In November 2022, a devolution deal was agreed by the four upper tier councils of Derbyshire County Council, Nottinghamshire County Council, Derby City Council and Nottingham City Council. The East Midlands Combined County Authority (EMCCA) is led by Mayor Claire Ward, elected as the first Mayor of the East Midlands region in May 2024. With two cities, large towns, major industries, technology strengths and energy innovations, the EMCCA area is transitioning from its industrial legacy to industries of the future.

To inform its thinking and investment innovation, EMCCA required a robust evidence base of its innovation strengths and assets. EMCCA commissioned Kada Research to comprehensively scope out the area’s innovation performance, strengths under priority sectors and new technologies reshaping the local economy by driving growth, creating new industries and transforming existing new ones.

An extensive desk review was undertaken, providing an assessment of the EMCCA area’s innovation economy, the regional innovation investment landscape, its performance in higher education innovation measures and its innovation activity and adoption. Following the establishment of EMCCA, the authority identified four key priority sector areas to focus on in their Corporate Plan. These included: advanced manufacturing, clean energy, creative and digital and life sciences and MedTech. The study focuses on the innovation strengths and niches in these four priority sector areas. In addition to the desk research, thirty-five regional stakeholders were consulted to inform this study. These engagements provided rich intel on EMCCA strengths from academia, further and higher education providers, industry and cluster leaders and representatives.

The advanced manufacturing sector was found to be a valuable asset in the region, with significant capabilities in aerospace, rail and automotive sectors and the power electronics, machines and drives sub-sectors. There is a large-scale opportunity for growth in the clean energy sector in the EMCCA area, with investment in STEP able to propel the region into the next generation of nuclear energy production and drive new opportunities across the supply chain. The creative and digital sector is growing and has initiatives to build on, including gaming strengths, immersive technologies and design. Life sciences in the EMCCA area have strong pedigree that requires more investment in early-stage companies. There is a rich seam of health and drug discovery work.

The study concludes with twenty tailored recommendations to increase innovation and collaboration which are designed to support research and innovation strengths identified within priority sectors and the region’s outstanding assets, companies, institutions and infrastructure.

If you are thinking about commissioning a similar study, or would like to find out more about this study, talk through an idea or work with us, please get in touch at info@kadaresearch.co.uk.

Kada Research were commissioned by the Hull and East Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership (HEY LEP) TEC Partnership and the Local Digital Skills Partnership (LDSP) to develop a Digital Framework – Industry 4.0 for HEY to set out a clear vision for growing the local digital and tech ecosystem guided by environmental sustainability principles and supported by the Department for Education Strategic Development Fund 2 (SDF2).

The objectives of the study were two-fold: i) to provide a succinct overview of HEY’s digital ecosystem identifying the strengths, opportunities and barriers to development, aligned with Industry 4.0 applications (e.g. digital connectivity, public service provision and industrial transformation), and ii) to develop a blueprint for digital development in HEY with an ambitious yet achievable vision, building on areas of excellence and addressing any gaps identified. The inclusion of environmental sustainability as a cross-cutting theme was key given the priorities for decarbonising HEY’s main industries and supporting the development of a fast-growing renewables sector across the Humber.

The research underpinning the Framework involved a detailed desk review to explore the current position relating to connectivity, the economic and labour market context, and digital/tech and green skills supply and demand. A series of interactive in-person workshops were facilitated at different locations in HEY bringing together education and training providers, civic body representatives, digital and tech businesses and young people to co-design the Framework themes and vision. Quantitative and qualitative data gathered from the desk review and primary research were analysed systematically to confirm a set of 5 themes with outcomes and enablers to support the achievement of a vision that reflected HEY’s aspirations and strengths.

The themes identified highlight HEY’s digital ecosystem priorities including achieving optimum levels of connectivity across the HEY area, ensuring equitable access to local services and digital inclusion. Seizing the opportunities for leading sustainable innovation to facilitate industrial decarbonisation and growth within HEY’s renewable power sector and further strengthening HEY’s digital and green skills pipeline also represent important pillars of the Framework. The Framework has been published on the HEY LEP website and is being used to inform decisions and plans for HEY’s digital skills provision.

If you are thinking about commissioning a digital skills framework or research into skills for priority and growth sectors, or if you would like to talk through an idea you can contact Laura Lane at laura@kadaresearch.co.uk

Kada research were commissioned by MedCity and London Advanced Therapies (LAT) to evaluate a series of Research England, European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and Greater London Authority funded programmes focused upon supporting Life Science companies across London, the South-East, and England.

The Collaborate to Innovate (C2N) and Confidence in Collaboration (CiC) programmes have facilitated and deepened collaborative work between SMEs and the academic community. The programmes funded a range of Life Science projects including the development of pioneering products and services for the treatment of life threatening and life limiting diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Covid-19, Multiple Sclerosis, and heart disease.

The programmes originally involved three London universities with international reputations for Life Science excellence; Kings College London, University College London and Imperial, before expanding to include universities across England.

