ERC Insight Paper Released – LEP Innovation Benchmarks – 2002-2010

The UK Innovation Survey provides information on product/service and process innovation as well as the barriers to innovation activity for a relatively large number of UK firms. In this paper we present the first local economic area analysis of this data derived from four surveys covering the 2002-04, 2004-06, 2006-08 and 2008-10 periods. The analysis… Read more

Growth Dashboard Workshops.

The Enterprise Research Centre (ERC)  in collaboration with GrowthAccelerator conducted a series of One day Workshops around the UK. LEP’s from all  Local Areas were invited  for discussion on the Growth Dashboard and its findings. The aim of the Workshops were to ensure that our  future work delivers some of what  LEP colleagues said they would find… Read more

ERC@ISBE 2014

On 5th & 6th November, the ISBE 2014 conference ” The Future of Enterprise: The Innovation Revolution” took place in Manchester.
ERC contributed to the conference through the presentation of a number of research papers, contribution to the leadership of a conference track on ‘SME growth and performance’ and leading a Masterclass on ‘Impact by Design’.

Learning from the Mittelstand

Stephen Roper contributed to feature reports by CNBC on the German Mittelstand and some of the lessons for small and medium firms internationally. Hallmarks of many Mittelstand firms are their family ownership, their innovative activity and their niche market leadership.

Sharing UK Experience Internationally

Stephen Roper was invited to share the UK’s experience of using randomised controlled trials to test SME policy at an international conference in Taiwan. The presentation focussed on the operational issues of making randomised trials work for industrial policy testing stimulating significant debate among the international audience. A paper based on the conference presentation is being developed.

ERC features in Newly published BIS Research Strategy Paper

The Department of Business , Innovation & Skills has released the BIS Research Strategy 2014-2015. This paper, part of the BIS Research Papers – Investing in Research , Development & Innovation features the work of the Enterprise Research Centre – ERC. Read the Full Paper here

Grant funding for Communities of Interest ~ Call for proposals

The Enterprise Research Centre invites applications for funding for Communities of Interest around specific research topics which can contribute to the evidence base on SME growth and development. Two grants of up to £4,000 each are available to fund research networking activity, workshops or seminars.                    … Read more

Community of Interest on Open Innovation in SMEs ~ Conference.

Community of Interest on Open Innovation in SMEs: Advancing Research with Policy and Practice Impact A one day conference will be held on Friday, 28 November, 2014, 9.30-17.30 Venue: Newcastle University Business School The conference will act as the impetus for the launch of the ‘Community of Interest (COI) on Open innovation in SMEs’, sponsored by the ERC,… Read more