

In this article, we introduce a framework for measuring innovation in innovation districts (IDs). While the intellectual roots of IDs are in urban design, this study conceptualizes them as highly localized place-based innovation systems. The innovation systems perspective brings the innovation activities and their measurement to the fore, which is taken for granted in the urban design literature. This study synthesizes prior research on innovation measurement and 67 interviews with innovation experts across six cities to derive a concise and pragmatic set of measures. The measures are pragmatic and dashboard ready because the measures recommended by the experts could be matched to organisation for economic co-operation and development (OECD) and other readily available data sources. The ID measurement framework will enable engineering managers to monitor their performance in the context of a given ID and help researchers and policymakers evaluate the performance of IDs and related policy interventions.