Enterprise Research Centre - Phase 3

Lead Research Organisation: University of Warwick
Department Name: Warwick Business School

Abstract

The UK faces significant economic uncertainties. Brexit will bring new challenges and opportunities, alongside the continuing productivity gap and persistent trade deficit. At the same time, global trends related to Industry 4.0 and digitisation are challenging the viability of existing business models, and creating new policy challenges. ERC will help address these challenges through: a programme of robust, policy-related research; synthesis of existing knowledge; and extensive stakeholder engagement. The plans we outline build on an extensive Stakeholder Consultation we conducted in early 2017 with over seventy participants, as well as subsequent discussions with Funders and other potential partners.

Research and data development (plans for month 1 to month 20)
Over this period our research programme is divided into four themes and eight projects of fixed duration:

1. SME Finance and Investment - SME Finance has been a consistent focus of ERC research since its inception with a focus on discouragement and the impact of financial status on performance. Current concerns focus more strongly on SMEs' willingness to invest in both tangible and intangible assets, and how this might influence firm and local growth in the future. Reflecting these concerns we propose two initial projects in this research theme linking SMEs' tangible and intangible investments to firm-level and place-based growth.

2. Innovation, internationalisation and growth - understanding the barriers and enablers of innovation and its relationship to internationalisation and growth has been central to ERC since its inception. Recent projects have focussed on university-business collaboration, the growth effects of publicly funded R&D and profiling innovation activity across LEPs in England. To date, however, studies of SME innovation and growth in the UK have generally paid relatively little attention to the IP system. We plan two inter-linked projects in this theme which explore the returns to public and privately funded R&D in small firms and explore the contribution of IP to growth and productivity. The latter project will develop new matched data resources.

3. Leadership and management (L&M) teams and SME performance - Concern about the quality of L&M in UK firms has been longstanding, with potential implications for growth and productivity. We propose two studies focussed on how management practices can assist small firms to draw on external resource and knowledge acquisition to boost growth and productivity. The results will have implications both for management training and place-based policies for business development.

4.Diffusion and productivity upgrading - Significant disparities in innovation and productivity exist between the most productive 'frontier firms' and other, more domestically-oriented, 'non-frontier firms', and between micro and larger companies. Projects in this theme focus on calibrating productivity differentials within sectors and localities, exploring their determinants and developing appropriate policy responses.


Synthesis:
A key learning point from the first two Phases of ERC is the value of synthesis activity alongside new knowledge creation. Curation of existing knowledge to make it accessible is therefore a core theme of our proposals. Our Stakeholder Consultation also suggested the value of short, focussed briefing notes which provide an expert and robust view of a tightly defined topic. Illustrative topics might be "How do quality standards such as ISO 9000 change firms' ability to innovate? or 'What makes a small business resilient?'. SOTA reviews will be 3-4 pages, written in non-technical language, and provide hyperlinks to source material. SOTA Reviews will be commissioned from UK and international academic and policy experts across the social sciences. Provision is made for 20 Reviews in Year 1 with a further 10 in Year 2 and Year 3 of ERC Phase 3. Reviews will be hosted on the ERC website.

Planned Impact

Our impact strategy for Phase 3 will build on the strong infrastructure, networks and engagement channels that have been put into place over in Phases 1 and 2 of the ERC. The changing nature of the policy environment mean that the stakeholder community is a shifting one. We therefore propose to carry out a new stakeholder mapping exercise and develop a new Engagement and Impact Strategy during the first three months of Phase 3.

We will develop a new Advisory Panel and, to ensure effective and structured engagement over the lifetime of the Centre, we will use CRM software to maintain a stakeholder and contact database.

ERC has four priority audiences, each of which requires distinct approaches to engagement and impact (see 'Pathways to Impact'):
* National policy makers and influencers (e.g. officials at BEIS, Innovate UK, IPO, BBB, CLG, HMT, HMRC, DFE and Cabinet Office)
* Regional and local level policy makers (e.g. LEPs, Growth Hubs, Midlands Engine, Northern Powerhouse, West Midlands Combined Authority)
* SME leaders and SME-facing organisations
* Business and economic policy think-tanks (e.g. Nesta, IFS, Resolution Foundation, What Works Centre, Centre for Cities, RSA) Delivering on engagement and
impact

The Centre will also continue to have a dedicated Deputy Director for Impact and Engagement to lead on engagement and impact strategy and delivery. Importantly, in terms of infrastructure, we are able to continue to use Warwick Business School's London premises at The Shard to host meetings, and events at no cost.

We will continue to have a strong focus on user engagement, building on our established approach of 'engaged scholarship' - high quality research produced in close collaboration with end-users. Engagement will take place through the Steering Committee (see below) and a new Advisory Panel. For each project we will create a small, focused Project Advisory Groups, comprising relevant stakeholders, users and the research team.

We will continue to publish a regular stream of high quality research outputs including research papers, policy briefings, SOTA reviews and an Annual State of Small Business Britain Report. We will continue to hold an Annual State of Small Business Britain Conference supported by thematic seminars in other locations around the UK. We have developed a set of KPIs to monitor and capture the impact of the ERC's research.
 
Description It is relatively early in the life of this grant and at this point we report below early findings from two initial research projects with a focus on R&D and innovation.

1. Innovation growth and productivity in SMEs - the returns to public and privately funded R&D.
This project addresses three research questions are:

1. What drives innovation in SMEs? How important is R&D? Analysis by sector and size.
2. Which types of innovation (NTM, NTF, organisational strategic etc.) have the greatest productivity payoffs?
3. How do these payoffs vary depending on whether the innovation was publicly or privately funded?

Key findings based on an analysis of the UK Innovation Survey waves 4-10 are as follows:
(a) We find consistent evidence that R&D is positively linked to product/service, process and organisational innovation. Product/service innovation is positively linked to growth but negatively related to productivity. Process innovation is positively related to both growth and productivity. Organisational change has less consistent performance effects but is also linked to productivity improvement.
(b) These effects differ between firm types with the strongest links between R&D and innovation evident in manufacturing, larger and high-tech firms.
(c) Publicly-supported and wholly-privately supported R&D have differential effects on product/service, process and organisational innovation. For product innovation the effects of publicly supported and wholly-privately supported R&D are broadly similar. For process innovation and organisational innovation publicly-supported R&D has a stronger link to firms' innovation.
The results emphasise the different relationship between product/service innovation, growth and productivity and process innovation, growth and productivity. Supporting product/service innovation has potentially negative productivity effects but positive scale (growth) effects. Supporting process innovation has positive effects on both growth and productivity.

2. Leadership and management practices and innovation.
The aim of the project is to identify those managerial practices which are most strongly linked to effective adoption. This leads to three research questions:
• RQ1: What are the most important adoption enabling management and leadership practices?
• RQ2: How do these adoption enabling practices differ by size and sector?
• RQ3: Are the management and leadership practices which enable exploration the same as those which help with exploitation?

Initial analysis has focused on three existing datasets which provide information on management practices as well as innovation, exploitation and exploration. Complementarities between management practices and openness in the innovation process have proved more difficult to identify than expected. Stronger relationships exist between firms' openness strategies and innovation success with significant differences evident between firms aiming at radical and incremental innovation.

The key result is that while there are many ways to organise external collaboration for incremental innovators; for radical innovators, however, successful innovation requires a single combination of external collaboration strategies. In particular, radical innovators need to have a few partners at the idea generation stage, and no partners in commercialization. Our result suggests that radical service innovators can independently commercialize their innovations as long as they have the right partnerships in ideation, and our data suggests that these firms make significant investments in branding their innovations. By contrast, incremental innovators benefit from complementarities in collaboration across the ideation and commercialization stages, and are even able to manage numerous sources of external ideas if they have further support in commercialization.

Barriers to innovation collaboration
The first output from the ERC research project focussed on the foundry and metal forming sectors will be published in November 2019. Called 'The Collaboration Paradox: Understanding the Barriers to Small Firms' Innovation Collaboration' (Temi Akinremi) this research used an in-depth qualitative approach to explore the barriers to collaborative innovation in two traditional manufacturing sectors - metal casting and metal forming. Building on earlier research on informational influences on collaboration, we explore the significance of three market failures which may be limiting the extent of collaborative innovation. They key findings are;
• A clear hierarchy of innovation collaboration strategies exists with many firms keeping their innovation within the boundaries of the organization. For these firms, in-house R&D is the preferred option for driving innovation.
• Despite some collaboration with other sectors, inter-firm collaboration within the two study sectors is almost non-existent. Firms do not collaborate with each other for innovation.
• Lack of knowledge of the capabilities of other firms and collaborators is a barrier to innovation collaboration; knowledge of a potential partner's capabilities has a positive influence on the decision to collaborate.
• Trust is crucial to innovation collaboration. Lack of knowledge of a potential partner's trustworthiness is a limiting factor on the decision to collaborate; knowing more about the trustworthiness of a potential partner can positively influence the decision to collaborate.

The results suggest that informational market failures deter SMEs from engaging in innovation-focused collaborations. Limited or asymmetric information on the benefits of innovation collaboration is a deterrent to a decision to collaborate. Also, insufficient knowledge of the capabilities of potential partners is a constraint on the collaboration decision. The specific types of information which firms needed to make collaboration decisions are: product and process types, quality standards, a firm's reputation, and success in past collaboration projects. Lack of information on these capabilities prevents firms from utilizing available knowledge and creativity from other firms due to a lack of awareness of the various possibilities that are available and can be harnessed.

The findings also suggest that trust is a key determining factor in the decision to collaborate. Difficulty in assessing the trustworthiness of potential partners is a hindrance to innovation collaboration.

Informational market failures impede SMEs from engaging in innovation collaboration. Supply-chain partners and trade bodies can play a useful role in helping firms to overcome these market failures. Trade bodies, in particular, are well positioned to act as 'honest brokers' of information within their sector creating a public good. Modifying the tax treatment of Trade Associations - currently guided by the Lochgelly principle (see HMRC BIM24805) - could allow Associations to develop their brokering and networking activities with significant potential benefits for collaborative innovation. More direct supports could also be developed to help Trade or Industry Associations provide services as innovation intermediaries helping firms to establish and develop collaborative innovation. This type of investment in intermediaries would be a useful complement to the increased support for firm-level innovation envisaged in the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund.

