Press Releases

An international study of small and medium-sized firms has been launched to find out why some are more resilient than others when a crisis hits, at both the level of the firm and in the wider economy.
Small and medium-sized businesses make up 99 per cent of all firms across Europe and provide around 70 per cent of employment.

During the financial crisis of 2007-08 the Federation of Small Business (FSB) estimated that up to 50 companies were closing every day in the UK, and yet many survived and there are now more SMEs than ever with the FSB calculating there were 5.7 million in the UK in 2017.

The two-year study, supported by the JPMorgan Chase Foundation, will involve surveying 3,000 SMEs – defined as firms with less than 250 employees – in London, Paris, Frankfurt, Milan and Madrid.

7th September 2017

The taxpayer tech dividend: R&D grants provide £43bn economic boost, study finds
• Largest ever study shows public R&D grants turbo-charge growth in UK’s industries of the future
• Innovation grants stimulated £43bn additional turnover and created estimated 150,000 jobs
• Employment is boosted by around a fifth, turnover by a quarter – but regional variations are substantial

Taxpayer support for high-tech innovation benefits the economy by significantly boosting jobs, turnover and productivity among the companies backed, new research has found.
Over a 13-year period, R&D grants spurred growth worth £43bn to the British economy – more than five times the £8bn invested – and created around 150,000 jobs.
But the study - the largest and most comprehensive of its kind, carried out by the Enterprise Research Centre – also found big variations in the types of firms most likely to benefit from grants, as well as regional differences in the strength of the effects.
Scientific and technological innovation is seen by the Government as a key plank of its new industrial strategy.

The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) UK Report, published [12th May], analysed early-stage start-up activity as part of an in-depth study into entrepreneurial trends, attitudes and aspirations in 2015.
It found people who live in the UK but were born overseas have a significantly higher rate of Total Early-Stage Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA) than the life-long resident population. UK-born returning migrants also have a significantly higher rate of TEA than the life-long resident population.
The report, written by experts from Aston Business School in Birmingham and University of Strathclyde's Business School in Glasgow, reveals 15.4 per cent of immigrants were early-stage entrepreneurs in 2015, compared to 10.5 per cent of UK-born returning migrants.

Analysis by the Enterprise Research Centre (ERC), the UK’s leading independent institute for research into small and medium size businesses, shows that the number of ‘high-growth firms’ (HGFs) across the UK has risen to 11,855 – the largest number since the dotcom boom of the early 2000s.

Number of high growth firms – seen as indicator of economic health – reaches nearly 12,000, highest level since the dotcom boom.

The number of companies achieving high growth in the nations and regions of the UK is rising more than twice as fast as in London, new research suggests.

Read the full press release below.

Author: ERC

Analysis by the Enterprise Research Centre (ERC), the UK’s leading independent institute for research into small and medium size businesses, shows that the number of ‘high-growth firms’ (HGFs) across the UK has risen to 11,855 – the largest number since the dotcom boom of the early 2000s.
Number of high growth firms – seen as indicator of economic health – reaches nearly 12,000, highest level since the dotcom boom.
The number of companies achieving high growth in the nations and regions of the UK is rising more than twice as fast as in London, new research suggests.
Read the full press release below.