What is the State of The Art (SOTA)?

We are working in an increasingly fast-paced world in which more and more information is becoming available from multiple sources. For many of us, this situation makes it difficult to keep on top of complex issues and debates and identify trustworthy and reliable information. To help, the Enterprise Research Centre is today launching a new… Read more

Longitudinal Small Business Survey. Call for proposals 2018

The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy has made available £20,000 to fund four secondary analyses of the first three waves of the Longitudinal Small Business Survey. The Enterprise Research Centre (ERC) is administering this call on behalf of BEIS. Note that applications will not be accepted from anyone who is being supported through… Read more

Spin-outs and the great university challenge

ERC research cited in article by James Hurley in the Times,  September 10th  2018. A 2015 study into spin-outs by the Enterprise Research Centre found that for the “majority of academic founders” there were “significant tensions” between their commitments to university academic work and the demands of the embryonic company. Research paper No 35:  Profiling UK… Read more

On the value of daughters

Having a daughter can be a delight. I should know I have two. It turns out however that having a daughter is not only a delight but that it can also have a significant effect on the decisions we make about how we run our organisations and businesses. A fascinating new research paper describes what… Read more

Supporting start-ups and local business

Start-ups are crucial to the growth of the UK economy, with nearly 600,000 companies established last year – but support is needed to sustain local businesses beyond the start-up phase. Growth of small business is an important part of driving economic progress and rebalancing the UK economy. The UK now has a larger number of… Read more

Building Better Business Resilience

The ERC held an event at The Shard in London on 5th of July to mark the launch of the first report from the ‘Building Better Business Resilience’ study. The project is  a 2-year European study investigating SME resilience in under-represented communities, which is being supported by the JPMorgan Chase Foundation. There was excellent engagement… Read more

Design Economy 2018

Mark Hart and the ERC team were pleased to be involved in producing a large part of the statistical evidence as well as showing the connection between design & innovation – an established driver of productivity for the new Design Council report on the design economy launched by Greg Clark MP (Secretary of State for BEIS)… Read more

Building better business health

Building better business health: what can we learn from public health campaigns? The continuing productivity gap between the UK and its international competitors has focussed attention on the competitiveness of UK firms. So how can we boost the health and vitality of UK businesses? Or, more accurately, how can we encourage businesses themselves to take… Read more

Europe-wide study on ‘shock-proof’ firms ahead of Brexit

Europe-wide study on ‘shock-proof’ firms ahead of Brexit Two-year project will learn lessons from 3,000 of Europe’s most resilient firms to spread best practice Focus on under-represented groups will seek to understand how entrepreneurs overcome barriers With 70% of European jobs in SMEs, study is seen as vital pre-Brexit to cushion economic fallout A new… Read more