LEP Outlook Report 2019
Undertaken for BEIS jointly with Technopolis this report provides a consistent series of over 80 economic indicators for LEP and local authority areas in England. Indicators span five main themes and a large number of sub-themes. The aims of the study were to make high quality available to individual LEPs and also to ensure that LEPs are using consistent data in the formulation of their Local Industrial Strategies. ERC indicators on innovation and business demographics are part of the overall dataset.
The final outputs from the project comprise three main resources
• Data books and tables providing numerical details on the individual indicators at LEP and local authority level.
• An overview of each indicator summarising its importance and links to productivity, definitions and distribution across areas
• An overview of each LEP drawing on a range of indicators. The focus here was to identify those areas where each LEP stands out from others in terms of the statistics compiled in the database.
The LEP Outlook report will be a useful resource for LEPs and LDAs but also for others interested in any form of geographical analysis including researchers. Publication of the whole set of data is currently delayed by Brexit process.
UK Local Growth Dashboard 2019
The 2019 of the ERC Growth Dashboard was published in July and provides growth metrics for areas across the UK. The Dashboard was widely reported in the national and regional media. The report is designed to present data on a range of business growth metrics and is widely used by LEPs in benchmarking and strategic analysis. A number of the Dashboard indicators are included in the LEP Outlook discussed earlier. We continue to provide a Productivity Growth metric (2015-18) looking at firms who grew both in terms of jobs and revenues but have a faster rate of growth in revenues. Figure 3 illustrates two metrics for start-ups and step-up firms.
Productivity in six sectors
This study undertaken for the Centre for Progressive Policy focuses on the determinants of productivity in six UK sectors. A summary report (40 pages) was recently published by ERC with an accompanying blog by CPP. A book proposal is currently under consideration by Routledge which would include the detailed output from all the sectoral analyses. If this is accepted, we envisage that this would be published in mid-2020.

The starting point for the study is the UK's productivity puzzle which has attracted much attention. Often denominated in terms of 'value added per employee' or 'value added per hour worked' - both measures of labour productivity - the UK's productivity slowdown has been longstanding but has been particularly notable during the post-recession period. Statistical analyses have emphasised that 'the vast majority of labour productivity growth weakness arises due to changes in productivity growth within detailed industry groups'. These variations in sectoral productivity trends provide the starting point and rationale for this report. What are the origins of these diverse trends? Are these the consequence of intra-firm issues linked to leadership and management or technology? Or, do they result from sector specific factors such as regulatory regimes or market competition?

The research approach is primarily qualitative and draws on the experience and knowledge of industry insiders - business leaders, analysts, commentators and policy-makers - in six sectors. Detailed conversations were held with over 80 informants between February and April 2019. This type of qualitative approach is of value to capture the wide range and variety of influences on value added and how these influences have and are changing.

Each of the insider interviews started with a focus on value added per employee. In the vast majority of cases, however, this concept was either unfamiliar or had little meaning in the context in which interviewees were operating. Instead, interviewees tended to equate the term 'productivity' with measures of operating efficiency often linked to physical outputs or throughput. In some sectors - insurance, pharmaceuticals - the term 'productivity' itself had very little resonance and was dismissed as meaningless by a number of insiders. In other contexts such as banking and beverages complex supply chains and/or organisational structures created the potential for highly efficient and much weaker business units to co-exist limiting the perceived value of generalised measures of 'productivity' or value added.
The lack of recognition and use of the term 'productivity' and - in many cases - the lack of understanding of the notion of value added per employee suggests a marked disconnect between policy dialogue and business practice. However, this should not be interpreted as a lack of interest or commitment to improving efficiency. The majority of companies interviewed utilised diverse sets of performance metrics at operational unit and corporate level.

In our interviews the lack of understanding and awareness of value added on the part of many interviewees often made it difficult to have a meaningful conversation about value added per employee. Instead discussions often focussed on measures of operational efficiency with little reference to their contribution to overall value added.

Internal and external influences on 'productivity'
Across each of the sectors productivity - or more accurately - efficiency was influenced by a mix of internal and external influences:
• In Oil and Gas the oil price plays a dominant role in shaping both returns and value added per employee. Other factors highlighted by industry insiders included technology (innovation), management/leadership skills, regulation, geography and geology. As the industry consists primarily of international firms other UK-specific influences relate to geography (geology) and regulation both of which are seen as increasingly negative.

• In Beverages the highly competitive nature of the sector means that there has been a long-term focus on operational efficiency. The added complexity of premiumisation makes further efficiency gains difficult. Regulation and regulatory changes (e.g. sugar tax, reduction of plastic packaging, deposit return) are seen as raising costs and potentially impacting on margins and productivity as are changes to employment legislation (e.g. pension contributions).

• In Pharmaceuticals notions of productivity (efficiency) are seen as relevant only to the manufacturing and logistics element of the supply chain with little concern for value added. Financial indicators of corporate outcomes combine with operational measures to define performance. Challenging technological and market activities define the opportunities for profit, while tax and regulatory policies shape the global distribution of pharma activity and shape the sector's contributions to national economies. Leadership and management quality is generally perceived as high with evidence of a strong industry culture of continuous improvement.

• In Transport Equipment notions of productivity differ between sub-sectors although in none of our discussions was this understood in terms of value added per employee. Market structures and volatility, contract length and supply chain relationships limit efficiency gains. Across the transport equipment sector recruitment and retainment of skilled staff was seen as a barrier to productivity improvement, an effect exacerbated by volatile demand. Business leaders with an engineering specialism and leadership capabilities are also in short supply.

• In Banking our insider interviews suggested little concern with value added. Competition and the innovation that accompanies it was seen as one of the most important drivers of operational efficiency. Competition is driving automation and digital adoption. Maintaining customer experience and satisfaction is also seen as important driving both cultural and technological change. Better training of staff alongside promotion was also seen as a potentially important influence on productivity. Tighter regulation - including increased capital requirements and personal liability - discourages innovation.

• In Insurance competition from incumbents and new entrants was emphasised as a major spur to operational improvements in the sector. However, complacency and conservatism in the sector and firms' leadership were emphasised by respondents as a barrier to innovation and productivity improvement. Regulation was also seen as a key barrier to productivity improvement both through its direct impact on costs and compliance costs as well as its indirect effect through increased conservatism. Conversely, technology was seen by respondents as a positive driver of productivity although some firms were hampered by legacy systems which are incompatible with the needs of data analytics.

There was a general perception, with the exception of the Pharmaceuticals sector, that management and leadership capabilities were often limited and that innovation was limited by conservatism. In some sectors - most notably insurance - this conservatism was linked to the regulatory burden. Leadership and management training was seen as an important area for future development.

Technology was generally seen as an enabler of efficiency and growth although firms' willingness and ability to adopt new technologies could be limited both by funding difficulties where margins are low (Beverages), incompatible legacy systems (Banking, Insurance) and market and supply chain structures (Transport Equipment)

Competition was seen as intensive in most of the sectors considered and interpreted primarily as a driver of innovation. The benefits of innovation were quickly eroded, however, where 'me too' products were developed by competitors (Pharmaceuticals), innovations were copied reducing margins, or customers demanded related price changes (Beverages). The changing nature of competition - the hollowing out of markets - was also evident in a number of consumer-facing sectors (Pharmaceuticals, Beverages, Insurance) with an increasing distinction between low value products/services and more personalised, premium offerings. This 'premiumisation' was seen as having negative productivity effects.

Regulation was also frequently cited as having significant costs. Costs of compliance were reportedly high, particularly where regulation changes repeatedly. Indirect effects - such as increased conservatism - may also result where firms face regulatory risk and/or managers face personal liability.
Building better business resilience
This project funded by J P Morgan foundation is due to end in December 2019. Fieldwork is now completed in the five Cities covered by the study and initial comparative analyses are being undertaken. The final report (December 2019) will provide the basis for the development of a toolkit which can be used by small businesses and business development groups to help develop resilience strategies.
The final report will focus on the experience of adversity among different groups of entrepreneurs with a specific focus on women and ethnic minority entrepreneurs. To illustrate the emerging findings we consider some data here on how firms in different countries deal with a crisis when it occurs. A crisis is defined as a situation that has threatened the survival of the business in the past 5 years. The questionnaire lists eight different actions that might have been used to address the crisis with responses suggesting considerable commonality across the five Cities. In all five cities, the most commonly reported action is the development of a contingency plan to deal with the crisis (44.5% in Paris, 68.9% in Frankfurt, 34.31% in Milan, 44.15% in Madrid and 73.6% in London). The second most commonly reported action is the use of financial reserves. Roughly half of entrepreneurs who faced a crisis used financial reserve or bank as a response to adversity (46.7% in Paris, 56.3% in Frankfurt, 43.07% in Milan, 52.63% in Madrid and 48.66% in London).
The data from the survey research is being used to inform the development of a resilience tool-kit (Figure 5) which follows a healthcheck-analysis-planning cycle. This has been developed in English and will be translated into the other four languages for use by firms there. Discussion is currently underway with organisations such as Business in the Community to explore how they might use the toolkit as part of their work with companies.

November 2018 to February 2019
This report covers the period November 2018 to February 2019 of ERC Phase 3. It highlights progress with core and commissioned projects and provides a summary of a number of key events and meetings that have taken place over the period.
This period has been focussed on the completion of the analytical phase of the first round of primary research projects which form part of the Phase 3 contract, the publication of a number of SOTA reviews, significant engagement events and the commencement of a number of new commissioned projects. The initial round of projects has produced some interesting new insights particularly focussed on innovation and its relationship with productivity and growth. These are discussed in more detail below but in summary we find:
• Significant differences emerge between the optimal profiles of external collaboration (open innovation) for radical and incremental innovation with these 'recipes' different for smaller and larger firms.
• Product/service innovation drives growth but not productivity. Process innovation drives both positively suggesting the value of a policy focus on process change rather than the current emphasis on product/service change.
• Digital adoption is strongly driven by micro-firms' network linkages as well as their competitive context. More ambitious firms are more likely to adopt new digital technologies.
Further work on the impact of research council support on firm growth has also reinforced previous evidence and provided further detailed insights.
A number of other commissioned projects in which ERC is a partner have commenced over this period and we provide an overview later in this report. These include:
• ERC is a partner in a major ESRC funded project on 'Productivity from below' with a focus on productivity in micro-businesses. The project is being led by Professor Monder Ram from Aston Business School and is being undertaken in partnership with Birmingham University Business School and a range of social partners. The ERC element of the project builds on the Micro-business Britain project.
• ERC in partnership with Queens Management School Belfast have agreed a three -year funding deal with the Department for the Economy Northern Ireland. This provides for a Research Fellow to be located at Queen's and deepened collaboration between Queen's and other ERC partners. We provide an overview of the agenda below.
• ERC has partnered with Technopolis (an international innovation and policy consultancy) to deliver a data resource for LEPs across England. Funded by BEIS the project will inform Local Industrial Strategies. This project ends at End-June and we provide an overview below.
• ERC is a partner in a major project on 'Mental Health and Productivity' being funded by the Midlands Engine. This project has been delayed starting but we provide an overview of the ERC involvement and project objectives below.
• ERC has recently completed two small projects for the Canadian Treasury relating to the evaluation of innovation policy initiatives. We have now been invited to submit proposals for two further projects of our own design. More details below.
• ERC has been commissioned by NWES in London to evaluate their Women-In Tech programme funded by Deutsche Bank
Two teach-in events were delivered with policy colleagues at IPO (November and December) with related SOTA reviews published subsequently. We also launched the London survey findings from the 'Building Better Business Resilience Project' funded by JP Morgan at an event held at The Shard in December. The ERC will also lead a workshop at the British Academy of Management Conference later this year based on the findings from the resilience project.
Internationally, the OECD project to advise the Austrian government on future innovation policy concluded in December 2018 with the publication of the OECD report . ERC gave evidence to an Irish government Senate committee on SMEs in mid-November following a submission to their Call for Evidence. Mark Hart also contributed to the recent Inaugural Global Scale-up Summit in Babson College workshop in the US on ERC evidence on scale-ups v high growth episodes and the evidence on mis-match between high-growth firms and the impact on productivity. We have also recently been invited by the Treasury Board of Canada, part of the Canadian government, to provide an expert review of innovation evaluation methodologies in Canada.