Kada’s evaluation included a desk review of the life science industry and associated government policy and support, stakeholder interviews with the Medcity and LAT teams, in-depth qualitative interviews with the project academic leads, impact case studies and surveys with the SME beneficiaries.

We concluded that the projects have significant impact in terms of technology development, advances in research, product development, and the vital synthesis of research/product evidence. They have resulted in substantial commercial impacts with: advances in Technology Readiness Levels making progress towards marketisation; GVA increases; job creation; turnover growth; and follow-on public and private investment.

The clients were very impressed by the quality of these evaluations especially in terms of their readability and contribution to understanding the substantive scientific, innovation and commercial impacts these collaborations have resulted in. Kada has since secured further evaluation commissions in the Life Science are from Medcity and partner organisations including the University of Cambridge.

If you are thinking about commissioning a similar evaluation or if you would like to talk through an idea or hear more about this work you can contact us at pat@kadaresearch.co.uk.

The West London Food Innovation Lab project provided food and beverage SME businesses with direct access to scientific expertise and facilities to develop culinary ideas and products that are tested and developed to quality standards ready for the commercial market. The rationale for the Food Innovation Lab was to enhance London’s competitiveness in the food and beverage sector.  With such a major investment in new facilities and associated support, the University of West London (the delivery partner) was keen to evaluate how successful the project had been.  Additionally, EU funding necessitates robust evaluations.  The study gave an independent and objective assessment of the Food Innovation Lab project’s performance, benefits and impact.  The investment leaves an asset that will provide payback for many years to come.

Kada Research conducted the independent evaluation of our Food Innovation Lab ERDF project. They were both professional and friendly, which is always a winning combination. They have an excellent understanding of project evaluations and funders’ requirements, pay attention to the smallest of details, and produce reports of excellent quality, on time. Their impact model helped us realise not only the current impact of our project but also gave us a well-grounded estimate for its impact in the next five years.

-Prof Alexandros Paraskevas (Academic Lead, West London Food Innovation Lab).

Get in touch: If you are thinking about an evaluation of a project or programme you are involved with to assess its impact, e-mail karl.dalgleish@kadaresearch.co.uk and he will respond within 24 hours.

MedCity Collaborate to Innovate was an exciting programme aimed at stimulating research and development collaborations between universities and small regional businesses in the life sciences. It was funded by the European Regional Development Fund and the Greater London Authority and linked 15 businesses to universities, creating jobs and innovative products. Kada Research was asked to provide an analysis of the first part of the project, identifying how well it had achieved its objectives and how it could improve on its processes. This was required by Central Government and the GLA.

All of the businesses involved were consulted, as well as key stakeholders and academics, and a review of business performance and strategic context undertaken. Five in-depth case studies helped to gain a detailed insight into the impact of the project on businesses and the health sector. Most businesses were very happy with the support they had received and achieved significant benefits through their collaborations with universities. Overall, the project was a success and made good progress towards its objectives, with many of the developed collaborations continuing beyond the end of the project.

I would highly recommend the Kada Research team and Karl in terms of conducting a summative assessment. Throughout the process they showed a high degree of professionalism and flexibility and ensured all the major evaluation requirements were met. Their attention to detail and adherence to the project timeline put forward, gave me confidence in their abilities. Finally, the report was shared with the EPMU of the programme and no issues were raised.

Elias Zapantis (Programme Manager, Collaborate to Innovate).

Get in touch: If you are thinking about an evaluation of a project or programme you are involved with speak to karl.dalgleish@kadaresearch.co.uk and he will respond within 24 hours.

Innovate 2 Succeed is a fully funded programme designed to support ambitious SMEs by helping them make a commercial success of their innovations. In the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) areas of Hertfordshire and Greater Cambridge Greater Peterborough (GCGP), it was delivered by Exemplas, which is part of the University of Hertfordshire. The project was funded by the European Regional Development Fund and Innovate UK. The team at Exemplas wanted to understand how effective the project was in achieving its objectives to improve innovation management capacity and help overcome significant barriers to innovation and the commercialisation of new ideas.  The ultimate aim was to speed up the routes to market and successfully commercialise new ideas.

We worked with Exemplas between August 2017 and March 2019 on a longitudinal impact study.  A consultation programme was undertaken with key stakeholders, as well as a workshop with advisors and a discussion with the Management Committee about the findings. A telephone survey was undertaken with 103 participants and 27 companies who did not proceed (to gain a unique a counterfactual perspective).  These interviews were done in two cohorts in 2017 and 2019. We reviewed performance against contracted innovation measures and devised our own indicators to measure distance travelled in innovation terms. The business survey found an increasing propensity to innovate amongst the I2S cohort and tangible improvements being adopted in approaches to innovation.  There was evidence of firms’ overcoming key barriers such as risk of failure and having ideas that are not developed enough.  The businesses consulted reported significant time and scale additionality.  There were demonstrable improvements in bringing products to market and high ratings for the professionalism and the knowledge of the advisors.  Eight case studies were also undertaken to unpick the subtleties and intricacies of the programme.  For the case studies, we devised an innovation timeline to show how the activities have affected the beneficiaries. The programme has since expanded to cover the East of England.  The study shows our experience of devising, collecting and collating innovation impact measures.

