Research, evaluation and insight

The Stranraer, Portpatrick and Cairnryan Small Towns Initiative (STI) aimed to develop the three rural towns, providing focused assistance to boost local businesses and enhance their environments.

The St Andrews Fuel Cell Commercialisation Project (FCCP) was set up with both technical and economic development purposes: to advance a new concept to address sealing and interconnection problems in current solid oxide fuel cells, to prove this concept and then to commercialise this technology.

The Technology Translator (TT) project in digital communications aimed to help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) find academic partners for technological research and development, and then to have a successful collaboration.

The Tourism Innovation Approach (TIA), is a multi-faceted, integrated approach to stimulating change in the tourism industry in Scotland, through a range of interventions to inspire, drive and channel higher levels of innovation in product and service development.

Tourism Training Scotland (TTS) aimed to create a training culture, enhance professional standards, and improve access to quality training.

Scottish Enterprise Dumfries and Galloway’s (SEDG) tourism training programme consisted of 10 separate training schemes, providing subsidised places for staff employed in tourism businesses.

Tourism Training Scotland (TTS), a joint industry / public sector forum, aimed to: create a training culture among tourism businesses and their staff; enhance professional standards and the status of jobs in the industry; and improve access to quality training.

The University to SME Technology Transfer in Opto and Microelectronics (TTOM) project aims to promote greater collaboration between universities and small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).

This evaluation provides an interim report on the Wireless Innovation (WI) Centre (part of a joint evaluation of the Hillington Park Innovation Centre) which was designed to offer Scottish companies access to a wireless infrastructure.

The Women into Business (WIB) project runs workshops and networking events within Edinburgh and Lothian.

The local authority-run learning centre in Huntly, Aberdeenshire, which offers practical careers advice, was evaluated.

The Lowland Scotland LEADER II programme aimed to promote local development and prioritise activities that met the LEADER II criteria of innovation, demonstrable and transferable.

The Expert Help programme was designed to stimulate product and process innovation by raising the level of competence and technical ability in SMEs, and increasing SME awareness of the importance of using external technical advice.

The My Futures in Falkirk (MFIF) programme aimed to provide a strategic approach to re-engineering Falkirk’s economy, with a view to diversifying into new sectors and reducing dependence on a small number of large employers.

The Falkirk Community Urban Regeneration Programme (CURP) aimed to: alleviate poverty by increasing income and access to employment and education; reduce the risk to health and safety of communities and individuals; develop appropriate community infrastructure; and remove barriers to individuals reaching their potential.

The Farm Venture project aimed to assist groups of farmers develop ideas from which new ventures could be established on a collaborative basis in order to: provide the participants with another source of income and a reason to stay on the farm; help secure the future of the farm business; and stimulate enterprise in the Borders countryside.

Scottish Enterprise (SE) Borders received funding from the Construction Skills Action Plan Innovation Fund to: carry out training needs analyses with local construction companies for the development of training plans; establish a local construction training group; and raise awareness of careers in the construction industry among local school pupils and unemployed people.

The Courseware Library Project aimed to encourage employers and training providers to become learning organisations, and introduce employers and learners to new learning technologies.

Scottish Enterprise Borders (SEB) commissioned an interim and final evaluation of Skills for the Future, its workforce development programme for small and medium sized businesses in the Borders area which assists firms to identify, prioritise and take up appropriate training linked to business growth objectives.

Scottish Enterprise (SE) Forth Valley ran the Environmental Services Programme (ESP) from 2002 to 2008 with the aim of involving local SMEs in activities which would reduce their impact on the environment while increasing profitability.

The Lanarkshire Enterprise Zone (EZ) aimed to ‘achieve economic regeneration by attracting inward investment and facilitating creation of 7,500 new jobs to Lanarkshire’, as well as preparing 173 ha of land for development.

Glasgow’s Business Efficiency Initiative (GBEI) and Lean Management Thinking (LMT) includes the following programmes: Lean Management Thinking (LMT); Innovation and New Product Development (NPD); and Environmental Audits/support to achieve ISO 14001.

The Leadership Development Programme (LDP) and Developing Managers of the Future (DMF) programme were run as part of Scottish Enterprise Ayrshire’s (SE Ayrshire) Growing Business goal, to offer a comprehensive business support service to SMEs in the area of management and leadership development.

Scottish Enterprise (SE) Ayrshire’s New Product Development (NPD) / Expert Help Programme aimed to deal with shortfalls in knowledge and skills and encourage innovation by tackling the barrier of financial risk associated with investment in Research and Development (R & D).

Resource Efficiency Environmental Forum (REEF), a web based club, focused on topics such as environmental management, waste and energy management.