March to June 2019
This report covers the three months from March to June 2019 period of ERC Phase 3. It highlights progress with core and commissioned projects and provides a summary of a number of key events and meetings that have taken place over the period.
This period has been focussed on the commencement of the second round of primary research projects which form part of the Phase 3 contract, preparations for the ERC Summer Conference, the publication of a number of SOTA reviews, significant engagement events and the commencement of a number of new commissioned projects. We are delighted that during this period we have completed the appointment of Dr Lee Hopley as part of ERC's team of Directors. More detail on Lee's role and background are provided below.
In the last review we provided some initial details on the results from the first round of ERC projects. We have since developed the reporting of these and re-cap on this below. Other research activity over this period has focussed on the initiation of new projects so these are not at the point of developing new research findings at this point. Discussion below of research highlights focuses on:
• Insiders' views of productivity - evidence from six UK sectors - this commissioned project being undertaken for the Centre for progressive policy illustrates the diversity of factors which drive value add per employee and the disconnect between policy and business dialogues on business performance.
• Mittelstand mindset and the digital age - interim results from this project (to be presented at the June conference) highlight some key differences and similarities between automotive SMEs in the UK and Germany.
• A Tale of Two Sectors - Business Growth Metrics (2010-2018) business growth metrics to take a closer look at how two sectors have been performing in the post-recession period in the UK since 2010 namely manufacturing and business and professional services
• Innovation benchmarks 2019 - an update of the LEP innovation benchmarks previously published in 2015 and 2017 was published earlier in June. Although there have been some changes this largely re-iterates the findings of previous reports with an arc of highly innovative LEPs in the South Midlands and around the M25.

June to November 2019
This report covers the five months from July to November 2019 period of ERC Phase 3. It highlights progress with core and commissioned projects and provides a summary of a number of key events and meetings that have taken place over the period.
This period has been focussed on the continuation of the second round of primary research projects which form part of the Phase 3 contract. The ERC State of Small Business Britain conference was held in June, a number of commissioned projects have been completed and a series of major new project proposals have been submitted or are under development. These include:
• NIPF Fellowship Phase 2 - a joint application with the High Value Manufacturing Catapult and MAN Group Ltd to ESRC for a two-year fellowship (c. £240k) to embed a learning process into the HVMC support for small companies.
• EMEA Evaluation lead - a joint application with University of Wisconsin to the JP Morgan Chase Foundation for a three-year £500k project to evaluate the impact of all small business global initiatives. This is a follow-up to the smaller project on a similar theme for JP Morgan Chase Foundation recently completed by the Aston ERC team.
• Strengthening Places Pilot funding - a joint application with the School of Life Sciences at Warwick for pilot funding (£50k) to develop a full application for the 'Warwickshire Horticulture Hub' to enable more effective local commercialisation of technology.
• National Innovation Centre for Rural Enterprise - a joint bid with Newcastle and Gloucester Universities to Research England to establish a (£4.5m) research and evidence centre for rural businesses. NICRE would combine primary research, action research and an active outreach and business development programme.
• Productivity Institute - ERC colleagues from both Warwick and Aston are part of a developing outline bid (with the PIN network and others) to the ESRC for the recently advertised Productivity Institute.
• Barriers to innovation collaboration - the first output from the ERC research project focussed on the foundry and metal forming sectors. A qualitative investigation of the role of trust and knowledge about potential partner capabilities and their effects on collaboration. This leads to recommendations about the potential contribution of industry associations as knowledge brokers.
• LEP Economic Outlook - undertaken for BEIS jointly with Technopolis this provides a consistent series of over 80 economic indicators for LEP and local authority areas in England. The reports use some interesting data visualisations to help present what is a very large dataset.
• UK Local Growth Dashboard 2019 - published in September this provided growth metrics for areas across the UK and was widely reported in the national and regional media. The Financial Times are doing a special feature in November using the underlying Dashboard data.
• Productivity in six sectors - published in October this summary report highlighted the disconnect between policy and corporate understanding of 'productivity' and suggested the range of internal and external drivers of performance in six UK sectors.
• Building better business resilience - this project is due to come to a conclusion in December 2019 and a final report and project toolkit is currently being developed. These are outlined in more detail below.
Exploitation Route Our results have clear policy implications and should be of value to BEIS and other stakeholders interested in business growth and productivity.
Sectors Communities and Social Services/Policy,Financial Services, and Management Consultancy,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections
URL http://www.enterpriseresearch.ac.uk
 
