News from the Enterprise Research Centre

February news from the ERC

February has once again been an eventful month for the ERC.
In addition to our successful inaugural Academic Research Conference ERC research has been recognised in several key evidence briefings and reports.

ERC Academic Research conference 2015
Federation of Small Business report
ESRC Evidence Briefings
Other news
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ERC Academic Research Conference 2015

'Understanding Small Business Growth'

The ERC's Inaugural Academic Research conference took place at Aston Business School on Wednesday February 11th 2015.

Attended by over 90 delegates from both academic and policy sectors, it was an opportunity to hear about the latest small business research from the
Enterprise Research Centre alongside its international partners.

The keynote address delivered by Professor Per Davidsson,
Director of the Australian Centre for Entrepreneurship Research, QUT Business School looked at 'What we know,don't know and should know' about growth among small businesses.

Based around the six themes of the ERC, parallel sessions were conducted throughout the day featuring both ERC colleagues and International Guest speakers including ,
Professor Marius Meeus, Professor Friederike Welter, Professor Erik Stam, Professor Dimo Dimov, Professor Massimo Colombo; Professor Paul Reynolds, and Carlo Menon.

The event concluded with a lively panel discussion following
'A Policy makers response' from James Phipps,
Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) outlining the importance of relationships between research and policy with a continued need for fostering stronger links to academic research.

View all presentations here

FSB release new report on Local Business support

ERC has worked closely with the Federation of Small Businesses to provide the evidence underpinning a new report published today. Aimed at the Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), ‘A new design: making local support work for business’ reveals that current support is often ineffective, holding back the growth prospects of businesses in the English regions. A number of significant issues are cited as causing problems, notably the fragmented nature of the offer, with too many schemes in place without enough critical mass to make an effective contribution, and lack of co-ordination between various schemes.

Backed by the Institute of Chartered Accountants for England and Wales (ICAEW), the report urges LEPs to drive small business growth through changes to the way business support is provided, based on some clear principles for how to design effective support drawing on ERC evidence.

The report recognises the role played by LEPs in facilitating well-targeted business support, and its importance to the national economy in delivering future growth. However, it also highlights areas of weakness that LEPs should address in order to strengthen the system.

Download the full report here

ESRC Evidence Briefings published

Public support for business R&D

A research paper from the Enterprise Research Centre outlines current research knowledge on the impact of R&D policy initiatives. The review by Dr Bettina Becker is the first systematic overview of research on the policies and their effectiveness in increasing private investment.

Download the Evidence briefing PDF here

Supporting ethnic minority and female entrepreneurs

The paper 'Barriers to Ethnic Minority and Women’s Enterprise' published by the Enterprise Research Centre, reviews the research evidence on enterprise diversity. The research review focuses on key issues including access to finance, market selection and management skills.

Download the Evidence briefing PDF here

Other News

BIS Enterprise Research Conference 2015:
'Unlocking Greater Growth'

ERC have been invited to contribute research findings at the BIS Small Business Conference 2015 - 'Unlocking Greater Growth ' on March 3rd,

This conference will bring together and share findings from key research undertaken over the past 12 months.Presentations from ERC will include:

Motivations for Entrepreneurship - Stephan Ute,Professor Mark Hart

Management and Leadership Skills in SMEs - Professor James Hayton

Growth Ambitions - Professor Jonathan Levie

In addition Professor Mark Hart and Professor Jonathan Levie will launch the GEM UK 2014 report as part of the conference and Professor Stephen Roper will participate in the Q&A panel session alongside senior BIS officials.

Internationalising Scottish Business Inquiry

On 25^th February Professor Jim Love gave evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s inquiry into Internationalising Scottish Business.

Jim’s evidence to the committee of MSPs related to the ERC’s research on how SMEs can move up the exporting ladder from being occasional to persistent exporters,and how the Scottish Government can do more to support exporters.

The committee was particularly interested in evidence on the links between innovation and exporting at the firm level, and how public policy could be focused on helping potential exporters become international in scope.

'Save the date'

ERC Annual Conference,
Tuesday June 16th
Birmingham, UK

To register interest , please email Wendy Ferris , ERC Centre Manager.