This chapter provides an overview of the North of England from a demographic, economic and innovation perspective. The first question it raises is whether the North is an appropriate unit of analysis as one regional innovation system. While there are several common challenges across different parts of the North, it does not constitute one system. There are considerable intra-regional variations in performance, including across the eight city-regions and between urban centres and more rural areas. The chapter then considers the industrial history of the region and the changes in industrial composition that explain in part productivity differences with other UK regions. The analysis of industrial composition also sets the stage for interpreting innovation indicators and needs. In some cases the variation in results across regions can be explained in part by industrial composition differences (R&D investment, patenting) and in other areas (propensity for firms to innovate) these regional differences are less obvious. The position of the three regions of the North of England with respect to different innovation indicators and regional innovation system typologies is assessed, including comparisons with other regions of similar characteristics. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the strengths and opportunities for the North going forward that national and regional policies and strategies could support.