Description 1. Introduction and summary The Enterprise Research Centre (ERC) was established in February 2013 as the result of an open call by ESRC and funding partners for a new research centre with a focus on small and medium enterprise policy and evidence (SMEs). The underlying premise behind the call was the importance of SMEs to UK economic growth and the weakness of the evidence base for SME policy-making. ERC's aims and objectives have remained largely unchanged since its foundation. Our aim has been 'to create a centre of excellence to support the development of national and local enterprise policy in the UK and internationally'. We have done this by: (1) Undertaking ambitious research to address gaps in the evidence base and improve our theoretical and empirical understanding of the factors affecting entrepreneurship, innovation, growth and productivity in SMEs; (2) Extensive engagement and knowledge curation, to enable firms and policy makers to gain timely access to a robust knowledge base to aid effective planning and decision-making; (3) Developing practical recommendations for SMEs, local and national policy makers based on the evidence; To meet this aim and the objectives our research programme is actively co-created with policy-makers through both formal and informal engagement. This means we are led by policy needs and priorities rather than curiosity and/or the research literature. However, both play a central role in shaping our response to policy challenges and result in much ERC research being published in leading international journals. ERC itself is a research partnership led by led by Warwick (Roper) and Aston (Hart) Business Schools and originally involved other faculty from Birmingham, Imperial, Queen's Belfast and Strathclyde Universities. ERC 'core' funding was originally awarded for 3 years (2013-16). This was reviewed in 2016 and renewed for a further 2 years (2016-2018). Funding was reviewed again in 2018 and a further 3-year award granted (2018-21). The ERC research partnership has changed as policy and research needs have changed and due to some researcher moves. During the most recent 'ERC 3' period (2018-21), staff remain concentrated in Warwick and Aston Business Schools with faculty inputs from Leeds, Queens Belfast and University College Cork. During the ERC Phase 3 ('ERC 3') period (2018-21), funders have included ESRC, BEIS, Innovate UK, the British Business Bank and the Intellectual Property Office. This 'core' funding has totalled around £3.3m (100% FEC) from 2018-21. Related research funding of around £5.2m has been secured during this period through an additional 20 plus research contracts and grants. These include two major awards from the JP Morgan Foundation. During 2020, ERC was also one of three partners in establishing the new Research England funded National Innovation Centre for Rural Enterprise (NICRE) - see www.nicre.ac.uk. ERC staff are also centrally involved in the ESRC funded Productivity Institute. As currently constituted ERC has 22 full and part-time staff and 3 PhD students. 12 staff are 'core' funded: three Directors: Roper (Warwick, 0.4 funded), Hart (Aston, 0.4 funded), Vicki Belt (Impact and Engagement, Warwick, 0.8 funded); four full-time post-doctoral research fellows (Ri, Prashar at Aston and Jibril, Turner at Warwick); two full-time centre-managers (based at Warwick and Aston), and around 6 fractional faculty posts which vary depending on the current project portfolio. Other ERC projects/staff are as follows: one full-time PDRF funded by JP Morgan Foundation; 2 full-time PDRFs funded by the NICRE grant; 1 full-time PDRF funded by a separate ESRC grant, and 1 full-time PDRF funded by an ISCF fellowship. ERC research focuses on supporting policy which can enable SME growth and development. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) provide 60 per cent of UK private sector employment (BEIS, 2020) and young and scaling new firms create a disproportionate share of all new jobs (Anyadike-Danes and Hart, 2017, 2019; Hart et al., 2020). Key themes of recent 'core' projects have been: business innovation and productivity; net zero practices in SMEs; digital readiness and adoption in SMEs; local productivity distributions; and, financial constraints on SME growth. During the pandemic ERC produced around 30 separate analyses and other publications related to the impact of COVID-19 on SMEs and innovation linked to our COVID-19 resource hub (see https://www.enterpriseresearch.ac.uk/covid-19-resource-directory/). ERC has contributed directly to ESRC strategic priorities around Covid-19 and productivity as well as wider goals related to impact and the active engagement of researchers in policy development. 2. Key outputs and impacts to date - ERC3 ERC research is largely econometric often involving the analysis of large scale, firm-level datasets. Much of our econometric analysis involves data matching - the integration of one or more administrative or survey databases to generate new combinations of data and insight. This data matching has developed as a core competence within the ERC team of research fellows and has provided the basis for a number of additionally funded projects. One of these discussed below matched UKRI grant data with longitudinal data on business performance to model UKRI business growth impacts (Vanino et al. 2019). Most of the ERC's research is co-produced with stakeholders who are involved throughout the research lifecycle, from project design through to completion and dissemination. The ERC team are in regular contact with policymakers and have become regarded as respected advisors and experts, and a source of stable, trusted insight. This has been especially valued in recent years within the context of a constantly shifting business policy landscape and many changes within government . As the Head of Policy at the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) noted when interviewed as a part of a stakeholder evaluation, "In my view the ERC are clearly the authoritative repository on a wide plethora of small business issues - with invaluable institutional memory" This 'trusted expert' role has been important in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, with ERC staff working closely to support policymakers during the crisis. The team have provided highly responsive advice and expertise to help develop strategies for business support during this challenging period, producing a range of research outputs. Scientific output 1: High-growth firms v high-growth episodes The focus of much policy debate in the UK has been the lack of high-growth or scale up firms. ERC research has suggested that this pre-occupation with high-growth firms is misplaced and, in policy terms, potentially misleading. Policy lessons for high growth firms suggest the importance of identifying and supporting these firms. The implication being that firms which experience high-growth will continue to do so. ERC research suggests that this is not the case with very few firms sustaining high-growth beyond the first three years. Instead, ERC cohort analysis of business dynamics has suggested that some firms experience high-growth spells or episodes and then, in the main, settle back to having unexceptional growth rates (Anyadike-Danes and Hart, 2019; Hart et al., 2020). This suggests a policy prescription linked to high-growth episodes rather than high growth firms and a focus on enabling firms to rapidly access appropriate support when needed to maximise growth potential when market opportunities arise and growth commences. This perspective has shaped policy thinking in BEIS as well as in Scottish Enterprise and provided an influential counter to the focus on scale-up firms. Scientific output 2: Estimating R&D and innovation policy impacts Following a suggestion from a BEIS member of staff ERC conducted a data matching exercise to provide an estimate of the overall impact of UKRI support on busines growth and performance. This population level assessment - including all UKRI grants and all assisted firms - matched administrative data on all UKRI grants from Gateway to Research with longitudinal data on business performance from the Business Structure Database (which is itself based on VAT and PAYE data). Analysis was undertaken in the ESRC Secure Data Lab and involved the application of Propensity Score Matching - Difference in Difference modelling. The analysis provided the first comprehensive analysis of the impact of UKRI support with differential estimated being made for different research councils and firm size-bands etc. The results were initially published as an ERC working paper and subsequently open access in Research Policy , the leading innovation studies journal. Lead author on the ERC research paper and subsequent publication (Enrico Vanino) was an ERC research fellow illustrating our publication objectives for research fellows. The paper has been widely cited and has led to subsequent (additionally funded) research projects on the impact of Catapults and regional R&D and innovation support. Scientific output 3: Evaluating small business policy impacts using RCTs Evaluating the impacts of SME policy has long been a concern of researchers involved in ERC and this is reflected in the impact examples below. ERC researchers have contributed particularly to pioneering the application of experimental methods to the evaluation of small business policy through Randomised Control Trials (or RCTs). A recently published assessment provided an indication of the rarity of this type of study, emphasising the ERC contribution (Dalziel 2018). The RCT evaluation of Creative Credits undertaken by members of the ERC team was published initially as an ERC research paper (2013) and subsequently in Research Policy (Bakhshi et al. 2015). ERC staff have currently been involved in advisory groups for SME policy RCTs for BEIS and this ERC research contributed to the introduction of the Business Basics RCT programme. ERC have worked with Cavendish Consortium (2020) on further RCTs funded by the Business Basics programme related to training for entrepreneurs and digital adoption in family firms . Impact example 1: Supporting digital adoption in SMEs (2017- ) The ERC's research has also led to new Government investment in a series of initiatives designed to improve firm productivity. As one BEIS official has stated: "ERC research has added to our understanding of management skills/practices, SME resilience, firm growth patterns and evaluation methodology which has directly influenced the design of the 'Business Basics Programme', the 'Business Productivity Review', our work through 'Be The Business' and the development of the BEIS 'Business Support Evaluation Framework'" . Specifically, ERC's ground-breaking work on digital adoption in SMEs influenced the design of the 'Business Basics' programme. This £9.2 million, four-year programme was launched in 2018 as a part of the UK Government's Industrial Strategy, and involves testing innovative ways of encouraging SMEs to adopt digital technologies. ERC work on digital adoption has also informed the activities of 'Be the Business', an industry-led initiative backed by government launched to help businesses across the UK benchmark and improve their productivity. The organisation has developed a programme to help SMEs take advantage of the productivity benefits associated with adopting technologies, with ERC insights used in the programme design. The 'Be the Business' team are now working with government and other partners on a strategy for mass technology diffusion and adoption in the context of recovery from the Covid-19 crisis, again drawing on ERC research insights and advice. Impact example 2: Data building - the Longitudinal Small Business Survey Research undertaken by the ERC team has transformed both the quantity and quality of data available on SMEs. Notably, stimulating new investment by the UK Government in a major national survey of SMEs (the LSBS) in 2015, which was subsequently given official statistics status. As a result of ERC's insights, the survey methodology was changed to take a longitudinal approach, with businesses re-surveyed in subsequent years. This allowed, for the first time, a detailed analysis to be undertaken of factors that affect SME performance through time, thus vastly improving the quality of the data available to policymakers. This data helped to inform the development of new business support services such as the Growth Hubs in England - local public-private partnerships led by the 38 Local Enterprise Councils (LEPs). As a BEIS official summarised: "...the ERC played a pivotal role in providing the technical input that underpinned the development of the [LSBS]... It would be difficult to overstate the impact that the development of the LSBS has had on policymaking throughout government. It has provided rigorous evidence on the factors that shape SME performance and growth that previously simply did not exist and in doing so has provided for more considered and better evidenced policymaking" . LSBS - now in its 7th year - is now a widely used data resource for understanding issues relating to SME performance. Impact example 3: Policy support and development Aston and the ERC are partners in the delivery and assessment of the economic impact of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Programme as it evolved from a regional programme led by ABS in the Midlands to a national programme in 2016. The impact of this programme on the growth and productivity of small businesses was highlighted in the Building Small Business Britain report in November 2018 - a 28% increase in productivity in excess of what they would have achieved without participation in the programme, five years after graduating. Further, there is a positive and significant employment effect of 23% and revenue effect of 25% over two years following graduation. This evidence was used as part of the business case used by HMT to announce a Small Business Leadership Programme in the UK government's November 2018 Budget (FSB 2020). More recently ERC evidence and engagement with HMT underpinned the development and introduction of the Help to Grow Management and Help to Grow Digital schemes announced in the 2021 budget. 'Mark Hart and the wider work of the Enterprise Research Centre have been instrumental in supporting the development of HMG's SME productivity policy - particularly the new Help to Grow initiative. The evidence and evaluations that the Centre has produced have been of enormous value to policy officials in understand the scope of the challenge that small businesses face, and the effectiveness of previous interventions' . ERC staff are now advising HMT and BEIS on the evaluation framework for the Help2Grow programmes. Impact example 4: Shaping local enterprise policy At the local level, metrics included in the ERC's Local Growth Dashboard and Innovation Benchmarks reports have informed local growth plans and been adopted as performance benchmarks by many LEPs . The ERC is currently advising individual LEPs on their data needs so that they can better monitor and understand specific challenges. ERC are represented on the Greater Birmingham and Solihull LEP Recovery Taskforce set up due to the COVID-19 crisis to provide insights into where policy interventions should be focussed. The Local Growth Dashboard has also been used to help LEPs engage with the new round of Regional Entrepreneurship Action Plan (REAP) projects led by Massachusetts institute of Technology (MIT) and funded by BEIS. The Financial Times has incorporated ERC Local Growth Dashboard data into its annual Special Report on Small Business. Case studies have been provided to illustrate the trends in the data .
First Year Of Impact 2017
Sector Communities and Social Services/Policy,Creative Economy,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Financial Services, and Management Consultancy,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections,Other
Impact Types Policy & public services
 
Description ANALYSIS OF LSBS FOR WALES CONTRACT NUMBER 2021/02LSBS
Amount £4,960 (GBP)
Organisation Government of Wales 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 02/2021 
End 05/2021
 
Description Assessing the drivers of productivity change in the six UK sectors (Centre for Progressive Policy, Nov-18, Apr-19)
Amount £219,600 (GBP)
Organisation Enterprise Research Centre 
Sector Charity/Non Profit
Country United Kingdom
Start 09/2018 
End 03/2019
 
Description BIS Research and Evaluation Framework Agreement - Lot 5
Amount £147,800 (GBP)
Organisation UK Shared Business Services 
Sector Private
Country United Kingdom
Start 02/2019 
End 05/2019
 
Description Belfast City Council Project
Amount £40,000 (GBP)
Organisation Belfast City Council 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 09/2020 
End 02/2021
 
Description Business support in less favoured areas (FSB, Nov-18, Dec-18)
Amount £8,000 (GBP)
Organisation Federation of Small Business (FSB) 
Sector Charity/Non Profit
Country United Kingdom
Start 09/2018 
End 11/2018
 
Description COVID-19 effects on innovate UK
Amount £40,000 (GBP)
Organisation Innovate UK 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 05/2020 
End 05/2021
 
Description Cavendish MicrBusiness Productivity Boost Project
Amount £20,376 (GBP)
Organisation Innovate UK 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 01/2019 
End 03/2020
 
Description Cavendish Micro-Business Productivity Boost Project (BEIS, Jan-19, Dec-19)
Amount £25,470 (GBP)
Organisation Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 01/2019 
End 12/2019
 
Description Digital Catapult data matching project
Amount £10,000 (GBP)
Organisation Digital Catapult 
Sector Charity/Non Profit
Country United Kingdom
Start 03/2019 
End 05/2019
 
Description EDI in Foundation industries
Amount £20,000 (GBP)
Organisation Innovate UK 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 01/2020 
End 05/2021
 
Description English Champagne? Geographical Indications (GIs) and productivity after Brexit (ESRC, Jan-19, Jan-21, 249)
Amount £201,469 (GBP)
Funding ID ES/S006419/1 
Organisation Economic and Social Research Council 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 11/2018 
End 10/2020
 
Description Evaluation of Scottish Account Management (Scottish Enterprise/Scottish Government, Jan-18, Feb-19)
Amount £40,000 (GBP)
Organisation Scottish Enterprise 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 01/2018 
End 02/2019
 
Description Evaluation of Small Business Support (JP Morgan, Sep-18, Feb-19)
Amount £42,000 (GBP)
Organisation JPMorgan Chase Foundation 
Sector Charity/Non Profit
Country United States
Start 10/2018 
End 04/2019
 
Description Evaluation of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult Project
Amount £42,250 (GBP)
Organisation Innovate UK 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 01/2019 
End 12/2020
 
Description Exploring Enterprise and Innovation in Northern Ireland (DFE (NI), Mar-19, Mar-22)
Amount £375,000 (GBP)
Organisation Department for the Economy, Northern Ireland 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 03/2019 
End 03/2022
 
Description How to improve Productivity in the Manufacturing Supply Chain - Diffusing Excellence across the UK Casting and Metal-forming Sectors
Amount £331,641 (GBP)
Funding ID ES/S001786/1 
Organisation Economic and Social Research Council 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 01/2018 
End 01/2021
 
Description ISCF Foundation Industries - baseline insights
Amount £103,858 (GBP)
Funding ID ES/V004344/1 
Organisation Economic and Social Research Council 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 02/2020 
End 11/2020
 
Description Institute of Physics-Profiling UK businesses in sectors intensively and less intensively engaging with physics
Amount £14,000 (GBP)
Organisation Institute of Physics (IOP) 
Sector Learned Society
Country United Kingdom
Start 02/2021 
End 05/2021
 
Description Local economic outlook for LEPs (BEIS, Feb-19, Jun-19)
Amount £25,000 (GBP)
Organisation Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 02/2019 
End 06/2019
 
Description Mental Health and Productivity - 2
Amount £120,000 (GBP)
Organisation University of Warwick 
Sector Academic/University
Country United Kingdom
Start 01/2021 
End 03/2021
 
