Research, evaluation and insight

The e-Business Centre (e-BC) at the University of Paisley opened in 2000 as Scotland’s first dedicated e-BC – providing access to technology, expertise and staff resources to help small and medium sized businesses(SMEs) in the West of Scotland develop their e-business activities.

Assesses the use of a new model for estimating the impacts of Scottish Enterprise Network’s activities and establishing more accurate benchmarks for the unit cost of assistance through the use of the body of evidence from Scottish Enterprise’s monitoring system (KMIS) on the scale of activity the Network is undertaking.

The Adult Guidance service, run under the Scottish Enterprise Renfrewshire (SER) contract with Renfrewshire Careers Partnership (RCPL), aimed to provide a service to young people and adults, using economies of scale to provide a more geographically dispersed service and better link with educational and community establishments.

The Asia Pacific initiative (API) was established in November 1999 as part of SE Tayside’s export development initiative in order to develop Asian markets.

Scottish Enterprise Edinburgh and Lothian’s (SEE&L) Business Development Strategy aimed to provide: ‘account management’ of companies; a proactive targeting of companies; and a consistent process of support.

BioDundee is an umbrella marketing organisation for the biotechnology sector in Dundee.

The Burns Festival took place in Ayr between 27 April and 5 May 2002.

The Scottish Enterprise (SE) Network pioneered the ‘cluster’ method of supporting industries in Scotland.

Scottish Enterprise Edinburgh and Lothian (SEEL) worked in partnership with the City of Edinburgh Council, among others, to develop the Health Care Academy, the aim of which was to provide demand-led employment and training opportunities for targeted excluded groups and match individuals with vacancies in the new Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (RIE).

Scottish Enterprise Dumfries and Galloway’s (SEDG) Client Management programme aimed to help local businesses to address issues, in order to enhance competitiveness and make the most effective use of organisations' powers and resources.

The Getahead project was commissioned by Scottish Enterprise (SE) as a series of roadshows designed to give careers advice to the wider working population.

The support provided to Account Management and Client Management companies by SE Lanarkshire aimed to ‘segment’ the market and identify the companies most able to derive advantage from SE Lanarkshire support, delivering the best return to the limited resources available.

Targeting Technology Ltd (TTL) aimed to: accelerate the growth of high technology-based companies; provide a focus for new technology-based inward investment and business start-up; and enhance technology transfer between the HEI sector and SMEs, and between businesses.

The Greenock Waterfront initiatives aimed to enable the regeneration of the wider Inverclyde economy, through improvements to the physical environment and the provision of infrastructure for the development of leisure, educational and retail facilities, by undertaking environmental improvements, developing brownfield land, and creating employment opportunities.

The Leadership and Management Development Programme (LMDP) has, since 1993, operated a range of tailored programmes designed to enhance management and leadership skills within Lanarkshire companies.

The Financial Services Access to Call Centre project was a pilot, stand-alone project which aimed to raise awareness of job opportunities in and increase the pool of skilled labour for financial services call centres in the Edinburgh and Coatbridge areas.

The Glasgow Works programme aimed to introduce an Intermediate Labour Market (ILM) approach, with a wider range of activities available to the long-term unemployed, and the devolution of project delivery to community-based and training organisations.

Waterfront Edinburgh Limited (WEL) was formed in March 2000 to facilitate the development of the Granton Waterfront.

The Hillington Park Innovation Centre (HPIC) aimed to support the creation of new knowledge-based, technology, product and process enterprises, providing low displacement, high value add businesses and jobs in Central Scotland.

The Computer Network Training (CNT) programme aimed to offer retraining in computer skills to unemployed residents of Forth Valley and to provide a supply of scarce information and communications technology (ICT) skills to the market.

The Motorola Task Force was set up in response to the announcement of the closure of the Motorola plant at Easter Inch in West Lothian with the objective of overseeing the action plan to specifically meet the needs of the Motorola workers.

The New Futures Fund Initiative (NFFI) aimed to target problems of social exclusion and disadvantage, particularly in relation to the labour market in Scotland, and support the development of a coherent infrastructure of agencies to point the client group towards opportunities in education, employment and training.

The pilot Global Companies Development Programme (PGCDP) aimed to be a Network response to the issues and challenges facing Scottish SMEs seeking to compete effectively in the Global market.

Investors in People (IIP) aims to provide a national framework for improving business performance and competitiveness, through a planned approach to setting and communicating business objectives and developing people to meet these objectives.

In 2002, Scottish Enterprise Edinburgh and Lothian (SEE&L) secured sponsorship agreements with the Edinburgh International Film, Book and TV Festivals to promote the Creative Edinburgh Initiative and the digital media sector generally.