It has often been suggested that smaller firms – especially more risk averse family-owned firms – may be reluctant to invest in new technologies or innovation. The Evolve Digital scheme, a business support programme for family run businesses, was developed through 2019 to address this issue. Evolve Digital was implemented as a Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT)… Read more

ERC staff and associates presented a number of papers at the Institute of Small Business and Entrepreneurship (ISBE) conference in Belfast on November 8/9th. Four papers were among the best paper nominees in their respective conference tracks. ERC staff also led sessions on impact (at the PhD colloquium), policy and practice and contributed to a… Read more

Earlier this week a report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies highlighted the vulnerability of different groups of the population to unemployment following the current crisis. Businesses also vary in terms of their crisis planning and resilience, and research has shown that SMEs are less likely to connect risk identification and business planning activities, which… Read more

On a sunny morning on 16th June, we welcomed delegates back to The Shard for our first in-person ERC State of Small Business Britain conference since 2019. The conference, which was chaired this year by Lucy Armstrong, focused on the theme of the ‘triple transition’, or the question of how moves towards net zero and… Read more

Innovate UK recently launched a new loan scheme to support research and innovation in UK firms. This scheme – originally conceived in the austerity years – aims to provide an alternative way of supporting innovation alongside the UK’s innovation grants and tax credits. The new loans also suggest a subtle change in emphasis in UK… Read more

  Lack of provision for most vulnerable self-employed in measures announced by the UK Chancellor last week threatens to “decimate a whole generation of early-stage entrepreneurs”, report authors say. More than 750,000 self-employed people in the UK could miss out on Government support during the coronavirus pandemic, a new analysis has shown. The findings from… Read more

Over the last few days we have seen some inspiring and innovative responses to the Corona Virus crisis by UK firms and universities. The JCB-Dyson collaboration to produce ventilators and the UCL-Mercedes AMG collaboration to develop other breathing aids are outstanding examples. Necessity is the mother of invention after all. But what of the wider… Read more

• Enterprise Research Centre study shows higher numbers of fast-growing firms in a region can lead to net loss of jobs, especially in rural areas • But clusters of companies that combine job growth with productivity gains have a positive impact from ‘spillover’ effects • Policymakers need to be aware of trade-offs from promoting job… Read more

Formation of  the Communities of Interest  The Inaugural Meeting for the Communities of Interest ( COI )  took place on Tuesday 26th August 2014 at UCL, London, UK Dr Mark Gilman, Director of the Centre for Employment, Competitiveness and Growth, Kent Business School, University of Kent  welcomed participants to the inaugural meeting of the COI. He will… Read more