Description Midlands Engine Tender
Amount £3,086,278 (GBP)
Organisation Nottingham City Council 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 07/2019 
End 06/2022
 
Description Mittelstand Mindset project (High Value Manufacturing Catapult, Jan-19, Apr-19)
Amount £22,000 (GBP)
Organisation High Value Manufacturing Catapult 
Sector Private
Country United Kingdom
Start 01/2019 
End 04/2019
 
Description Productivity from Below - Understanding productivity growth in micro-businesses
Amount £890,000 (GBP)
Funding ID ES/S012788/1 
Organisation Economic and Social Research Council 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 04/2019 
End 04/2022
 
Description Productivity from Below: Addressing the Productivity Challenges of Microbusinesses
Amount £726,031 (GBP)
Funding ID ES/S012788/1 
Organisation Economic and Social Research Council 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 05/2019 
End 05/2022
 
Description SE High Growth Firms Project (Scottish Enterprise, Jan-19, May-19)
Amount £20,000 (GBP)
Organisation Scottish Enterprise 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 01/2019 
End 05/2019
 
Description Supply Chain Project
Amount £165,000 (GBP)
Organisation Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 02/2018 
End 01/2021
 
Description The Design Economy
Amount £60,000 (GBP)
Organisation Design Council 
Sector Charity/Non Profit
Country United Kingdom
Start 02/2018 
End 10/2018
 
Description The adoption of proven new technology in small family businesses
Amount £399,177 (GBP)
Funding ID 50442 
Organisation Innovate UK 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 05/2020 
End 02/2022
 
Description What works for innovation? Policy and workforce in the research & development active chemical sciences sector
Amount £56,650 (GBP)
Organisation Royal Society of Chemistry 
Sector Charity/Non Profit
Country United Kingdom
Start 03/2021 
End 09/2021
 
Description Building resilient businesses among disadvantaged groups 
Organisation Aston University
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution This project focuses on personal and business resilience among business founders from disadvantaged groups. ERC is the lead partner in this project working with research partners in France, Germany, Italy and Spain. The study will comprise an initial literature review, fieldwork in London (late 2018) and survey fieldwork in four other European cities (Milan, Frankfurt, Paris and Madrid).
Collaborator Contribution Key outcomes from the project will be research reports and toolkits to enable business facing organisations to support the development of resilient businesses. Dr Maria Wishart is the research fellow working on this project. This project is proceeding as per the planned timeline with the literature review well underway. This is focussing on two key strands of literature - resilience at individual and organisational levels and the contribution of disadvantaged groups to entrepreneurship across Europe. Both will be completed by end-May and launched in early-July. A UK Advisory Group for the project has been established and held its first meeting and Advisory Groups are being established in partner countries.
Impact Two initial literature review were published on July 2018. Initial key findings report was published on December 2018. European fieldwork is currently underway and initial results are due in July-August 2019. Development of related tool-kits is currently underway and will be finalised by December 2019.
Start Year 2017
 
Description Building resilient businesses among disadvantaged groups 
Organisation IE University
Country Spain 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution This project focuses on personal and business resilience among business founders from disadvantaged groups. ERC is the lead partner in this project working with research partners in France, Germany, Italy and Spain. The study will comprise an initial literature review, fieldwork in London (late 2018) and survey fieldwork in four other European cities (Milan, Frankfurt, Paris and Madrid).
Collaborator Contribution Key outcomes from the project will be research reports and toolkits to enable business facing organisations to support the development of resilient businesses. Dr Maria Wishart is the research fellow working on this project. This project is proceeding as per the planned timeline with the literature review well underway. This is focussing on two key strands of literature - resilience at individual and organisational levels and the contribution of disadvantaged groups to entrepreneurship across Europe. Both will be completed by end-May and launched in early-July. A UK Advisory Group for the project has been established and held its first meeting and Advisory Groups are being established in partner countries.
Impact Two initial literature review were published on July 2018. Initial key findings report was published on December 2018. European fieldwork is currently underway and initial results are due in July-August 2019. Development of related tool-kits is currently underway and will be finalised by December 2019.
Start Year 2017
 
Description Building resilient businesses among disadvantaged groups 
Organisation Institute for SME Research Bonn
Country Germany 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution This project focuses on personal and business resilience among business founders from disadvantaged groups. ERC is the lead partner in this project working with research partners in France, Germany, Italy and Spain. The study will comprise an initial literature review, fieldwork in London (late 2018) and survey fieldwork in four other European cities (Milan, Frankfurt, Paris and Madrid).
Collaborator Contribution Key outcomes from the project will be research reports and toolkits to enable business facing organisations to support the development of resilient businesses. Dr Maria Wishart is the research fellow working on this project. This project is proceeding as per the planned timeline with the literature review well underway. This is focussing on two key strands of literature - resilience at individual and organisational levels and the contribution of disadvantaged groups to entrepreneurship across Europe. Both will be completed by end-May and launched in early-July. A UK Advisory Group for the project has been established and held its first meeting and Advisory Groups are being established in partner countries.
Impact Two initial literature review were published on July 2018. Initial key findings report was published on December 2018. European fieldwork is currently underway and initial results are due in July-August 2019. Development of related tool-kits is currently underway and will be finalised by December 2019.
Start Year 2017
 
Description Building resilient businesses among disadvantaged groups 
Organisation University of Nice Sophia-Antipolis
Country France 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution This project focuses on personal and business resilience among business founders from disadvantaged groups. ERC is the lead partner in this project working with research partners in France, Germany, Italy and Spain. The study will comprise an initial literature review, fieldwork in London (late 2018) and survey fieldwork in four other European cities (Milan, Frankfurt, Paris and Madrid).
Collaborator Contribution Key outcomes from the project will be research reports and toolkits to enable business facing organisations to support the development of resilient businesses. Dr Maria Wishart is the research fellow working on this project. This project is proceeding as per the planned timeline with the literature review well underway. This is focussing on two key strands of literature - resilience at individual and organisational levels and the contribution of disadvantaged groups to entrepreneurship across Europe. Both will be completed by end-May and launched in early-July. A UK Advisory Group for the project has been established and held its first meeting and Advisory Groups are being established in partner countries.
Impact Two initial literature review were published on July 2018. Initial key findings report was published on December 2018. European fieldwork is currently underway and initial results are due in July-August 2019. Development of related tool-kits is currently underway and will be finalised by December 2019.
Start Year 2017
 
Description Building resilient businesses among disadvantaged groups 
Organisation University of Padova
Country Italy 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution This project focuses on personal and business resilience among business founders from disadvantaged groups. ERC is the lead partner in this project working with research partners in France, Germany, Italy and Spain. The study will comprise an initial literature review, fieldwork in London (late 2018) and survey fieldwork in four other European cities (Milan, Frankfurt, Paris and Madrid).
Collaborator Contribution Key outcomes from the project will be research reports and toolkits to enable business facing organisations to support the development of resilient businesses. Dr Maria Wishart is the research fellow working on this project. This project is proceeding as per the planned timeline with the literature review well underway. This is focussing on two key strands of literature - resilience at individual and organisational levels and the contribution of disadvantaged groups to entrepreneurship across Europe. Both will be completed by end-May and launched in early-July. A UK Advisory Group for the project has been established and held its first meeting and Advisory Groups are being established in partner countries.
Impact Two initial literature review were published on July 2018. Initial key findings report was published on December 2018. European fieldwork is currently underway and initial results are due in July-August 2019. Development of related tool-kits is currently underway and will be finalised by December 2019.
Start Year 2017
 
Description How to improve Productivity in the Manufacturing Supply Chain - Diffusing Excellence across the UK Casting and Metal-forming Sectors 
Organisation Cast Metals Federation
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution • Assist with the scope of the project including the development of census questions and questions which could provide benchmark comparisons with other relevant surveys and the previous industry census published in 2013; • Contribute to an analysis of the findings from the survey and provide a commentary on the survey results and analysis; • Facilitate contacts to market research groups who may be able to assist the Cast Metals Federation with any additional fieldwork or interviews.
Collaborator Contribution Cast Metal Federation will undertake the majority of the data collection, and initial analysis of the information gathered, using in-house resources.
Impact Data collection for the first stage of this project is now complete and the first results from the project were presented to industry representatives on 22nd November 2018. Discussions are currently taking place with industry representatives to shape research activity in Years 2 and 3 of the fellowship.
Start Year 2018
 
Description National Innovation Centre for Rural Enterprise 
Organisation Newcastle University
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution ERC are leading on the research stream of NICRE contributing expertise on small firms and related policy initiatives.
Collaborator Contribution Research England are project funders. Other partners form part of the research consortium and are also engaged in a range of related business development projects.
Impact None as yet
Start Year 2020
 
Description National Innovation Centre for Rural Enterprise 
Organisation Royal Agricultural University (RAU)
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution ERC are leading on the research stream of NICRE contributing expertise on small firms and related policy initiatives.
Collaborator Contribution Research England are project funders. Other partners form part of the research consortium and are also engaged in a range of related business development projects.
Impact None as yet
Start Year 2020
 
Description National Innovation Centre for Rural Enterprise 
Organisation University of Gloucestershire
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution ERC are leading on the research stream of NICRE contributing expertise on small firms and related policy initiatives.
Collaborator Contribution Research England are project funders. Other partners form part of the research consortium and are also engaged in a range of related business development projects.
Impact None as yet
Start Year 2020
 
Description Small Business Forward - EMEA Evaluation lead 
Organisation JPMorgan Chase Foundation
Country United States 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution This project aims to develop a methodology for the evaluation of small business support initiatives undertaken by the JP Morgan Chase Foundation in the US and EMEA region. ERC and the University of Wisconsin are partnering to deliver the project internationally.
Collaborator Contribution JP Morgan are funding the project. ERC and the University of Wisconsin are partnering to deliver the project internationally.
Impact None as yet
Start Year 2020
 
Description Small Business Forward - EMEA Evaluation lead 
Organisation University of Wisconsin-Madison
Country United States 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution This project aims to develop a methodology for the evaluation of small business support initiatives undertaken by the JP Morgan Chase Foundation in the US and EMEA region. ERC and the University of Wisconsin are partnering to deliver the project internationally.
Collaborator Contribution JP Morgan are funding the project. ERC and the University of Wisconsin are partnering to deliver the project internationally.
Impact None as yet
Start Year 2020
 
Description : A presentation in September at the Association for Innovation, Research and Technology Organisations (AIRTO) webinar on R&D & the comprehensive spending review; 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact R&D & the comprehensive spending review
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description A live debate in November as part of the ESRC's Festival of Social Science 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact A live debate in November between Mark Hart and Stephen Roper and chaired by Lee Hopley as part of the ESRC's Festival of Social Science on the theme of how the best recover economically from the COVID-19 crisis - innovation or entrepreneurship
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description APPG for Entrepreneurship 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact The ERC are working in collaboration with the APPG for Entrepreneurship to produce a report on Levelling Up and why supporting new business creation will be key to it. A Call for Evidence has been issued asking entrepreneurs, business groups and research for information about what is and what isn't working to support entrepreneurs across the UK.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description Annual Conference 2018 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact The fifth ERC State of Small Business Britain Conference was held on June 21st at The Shard. This year the focus of the event was on the highly topical theme of 'Productivity and Place'. The Government's Industrial Strategy recognises that if we are to continue to have a competitive national economy, it will be vital to build on the strengths of local economies. But data shows strong geographical variations in SME productivity. Through a range of presentations and panel discussions, the conference focused on the latest data and evidence on SME performance in the UK and reflected on the opportunities and challenges involved in raising the productivity of the UK's SMEs.