We are happy with the interim report, which has been satisfactorily signed off, and are happy to recommend Kada for ERDF evaluation work. We will return in the Summer for a final evaluation

Janice Freed (Innovate2Succeed Programme Manager).

Thank you very much for sending through the evaluation reports, some really positive findings.

Janice Freed (Innovate2Succeed Programme Manager).

Get in touch: If you are thinking about an evaluation of a project or programme you are involved with speak to karl.dalgleish@kadaresearch.co.uk and he will respond within 24 hours.

The study objectives included a requirement to review official statistics highlighting the scale and breadth of the digital and technology sector in LCR including its significant specialisms and numbers employed. This included an analysis and review of evidence of significant clusters of companies within each of the key sub sectors and nascent activity areas.

We identified key growth trends and opportunities within the sector, highlighting the distinct infrastructure advantages of the LCR digital and technologies sector including a review of large corporates that are undertaking core digital and technology related activities.

This intelligence was to be used to compile some marketing collateral that support and strengthen the LCR value proposition and showcase the LCR’s competitive advantage to a global marketplace.

“We had a great reaction to the report and the research you have conducted on this. The report has been very well received and its a great piece of work. I will be recommending Kada Research internally so many thanks again”. Client Comments 2017

The practice of lightweighting introduces a range of new lightweight, high-strength metal and non-metal materials (such as carbon fibre), which then require new manufacturing technologies (ie pressing, forming, machining and joining) and engineering and design skills. The potential cost and weight reductions are clearly a key motivator for many firms to explore the potential of lightweighting. The overall project represents a total investment of £68.4m, with a proposed Sheffield City Region investment of £25m from devolution deal funding.

The net direct, indirect and wider economic impacts were assessed and expressed in terms of employment growth (jobs created and maintained) and GVA. The direct and indirect construction impacts of the facilities were also calculated. The wider benefits identified included infrastructural benefits (including land remediated/developed or new floor space), productivity and supply-chain impacts, environmental benefits, skills, inward investment and Enterprise Zone benefits as a result of the improved attractiveness of the area, R&D and technology benefits.

“We identified 1,232 net new jobs in the SCR comprised of 812 operational net jobs and 429 net construction jobs as well as an NPV of £288m (GVA) in the SCR comprised of: £170m operational benefits, £16m from construction and a £101m productivity uplift ”

~ Karl Dalgleish, Impact Assessment Lead, 2016

The proposed LBIC is the culmination of a strategic alliance between Liverpool Local Enterprise Partnership, Knowsley Safari Park and Estate, Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council and the University of Liverpool.

The concept is based on the premise you would exploit the innate strengths of the Knowsley Estate, encourage a cross-University discipline (humanities as well as science) and grow the local economy through a number of business-focused activities including the commercialisation of University research, start-ups and spin outs and research and development. This will also support a platform for an exciting ‘biophilic’ visitor experience linked to research and learning programmes at the University of Liverpool which derive inspiration from, or are otherwise associated with, the natural world.

The study started by defining the concept. It noted that outlook for growth for the sector within the City Region and globally is encouraging. The research shows that the sector is comprised of companies in the following areas: innovation-led companies; large corporates; small bio/enviro-type companies; spin outs; commercialisation consultancies and start-ups. The study drew on global good practice and highlighted high profile support for the project. It concluded with a series of workstreams to focus on.

“The Bio-Inspiration Centre at Knowsley Safari Park in particular is an ingenious way to take the critical science concept of biomimicry or bio-inspiration and place it firmly at the centre of public, media and political attention. The abstracting of technical principles from nature to develop solutions to mankind’s problems and prosperity creating innovation is a crucial and growing agenda, and it is inspiring to see university research being publicly promoted in this way”.
Dr. Kostya Novoselov, Joint Winner of the 2010 Nobel Prize for Physics (in relation to his work on graphene), cited by New Zoo / Kada Research, 2015

ISfB represents a new and distinctive phase in the business support offer in Oxfordshire.

The evaluation followed a straightforward approach making optimal use of existing intelligence and performance data supplemented by new primary research providing a comprehensive picture of the ISfB programme’s current and future impacts. It concluded that the programme has made a good start on devising and delivering some effective innovation products but more could be done to exploit the area’s potential, use its asset base effectively and scale up innovation support measures. The client said “It’s really great, thank-you! I’m looking forward to making it public and then moving onto developing the next phase of the programme”

“The ISfB programme team has succeeded in conceiving and implementing a comprehensive suite of activity in a short space of time. The team recognise that now the Wave 2 City Deal funding is largely spent and the ISfB pilot is nearly complete, it is a good time to think about next steps. Building on the SEP and ESIF strategic priorities OxLEP should consider the feasibility of a longer term ISfB programme (ISfB2) fully integrated into the OBS service and local and national provision.”

~ ISfB Evaluation, Kada Research, 2015