Detecting Dark Matter Data: data gaps for innovation and R&D activity in the creative industries

How can we make data collection, processing & analysis more useful for data consumers (like policymakers and funders) and for data producers (like businesses and individual creatives)? Through our research we found that though there are a wide variety of quantitative and qualitative data sources on the creative industries available, policymakers and creative practitioners alike still struggle to use data effectively as a decision support tool in their strategic thinking and planning. In particular, there is tacit knowledge that sector activity occurs which is not well-captured through traditional economic analysis mechanisms like Companies House data or the Office for National Statistics’ Annual Business Survey, a data gap that one research participant referred to as the “dark matter” of the sector. Our research focused especially on data gaps for innovation and R&D activity in the creative industries.