Through a lively mix of presentations and discussions, the conference covered a range of issues affecting the productivity of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the links between location and business performance. On the day the ERC also launched findings from our new major survey on micro-businesses in the UK, as well as releasing new data from the 2018 UK Local Growth Dashboard. The key findings from both Micro-business Britain and the Growth Dashboard were reported in our new conference report - The State of Small Business Britain 2018.

The conference was chaired by Lucy Armstrong, Chair of the ERC's Steering Group, and we were joined by speakers from BEIS, NatWest, Be the Business, the CBI, CCC, FSB, West Yorkshire Combined Authority, the Scale-Up institute, as well as two small business leaders speaking about their own experiences of receiving external support to make performance improvements to their businesses.

Overall, the conference had four main aims: 1) to cement the position of the ERC as a source of robust data and evidence on SME growth and provider of valuable insights on the economic development landscape; 2) to gather together a range of key influencers from the business, policy and practitioner communities and generate stimulating discussion and debate; 3) to share new ERC research insights on the themes of productivity and place; 4) to demonstrate the position of the ERC as sitting at the centre of policy debates on SME growth, and its close connections with the policy and business communities. All of these aims were successfully met. Delegate feedback received both on the day, and via the post-event feedback questionnaire, was overwhelmingly positive, particularly in terms of the effectiveness of the sessions, conference chairing, the mix of speakers and overall conference organisation. The press releases we generated for the event generated quality media coverage, and we achieved significant attention from key stakeholders and influencers on social media, and an increase in visitors to the ERC's website (more detail in the evaluation report).
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description BEIS Business Support Evaluation Workshop 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact BEIS Business Support Evaluation Workshop - ERC (Roper and Hart) attended this workshop on 23rd July designed to help design an overall framework for evaluating BEIS business support schemes going forward.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description BEIS business support workshop 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact BEIS business support workshop - The ERC Directors also participated in a BEIS-ESRC invited workshop on 'Business Support and SME Productivity' in BEIS on Friday February 16th which was the first in a series of events in the review signalled in the Industrial Strategy
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Be the Business - Lunch and Learn Session 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Be the Business - Lunch and Learn Session - Professor Mark Hart led a workshop for analysts in the Be the Business on 13th June to provide them with an overview of the ERC's work on productivity and other aspects of small business growth.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Better Business Resilience Report Launch Event 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact On 12th December, more than sixty stakeholders attended our event at WBS in The Shard, to launch the London survey findings of the 'Building Better Business Resilience' study supported by the JPMorgan Chase Foundation. This study is focusing on female and ethnic-minority business leaders who are generally under-represented in entrepreneurship, seeking to identify the characteristics that underpin resilience in these groups and to develop toolkits to help their businesses to become more resilient. The preliminary findings of the research indicate that ethnic-led businesses are considerably more likely than non-ethnic led businesses to have experienced an event that threatened their survival in the recent past. It is also evident that female and ethnic leaders manage their businesses in different ways than their male and non-ethnic counterparts, and that the location of an SME may be relevant to its ability to withstand shocks. We issued a press release alongside the event and received good coverage of the research findings in The Times.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Business Support and SME Productivity Review (2018) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact ERC are working with the Business Growth Directorate in BEIS on this review trailed in the Industrial Strategy White Paper. Our role is to provide analysis, interpretation and recommendations to the Department as they prepare their business support offers in November 2018. ERC has worked with the What Works Centre for Local growth on a submission on the principles for a business support framework in England. There are a series of workshops and events in the coming months involving ERC researchers.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description ERC / Lloyds Banking Group Centre for Business Prosperity Research Showcase: SME Business Futures 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact a research showcase on SME business futures, where we will present new research findings on UK SMEs and their approaches to digitalisation and net zero, and the impact of the COVID-19 crisis
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description ERC / OECD virtual brownbag discussion: Digital and Net zero transitions of SMEs 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact The ERC team - Director Stephen Roper, Senior Research Fellow Effie Kesidou and Research Fellow Anastasia Ri - met colleagues from the OECD 'SME, Entrepreneurship and Tourism' division on Tuesday 11th May to discuss current policy and research agenda, identify research gaps and share views on net zero and digital transition of SMEs. It was agreed to carry on focused discussions in the future.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description ERC @ the Thought Experiment 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Stephen Roper and Mark Hart were guest speakers of the Open Innovation Team in the Cabinet Office on Thursday February 15th to kick off their Spring 'Thought Experiment' seminar series. They discussed SME growth and productivity and presented new data and ideas on business support and innovation to officials from Cabinet Office, HMT and Number 10. The Open Innovation Team helps Whitehall departments generate analysis and ideas by deepening collaboration with academics.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description ERC Phase 3 Launch Dinner 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact We held a dinner event on 14th February for funders, the Vice Chancellors of Warwick and Aston Universities, and both of the university Business School Deans to mark the launch of ERC Phase 3. We held a very useful discussion during the dinner about the future strategy and priorities for the Centre, with positive feedback from both Vice Chancellors on the previous performance and future potential impact of the Centre.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description ERC at Stats Canada 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact ERC at Stats Canada - Stephen Roper presented some of the latest ERC research at a seminar on 1st March in Ottawa organised by the Canadian government on evaluating the impact of public support for R&D. Other speakers from Canada and the OECD explored alternative approaches to impact evaluation using administrative and survey data.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description ERC contributed to the 'Integra' industry association annual conference (20th September) with a presentation on 'Innovation to profit'. 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact ERC contributed to the 'Integra' industry association annual conference (20th September) with a presentation on 'Innovation to profit'.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description ERC convened a meeting to support the Industrial Strategy 2.4% R&D target for BEIS on 8th March 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact ERC convened a meeting to support the Industrial Strategy 2.4% R&D target for BEIS on 8th March
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description ERC held a series of meetings and engagement with DIT staff 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact ERC held a series of meetings and engagement with DIT staff relating to the measurement of the benefits of external trading (18th April and subsequently)
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description ERC/APPG for Entrepreneurship Virtual Roundtable: Levelling Up 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact The ERC joined forces with the APPG for Entrepreneurship on Wednesday 10th March to hold a virtual roundtable on the theme of 'levelling up'. Mark Hart set the scene for the discussion, giving an overview of the evidence on four key themes: Finance; Productivity; Innovation and Business Dynamism. Seema Malhotra MP and Jo Gideon MP responded to the evidence and a lively discussion followed around what the key elements of a successful levelling up strategy should look like. The discussion at the event will inform a subsequent Call for Evidence and Briefing Paper on the theme of Levelling Up from the APPG.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description ESRC-ONS workshop on 'Understanding management practices, employee engagement and firm-level productivity: where are we now and what next?', held at the BEIS Conference Centre in London on 28th February. 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Vicki Belt participated in the ESRC-ONS workshop on 'Understanding management practices, employee engagement and firm-level productivity: where are we now and what next?', held at the BEIS Conference Centre in London on 28th February. This event focused on identifying a potential new research agenda around management practices, employee engagement and firm-level productivity, so insights from ERC research on the SME dimensions to the issues were relevant.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description GEM UK 2017 Report Launch 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact GEM UK 2017 Report Launch - NatWest sponsored the GEM UK report and hosted the launch on 4th July in their Accelerator Hub in Islington - Professor Mark Hart and Professor Jonathan Levie presented the headline results and Alison Rose (CEO) provided a response.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description How have SMEs fared during the pandemic? 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Lee Hopley is joined by Professor Stephen Roper, Director of the ERC, and Professor Mark Hart and Dr Vicki Belt, Deputy Directors at the ERC discussing the ERC's research into small and medium-sized enterprises, and particularly about what they have found out about how businesses have fared over the past year during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description Invited seminar University College Cork 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Invited seminar University College Cork - Bettina Becker has been invited to present the paper 'The effectiveness of regional, national and EU support for innovation in the UK and Spain', co-authored with Stephen Roper and Jim Love, at a seminar at University College Cork on 23rd March.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Invited seminar at Punjab University 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Invited seminar at Punjab University - Neha Prashar, ERC Research Fellow was invited by Professor Arun Grover, Vice Chancellor of Panjab University, to give a seminar on her PhD topic at Panjab University, Chandigarh, India on February 26th 2018. Her presentation covered one part of her thesis that analysed the relationship between domestic violence, women's working status and women reservation policy in public employment in India. The research topic was well received and proved a successful seminar, bridging important contacts within the Economics Department and Panjab University.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Local Growth and Levelling Up 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact Exploring Enterprise are Colin Bell, Business and Sector Growth Director, North East LEP, and Richard Jeffery, National Director of Growth Company Business to discuss local growth and 'levelling up', sharing their perspectives on what it means and the main challenges in achieving it in North East England and Manchester.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description Mark Hart delivered a keynote to the "Business and Start-up Growth Roundtable" in Liverpool 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact • Mark Hart delivered a keynote to the "Business and Start-up Growth Roundtable" in Liverpool hosted by the Liverpool Business Group (Federation of Small Business, Confederation of British Industry, Institute of Directors, Business Improvement District, Professional Liverpool, Downtown in Business and The Women's Organisation (14th September).
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Mark Hart joined an expert panel on a webinar How do we fire up the start ups? 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact ERC Deputy Director Mark Hart joined an expert panel on a webinar How do we fire up the start ups? hosted by The Centre for the New Midlands covering questions around making the West Midlands the most attractive place to start a new business in the UK.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description Meeting with WMG 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact • The ERC met with colleagues from the SME group from the Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG) based at Warwick University. WMG provides pioneering support for innovation in SMEs. It has worked with thousands of SMEs to help them address technology challenges, exploit new opportunities and gain competitive advantage. We discussed potential collaboration opportunities.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description Midlands Investment Summit (20th March) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Midlands Investment Summit (20th March) - Mark Hart presented at the UKBAA session at the one-day investment summit on small business growth and angel and equity finance
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Monitoring and Evaluation workshop for the Mayoral Combined Authorities hosted by BEIS 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact • Mark Hart participated in a Monitoring and Evaluation workshop for the Mayoral Combined Authorities hosted by BEIS - he delivered a session on the ERC evaluation of the Scottish Enterprise Account Managed Client system (24th October).
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description New Anglia LEP Innovation Event (24 April) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact New Anglia LEP Innovation Event (24 April) - Mark Hart presented a session on driving business growth and commercialising innovation to an audience of business owners and policy makers.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description OECD mission to Vietnam sponsored by the Canadian Government 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact • In May Kevin Mole was part of an OECD mission to Vietnam sponsored by the Canadian Government that will report on SME development. The team comprised experts from Sweden, Italy, Canada and France as well as the UK. Kevin will lead on the chapter of Business Development Services (BDS); other chapters include the policy process, access to finance and examining the linkages between SMEs and FDI. The report is scheduled to be completed by August 2019.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description OECD/BEIS Workshop on Productivity and Business Support (26-27 April) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact OECD/BEIS Workshop on Productivity and Business Support (26-27 April) - Kevin Mole and Mark Hart attended this 2-day workshop to engage with an invited international audience to discuss evaluation evidence on the impact of business support programmes and initiatives.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Participation at 2nd Advisory Board meeting for the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre on 20th March 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact • Vicki Belt took part in the 2nd Advisory Board meeting for the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre on 20th March. This new collaborative centre, being led by Nesta, has been recently set up to provide independent research and insights that will contribute to policy development for the creative industries in the UK.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description Participation in Inaugural Global Scale-up Practitioners Summit 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact • Participation in Inaugural Global Scale-up Practitioners Summit - The summit was organised by Dan Isenberg and held at Babson College, Boston over two days and brought together over 40 practitioners from across the world including Brazil (Rio), Scotland, England, Russia, Panama, USA (Milwaukee, NE Ohio), Switzerland (Vaud), Colombia (Manizales), Saudi Arabia and Haiti. The purpose of the summit was to significantly enhance the quantity and impact of Scale Up projects around the world by sharing good practice. Mark Hart was invited to present the latest ERC research on small business growth and productivity and to explain the principles of world-class impact evaluation of scale-up projects (31st October - 1st November).
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Participation in an event organised by the Department for the Economy and the Productivity Insights Network 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact • On 9th September, Karen Bonner (Queens University and ERC associate) took part in an event organised by the Department for the Economy and the Productivity Insights Network: 'The Productivity Puzzle: Causes and consequences of stagnating productivity growth and how to reboot productivity growth'.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description Participation in first meeting of the GC Business Growth Hub Data Advisory Panel in Manchester on 26th March 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact • Vicki Belt also took part in first meeting of the GC Business Growth Hub Data Advisory Panel in Manchester on 26th March. The Panel has been set up to develop best practice in the Growth Hub in the collection and evaluation of data.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description Presentation at the Annual Conference of Responsible Finance (the UK's network of responsible finance providers) in Liverpool 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact On 14th March, Maria Wishart presented research findings from the Building Better Business Resilience Project at the Annual Conference of Responsible Finance (the UK's network of responsible finance providers) in Liverpool. The event was attended by over 150 delegates with an interest in promoting fair finance amongst small businesses.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description Presentation at the Scottish National Investment Bank in Edinburgh 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact • Mark Hart, Lee Hopley and Anastasia Ri met with the Scottish National Investment Bank in Edinburgh on 30th May to present an overview of our research on access to fiancé and to discuss possible ways of working together going forward.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description Presentation of a paper 'Do resilient entrepreneurs plan better for adversity?' at the annual British Academy of Management conference at Aston, Birmingham. 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact • In 4th September Maria Wishart and Halima Jibril presented a paper 'Do resilient entrepreneurs plan better for adversity?' at the annual British Academy of Management conference at Aston, Birmingham.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description Presentation of a policy expert response to the question "What works for enhancing local business environments?" at the Local Industrial Strategies event held in Sheffield 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact • Mark Hart was invited to present a policy expert response to the question "What works for enhancing local business environments?" at the Local Industrial Strategies event held in Sheffield on Friday 5th April attended by LEPs, businesses, business groups and universities.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description Presentation of the Micro-businesses in Ireland report at the National University of Ireland, Dublin 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact • On 3rd April the Micro-businesses in Ireland report authored by Stephen Roper and Jane Bourke was officially launched by Senator Padraig O Ceidigh at an event held at the National University of Ireland, Dublin.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description Responsible Finance 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Responsible Finance
10xRF: Ten days of events, conversation and inspiration

