NICRE’s State of Rural Enterprise Report The rural economy post-pandemic: opportunities and barriers for business growth calls for continued improvements in infrastructure in rural areas. Businesses in rural areas perceive new opportunities for growth but long-standing challenges such as affordable housing, transport and broadband capacity are hampering take-up, according to a major new survey from the National… Read more
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
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
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
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
The Department for Business and Trade and the ERC co-hosted an event at The Shard on 16th November to showcase new findings and analysis of the Longitudinal Small Business Survey. The event began with an overview of the key findings from the 2022 survey, followed by some headlines from the latest panel report which reports… Read more
A new charter aiming to support entrepreneurs of all backgrounds to start or grow their business is being launched by the University of Nottingham. The charter, aiming to minimise barriers to entrepreneurship for underserved and under-represented groups through creation of a more inclusive ecosystem, was launched nationally today, at the Shard in London, by the University… Read more
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
A new study on the state of net zero support for small businesses carried out by the Enterprise Research Centre for the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has been published today (26th September). The study measured the breadth and depth of net zero support programmes for SMEs across England. It found that less than one… Read more
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
