Team Scotland’s Export Promotion Support: evaluation

The Enterprise Research Centre (ERC) and the Centre for Business Prosperity (CBP) at Aston University were commissioned by the Scottish Government to undertake the evaluation of Scotland’s export promotion support provided by its delivery partners. The Scottish Government provides funding to delivery partners to deliver the customer facing export promotion support and services offered to… Read more

Rural SMEs and the environment

Environmental considerations play a critical role in rural businesses’ decision-making, however, barriers exist which prevent them from fully transitioning to net zero, according to a major new survey from the National Innovation Centre for Rural Enterprise (NICRE). Four out of ten rural businesses ‘always’ consider the environment when making decisions with 57% taking action to… Read more

ISBE 2023

The opening plenary at the ISBE conference started with  a welcome by the Aston University VC Aleks Subic and the West Midlands Mayor Andy Street. Mark Hart then chaired the opening plenary which started with a fireside chat with Richard Harpin (Founder & Chairman at HomeServe and Growth Partner) exploring his views on building a… Read more

Rural businesses show resilience, but investment curtailed by rising costs

Rising costs are causing serious and widespread problems for rural businesses in parts of England which is curtailing their ability to invest and grow, according to a major new survey from the National Innovation Centre for Rural Enterprise (NICRE). Two-thirds of rural firms in the North East, South West and West Midlands – increasing to… Read more

Building Entrepreneurial Ecosystems in Rural Areas

At the Social Enterprise World Forum 2023 in Amsterdam, Strathclyde Business School is hosting a workshop on “Building Entrepreneurial Ecosystems in Rural Areas” on October 10, 2023. Social entrepreneurship (SE) plays an important role in tackling the grand challenges of our time, ranging from ecological issues like climate change to social ones such as inequality…. Read more

Team Scotland’s inward investment support: evaluation

ERC and Aston Centre for Business Prosperity report – an evaluation commissioned by The Scottish Government of Scotland’s inward investment promotion support via its delivery partners has been published today. The research involved a business survey as well as beneficiary interviews, and identifies the impacts from the support (including to the wider economy), which types… Read more

Latest Northern Ireland reports published

The Department for Economy Northern Ireland have published three new reports on SMEs authored by the ERC and Queens University, Belfast. Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) UK: NI Report 2022/23 The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) is an international project which seeks to provide information on the entrepreneurial landscape of 49 countries in 2022.   NI Local Growth Dashboard… Read more