Mentoring and New Product Development

The Targeting Technology Mentoring Service and New Product Development Programmes both commenced in 2002 and completed in 2005. The overall objective of the programmes was to improve the business performance of Glasgow SMEs by encouraging greater investment in new product and process development. The evaluation aimed to provide a review of the performance of both programmes.

The methodology consisted of desk research; telephone surveys of companies that had received support through the programmes; and consultation with key stakeholders.

The evaluation found that: there was a high level of satisfaction with the support provided; the projects were performing well in relative terms; forecasts predicted the level of expenditure within the two programmes to be well behind target; there was room for improvement in the way that data was being stored; and the programmes should develop an exit strategy.

The evaluation recommended the programmes: enhance the level of mentoring support to those companies already registered; clarify with companies their understanding of the range of support available from different organisations; investigate the possibility of submitting a single application incorporating the two programmes and setting targets for mentoring activity, and mentoring and new product development activity combined; rationalise the data storage and reporting systems; and continue to provide mentoring and product development support to ensure the continued development of new technology companies.