Responsible Finance, the national membership body for responsible finance providers, has opened registrations for '10xRF' - a 10 day series of events about the responsible finance sector starting on 10th May that will highlight the CDFI sector's impact on local economies through its support of small businesses and social enterprises.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description SMEs and Net Zero 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact ERC Director Professor Stephen Roper is joined by Dr Anastasia Ri, Research Fellow at the ERC; Jonathan Withey, Head of Business Development and Planet Mark; and Catherine Westoby, Senior Policy Adviser, Public Behaviour Change on Net Zero at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to discuss SMEs and the Net Zero challenge.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description SMEs, COVID-19 and mental health 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact Vicki Belt is joined by Dr Maria Wishart, Research Fellow at the ERC; Dr Carla Toro, Associate Professor Behavioural and Wellbeing Sciences at the University of Warwick; Sean Russell, Co-Investigator of the Mental Health and Productivity Pilot, Coventry University; and Tara Sankar, HR and mental health lead at Tamworth-based SME, Crystal Specialist Finance.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description Seminar with PR Journalista 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact on 9th October we held a seminar at Aston University with our new PR partner, James Tout of Journalista, on the value of social media for enhancing research impact. The event was very successful. We have subsequently seen a considerable positive change within the team in terms of social media activity.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Small Business Finance Markets Report 2018 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact ERC worked with the British Business Bank to provide analysis for the latest SBFM Report launched at the London Stock Exchange on 20th February. In particular, our most recent analysis on fast-growing firms and their impact on productivity underpinned the chapter in the report on high-growth firms and firms experiencing high-growth episodes.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Striving, surviving and thriving: the UK's small businesses 12 months on 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Striving, surviving and thriving: the UK's small businesses 12 months on
Mark Hart joined a panel on the BackinBusiness podcast celebrating it's first anniversary for a look back over the past year the trials and tribulations for SMEs.
Mark was joined by Richard Lambert, CEO of the National Hair and Beauty Federation and Keith McAvoy of the Seven Brothers Brewery in Salford.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description Supporting innovative start-ups 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact Vicki Belt is joined by Stephen Roper, Director of the ERC, Jane Galsworthy, Managing Director of Oxford Innovation Services and Alex Toft, Head of Minerva Business Angels to discuss how to support innovative start-up businesses.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description Teach-in with IPO 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact The teach-in session is very well-received and generated useful questions, discussion points and potential new research directions.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Teach-in with Innovate UK 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact The with Innovate UK focused on the latest evidence, research and insights on several aspects of innovation, and themes discussed included the impact of innovation grants, UK R&D trends, innovation clusters, supply chains and diversity/inclusion issues.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Whitehall DECA Project 2018 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact ERC is a member of the Steering Group involving BEIS, HMRC and the ONS on an innovative project on building cross-Whitehall datasets to provide insight into the identification of high potential growth firms in the UK. Using AI and machine learning techniques/data science algorithms on traditional and non-traditional datasets the intention is to produce some headline results by the end of 2018 to inform the development of an appropriate business support framework.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Workplace mental health issues: The employer perspective 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact On 11th May, ERC Research Fellow Maria Wishart spoke at a webinar run by the Aston University-based Low-Carbon SMEs project team, which focused on workplace wellbeing and mental health in small firms. She presented the findings of the workplace mental health research carried out by the ERC in collaboration with the Midlands Mental Health and Productivity Pilot during 2020. This study found, among other things, a strong and significant association between mental health and productivity, and low levels of awareness and adoption of mental health initiatives in respondent firms.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description a design workshop run by BEIS and Innovate UK 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact • Vicki Belt took part in a design workshop run by BEIS and Innovate UK on 13th November focusing on the Business Basics Programme. The aim of the event was to gather views from external stakeholders on the strategy for the Business Basics programme and capture ideas for innovation and future activities.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description a keynote speaker at the 22nd Annual Ethnic Minority Business Conference hosted by CREME (Centre for Research in Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship) on 20th November 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact The conference, titled 'Entrepreneurship for Good: The Value(s) of Minority Business' sparked the interest and appeal of a diverse group of delegates in from the worlds of business and policy.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description a keynote speech at the 2020 CRÈME (Centre for Research in Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship) Annual conference 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact a keynote speech by Mark Hart at the 2020 CRÈME (Centre for Research in Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship) Annual conference in December
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description a meeting between BEIS, the ESRC and the four research centres awarded Industrial Strategy Evidence Funding on 6th February 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Vicki Belt participated in a meeting between BEIS, the ESRC and the four research centres awarded Industrial Strategy Evidence Funding on 6th February, where progress on respective projects was discussed, as well as areas for future events and knowledge-sharing.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description a presentation on our mental health and productivity research 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact a presentation by Research Fellow Maria Wishart on our mental health and productivity research at the Lloyds Banking Group Centre for Business Prosperity event on Training and Productivity in November;
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description a presentation and participated in a panel discussion at the Westminster Higher Education Forum conference 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact • On 8th October, ERC director Vicki Belt delivered a presentation and participated in a panel discussion at the Westminster Higher Education Forum conference on 'evidence-based policymaking - strengthening the impact of academic and industry research on policy development'.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description a presentation at the Social Market Foundation's 'Ask the Expert' event in January 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact a presentation by Researchers Anastasia Ri and Effie Kesidou at the Social Market Foundation's 'Ask the Expert' event in January, focusing on SME Business Futures in the aftermath of the Coronavirus crisis and drawing on findings from our Business Futures research on digital adoption and net-zero practices.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description a research paper on her work on innovation collaboration in UK metalworking firms at the prestigious DRUID Academy for early career researchers in Aalborg, Denmark 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Temi Akinremi from ERC presented a research paper on her work on innovation collaboration in UK metalworking firms at the prestigious DRUID Academy for early career researchers in Aalborg, Denmark in January. Stephen Roper delivered a keynote presentation at the same event focussing on the unforeseen effects of innovation.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description a research paper on her work on innovation collaboration in UK metalworking firms at the prestigious DRUID Academy for early career researchers in Aalborg, Denmark in January 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact • Temi Akinremi from ERC presented a research paper on her work on innovation collaboration in UK metalworking firms at the prestigious DRUID Academy for early career researchers in Aalborg, Denmark in January. Stephen Roper delivered a keynote presentation at the same event focussing on the unforeseen effects of innovation.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description a workshop in London run by Innovate UK and the Innovation Caucus to initiate a research project focusing on diversity and inclusion in business innovation 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact On 23rd January, Maria Wishart attended a workshop in London run by Innovate UK and the Innovation Caucus to initiate a research project focusing on diversity and inclusion in business innovation. The event brought together a range of stakeholders, from academia, research organisations, businesses, charities and government, to share evidence and to scope the survey phase of the project.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description a workshop with economic development managers at Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact • Following the launch of the GEM NI report and NI Local Growth dashboard in November, Mark Hart and Karen Bonner were invited to a workshop with economic development managers at Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council to discuss how the ERC's Local Growth Dashboard can be used to provide simulations for policy options within the development of a strategic economic plan.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description a workshop with economic development managers at Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Following the launch of the GEM NI report and NI Local Growth dashboard in November, Mark Hart and Karen Bonner were invited to a workshop with economic development managers at Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council to discuss how the ERC's Local Growth Dashboard can be used to provide simulations for policy options within the development of a strategic economic plan.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description an interactive panel discussion 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact • Hosted by the Chartered Association of Business schools in conjunction with the Chartered ABS Annual Conference Mark Hart took part in an interactive panel discussion looking at how small businesses can tackle the risks and complexities of Brexit and explore the key Brexit-related issues that are impacting small businesses. Chaired by Lord Young, Patron, Small business Charter, other speakers on the expert panel included Richard Davies, SME Banking Director, TSB, Emma Jones (Enterprise Nation) and Neil Warwick OBE, Chair for Brexit, FSB. The panel was chaired by Michelle Ovens (Chair, Small Business Charter) - 5th November.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description attended a workshop in London run by Innovate UK and the Innovation Caucus 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact • On 23rd January, Maria Wishart attended a workshop in London run by Innovate UK and the Innovation Caucus to initiate a research project focusing on diversity and inclusion in business innovation. The event brought together a range of stakeholders, from academia, research organisations, businesses, charities and government, to share evidence and to scope the survey phase of the project.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description chaired the Inside Government Local Economic Growth conference on 18th July 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact • Mark Hart chaired the Inside Government Local Economic Growth conference on 18th July. Keynote speakers included Andy Burnham, and Beatrice Andrews of BEIS.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description discussions with potential partners in Alberta 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact • ERC began discussions with potential partners in Alberta around a potential research and learning partnership building on ERC research expertise and providing access to Canadian data and research resources (25-26th October).
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description gave evidence to an Irish Government Senate committee on SMEs 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact • Stephen Roper and Jane Bourke gave evidence to an Irish Government Senate committee on SMEs in mid-November following a submission to their Call for Evidence.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description gave evidence to an Irish Government Senate committee on SMEs in mid-November following a submission to their Call for Evidence. 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Stephen Roper and Jane Bourke gave evidence to an Irish Government Senate committee on SMEs in mid-November following a submission to their Call for Evidence.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description judging panel for the Citi Micro-entrepreneurship Awards 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact In November Vicki Belt was a part of the judging panel for the Citi Micro-entrepreneurship Awards. These annual awards celebrate the contribution and successes of the responsible finance sector and micro-businesses.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description keynote speaker at the 22nd Annual Ethnic Minority Business Conference 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact • Mark Hart was a keynote speaker at the 22nd Annual Ethnic Minority Business Conference hosted by CREME (Centre for Research in Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship) on 20th November. The conference, titled 'Entrepreneurship for Good: The Value(s) of Minority Business' sparked the interest and appeal of a diverse group of delegates in from the worlds of business and policy.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description new data on SMEs in Northern Ireland at the Entrepreneurship in Action event 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact • The ERC launched new data on SMEs in Northern Ireland at the Entrepreneurship in Action event organised by Invest Northern Ireland in Armagh on 12th November. Nola Hewitt-Dundas presented findings from the Micro-business Northern Ireland report, and Karen Bonner presented findings from the Northern Ireland Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) report.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description panel discussion organised by the OECD and Innovate UK and held at the Digital Catapult in London 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact • Stephen Roper also participated in a panel discussion organised by the OECD and Innovate UK and held at the Digital Catapult in London. The session marks the start of an OECD project on how countries can increase R&D spend and maximise its benefits.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description part of the judging panel for the Citi Micro-entrepreneurship Awards 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact • In November Vicki Belt was a part of the judging panel for the Citi Micro-entrepreneurship Awards. These annual awards celebrate the contribution and successes of the responsible finance sector and micro-businesses.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description participation in the International Advisory Board meeting for the Productivity Insights Network (PIN) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Vicki Belt participated in the International Advisory Board meeting for the Productivity Insights Network (PIN) which took place on 13th March in Sheffield, followed the next day by the PIN annual conference.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description presentation at a webinar entitled 'Learning from Lockdown' at Warwick Business School. 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact On 30th March ERC Research Fellow Maria Wishart spoke at a webinar entitled 'Learning from Lockdown' at Warwick Business School. The event included speakers working on a number of Warwick University's Global Research Priorities, including Productivity and the Futures of Work, Energy, Sustainable Cities and Behaviour Brain & Society. Maria presented recent research on Workplace Mental Health before and during the pandemic, as part of the Productivity and Futures of Work focus.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description presentation entitled 'The alchemy of small business growth: from econometric modelling to designing impactful peer-to-per learning programmes for small business leaders' from at the CRÈME European launch event 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact • Mark Hart delivered a presentation entitled 'The alchemy of small business growth: from econometric modelling to designing impactful peer-to-per learning programmes for small business leaders' from at the CRÈME European launch event held at Aston Business School on 3rd and 4th of April.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description presentation of a paper on productivity and micro-businesses at the CREME 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact • On 5th November Mark Hart presented a paper on productivity and micro-businesses at the CREME 23rd annual conference in Birmingham.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description presentation of the 'Innovating into Trouble' research 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact • During April Stephen Roper presented the 'Innovating into Trouble' research co-authored with Jane Bourke at seminars at Newcastle Business School and at Manchester Institute of Innovation Research.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description presentation on "Levelling up - an impossible task" to a recent APPG for Entrepreneurship in association with the Entrepreneurs Network. 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact "Levelling up - an impossible task?"

