INNOVATION is soaring within the Coast to Capital region which has more cutting edge than London or Manchester, a new study has found.

The Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) region, which covers much of Sussex, was ranked the eighth most innovative area in the UK out of a league table of 45.

London, meanwhile, is way down the list at 25, while Manchester comes in at number 20.

The study, ‘Benchmarking local innovation – the innovation geography of the UK’, was produced by the Enterprise Research Centre (ERC), a leading independent research institute on the drivers behind business growth and success.

The table was based on new products being brought to market, collaboration and research and development (R&D) activity.

Oxfordshire was the most innovative overall, followed by Greater Cambridge and Peterborough, South East Midlands and Gloucestershire.

The findings are based on analysis of 14,000 firms which responded to the UK Innovation Survey 2013.

Brighton has nurtured a collaborative hub of creative, tech and digital start-ups, while a wide range of green, engineering and IT firms are thriving across the region.

Phil Jones, managing director of Wired Sussex, which represents the area’s cutting-edge talent, said: “I’m not surprised by this finding. The best innovation comes from below, from the margins and from the edges, from places that think differently from the mainstream and welcome people who do the same.

“In a way, that’s a definition of the best of Brighton as a city.

“The challenge is to enable those in the city who generate that innovation to also benefit from it, and that’s the purpose of the new digital catapult that is opening here shortly.”

Professor Stephen Roper, who led the research, said firms’ ability to innovate played an important role in sustaining growth and competitiveness, with economic implications for whole regions.

He said: “For the first time, this research gives us a picture of which localities of the UK have the highest proportion of firms introducing new products and services.

“The findings run counter to the dominant narrative of a country dependent on London, with innovation being much more dispersed across the country than was previously thought.”