Mark Hart presented "Levelling up - an impossible task" to a recent APPG for Entrepreneurship in association with the Entrepreneurs Network.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description presentation on "Innovation and the net-zero 2050" at TFI+Network Workshop - Roadmapping for the Foundation Industries 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact TFI+Network Workshop - Roadmapping for the Foundation Industries

This workshop brought together foundation industry businesses, academia, and policymakers to discuss and develop a collaborative innovation agenda for the UK foundation industries. The themes explored ranged from energy efficiency, circular economy, manufacturing informatics, supply chain resilience, and enhancing work practices.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description presentation on 'How do discourses of mental health shape managers' identity work?' 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Maria Wishart, ERC Research Fellow based at Warwick, presented a paper entitled 'How do discourses of mental health shape managers' identity work?' at the European Group for Organizational Studies EGOS) annual conference, which took place on 8th to 10th July. The paper, which was based on narrative data from the 2020 Wellbeing and Productivity project, offered an in-depth study of the ways in which mental health issues are experienced, and talked about, in an organisational context.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description presented evidence to the APPG on Professional Sales 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact • Mark Hart presented evidence to the APPG on Professional Sales on February 11th in Portcullis House on the role of sales modules in leadership and management programmes.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description presented evidence to the APPG on Professional Sales on February 11th in Portcullis House on the role of sales modules in leadership and management programmes. 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Mark Hart presented evidence to the APPG on Professional Sales on February 11th in Portcullis House on the role of sales modules in leadership and management programmes.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description r the Annual Institute of Small Business and Entrepreneurship (ISBE) conference 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact • The ERC joined over 300 entrepreneurship and small business researcher in Birmingham on the 7th and 8th November for the Annual Institute of Small Business and Entrepreneurship (ISBE) conference. ERC researchers Stephen Roper, Jane Bourke, Maria Wishart and Kevin Mole presented several papers on business support, digital diffusion, the negative effects of innovation and managerial morality.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description speak at a dedicated session with the Business and Local Growth Analysis team at BEIS 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact • On 28th October, Stephen Roper and Mark Hart were invited to speak at a dedicated session with the Business and Local Growth Analysis team at BEIS to discuss the ERC's research, insights and policymaker engagement activities.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description supporting the development of HMG's SME productivity policy - particularly the new Help to Grow initiative. 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact ERC Deputy Director, Mark Hart and the wider work of the Enterprise Research Centre have been instrumental in supporting the development of HMG's SME productivity policy - particularly the new Help to Grow initiative. The evidence and evaluations that the Centre has produced have been of enormous value to policy officials in understand the scope of the challenge that small businesses face, and the effectiveness of previous interventions.
The Help To Grow: Management national programme recently announced as part of the Government's Budget 2021 will support senior managers to enhance their skills in areas critical to business growth including leadership, innovation, digital adoption, sustainability and employee engagement.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description the 2018 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact • Mark Hart launched the 2018 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) supported by NatWest on 31st July in London. The annual global survey is the world's most authoritative study of entrepreneurial activity and has been running since 1999.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description the second meeting of the ERC Steering Group 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact • We held the second meeting of the ERC Steering Group on 10th January. Themes discussed included the role of ERC in Brexit debates and how to maximise communications for better impact. The Steering Group continues to be well attended and to offer valued advice as 'critical friends' of the centre.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description was an event with City-REDI, a research centre based at Birmingham University with overlapping interests with ERC 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact An event is held with City-REDI, a research centre based at Birmingham University with overlapping interests with ERC. City-REDI led by Prof Simon Collinson has a focus on economic development in the West Midlands region and works closely with local development agencies. Key areas of overlapping interest are productivity, innovation and business growth and performance. ERC has stronger expertise in using administrative data and data matching while City-REDI have stronger macro-modelling capabilities. We are developing several joint proposals for future project funding together.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description workshop on the evaluation of support for agricultural and agri-business innovation in Ottawa, Canada 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact • ERC staff contributed to a two-day workshop on the evaluation of support for agricultural and agri-business innovation in Ottawa, Canada. We reported on the evaluation study of UKRI spending we have undertaken and the application of a similar approach in Canada (22-23rd October 2018).
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description • ERC contributed to a workshop supported by UKRI and the Royal Society on the 2.4 per cent R&D target (16th October 2018). 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact • ERC contributed to a workshop supported by UKRI and the Royal Society on the 2.4 per cent R&D target (16th October 2018).
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description • Mark Hart delivered a keynote presentation to the SME Live conference at the NEC in Birmingham 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact • Mark Hart delivered a keynote presentation to the SME Live conference at the NEC in Birmingham entitled "Solving the UK's Productivity Problem against the backdrop of Brexit - challenges and opportunities for small businesses" (16th October).
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description • On the 11th October Vicki Belt took part in the meeting of the International Advisory Board for the Productivity Insights Network (PIN) at Nesta's offices in London 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact • On the 11th October Vicki Belt took part in the meeting of the International Advisory Board for the Productivity Insights Network (PIN) at Nesta's offices in London, which was attended by Lord Jim O'Neill.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018