09Mar 2020 by Andy No Comments

UK Space clusters

NDPB, Research, analysis and evidence, Sectors
The UK Space sector has demonstrated that it is of key importance to the UK economy as a sector with significant growth potential. The Innovation Caucus at Sheffield University provides a range of advice and support to Innovate UK through its funding arrangements. The Innovation Caucus brought Ortus Economic Research into their team to develop a toolkit to allow existing and developing Space clusters across the UK to undertake a self-assessment of their strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats. The self-assessment will be used drive decisions on support and funding. Our role was twofold: firstly, to assess available data related to the sector to consider whether there was an available source that could be used to quantify the size and value of local space clusters, and secondly to engage with…
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03Mar 2020 by Andy No Comments

Creative Industries in the North of Tyne

Economic growth, Research, analysis and evidence, University
Ortus and survey partners Qa Research have been commissioned by Newcastle University to undertake a mapping study of the creative and cultural industries in the North of Tyne area. Scoping work in this area has identified that existing data is patchy in both coverage and depth, and some derived from national statistics rather than locally grounded research. This research will map the distinctive characteristics of the creative industries in the North of Tyne Combined Authority area and identify particular challenges or barriers to growth. The University has considerable research strengths in the creative and cultural industries and already works in partnership with the sector on a range of projects and strategic initiatives. The aim of this work is to better enable the University to identify and respond to local need…
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26Feb 2020 by Andy No Comments

Employment and skills issues in the North East

Local Enterprise Partnership, Research, analysis and evidence, Skills and labour markets
Ortus and survey partners Qa Research have been commissioned to deliver an assessment of current and future skills and employment needs in the tourism and offshore wind sectors in the North East, and an assessment of the digital skills and employment needs in the region's health and social care sector. The research has been commissioned by the North East Local Enterprise Partnership on behalf of the North East Skills Advisory Panel, and will involve a survey of employers in each of the three sectors and a series of in-depth interviews, as well as analysis of secondary data. The research will help the Skills Advisory Panel and the LEP to ensure that skills provision reflects employer needs. The North East Local Enterprise Partnership is a public, private and education sector partnership.…
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09Apr 2019 by Andy No Comments

Arrow impact evaluation

Evaluation and impact assessment, Innovation, University
Newcastle University appointed New Skills Consulting and Ortus Economic Research to undertake an independent evaluation of the Arrow Innovation Project. The Arrow programme introduces a new model for innovation support in higher education, with the creation of a specialist team of innovation advisers working with client companies and drawing in academic expertise from across the University. The key point of difference is that the academic input is highly focused, managed by the innovation advisers and only brought in where value can be added. The innovation advisers’ role in delivering the majority of the innovation support means that one of the key barriers to engagement for HE in the field of innovation (the difficulties associated with building relationships between academics and small and medium sized businesses – SMEs) is lowered. The…
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01Dec 2018 by Andy No Comments

Impact evaluation of the National Innovation Centre for Data

Evaluation and impact assessment, Innovation, University
The University of Newcastle appointed Ortus, along with our partner Cloud Chamber, to carry out an independent evaluation to assess progress against the NICD's original objectives and to measure its economic impact. Specifically, the impact evaluation has the following key aims: To develop an evaluation framework and delivery planTo generate an initial baseline assessmentTo produce annual formative evaluation reportsTo produce a final summative evaluation reportTo provide ongoing advice and guidance as appropriate to the project delivery/management team Early work has been focused on reviewing the landscape within which the project sits and making recommendations on key milestones and measures going forward. Annual formative assessments are being undertaken focused on performance against key objectives and also to identify learning points from an operational and delivery point of view. Finally, a summative…
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01Nov 2018 by Andy No Comments

The development and justification of a strategy to support sector specialisms in Sheffield

City Region, Economic growth, Strategy and policy development
Sheffield City Region had recently developed a draft Growth Plan for the local economy and this had been submitted to government for review. A fundamental conclusion of this work was to highlight the need to better understand the sub sectors of the City Region’s economy which represent its USPs, and the specialist businesses and specialist technologies that exist locally. This was deemed to be vital in demonstrating the specialisms that differentiate the City Region from other LEP areas. This project was designed to identify and assess these specialisms, with a view to providing insights to allow the City Region to prioritise investment in support of them. Importantly, the specialisms had to be identified in light of global trends and in consideration of the key markets and areas that are forecast…
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01Nov 2018 by Andy No Comments

Darlington Economic Strategy

Economic growth, Local Authority, Strategy and policy development
Darlington Borough Council commissioned the Ortus team (whilst working at TBR), in collaboration with Urbis Regeneration, to provide support in developing a refresh of the Darlington Economic Strategy. The strategy was to be based on the competitive advantages of Darlington’s economic geography and our role was to identify and evidence the nature of these advantages and ways in which the strategy might build on them. we supported the Council team through both evidence gathering and advice and guidance in order to generate recommendations for strategic intervention in the areas of land and premises; skills and labour; capital investment; innovation; and promotion. In particular our brief required us to: Provide independent, robust, evidenced analysis of the regional, national and global economic future, that is capable of withstanding challengeProvide realistic, yet challenging…
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01Nov 2018 by Andy No Comments

Strategy to support key clusters in Hertfordshire

Local Authority, Sectors, Strategy and policy development
Hertfordshire County Council and the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) commissioned the Ortus team (whilst working at TBR) to head a partnership to deliver an important study of key economic clusters in the county. The study required us to develop a detailed understanding and evidence base related to three key clusters: digital creativity and media, life sciences and advanced engineering/software sectors. The study involved three main objectives: Research and report on the extent of employment in each targeted group of industries in Hertfordshire and the degree to which it is associated with the local presence of complementary activities, and the potential for building on complementarity (particularly in the case of advanced engineering and software).In advanced engineering, report on the extent of employment in high-level software activities with the potential to be…
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01Nov 2018 by Andy No Comments

South West LEP Growth Plan development

Economic growth, Local Enterprise Partnership, Strategy and policy development
The Ortus team (whilst working at TBR) and Shared Intelligence were commissioned by South West Local Enterprise Partnership to provide economic analysis and consultancy advice to support the preparation of the South West Growth Strategy and Investment Prospectus for the 2014-2020 EU Programme. This project created a range of analytical and insight outputs to provide a detailed evidence base and drive the identification of competitive advantage on which the Growth Plan was built. The overall outcome was a range of report and data outputs which were used to support high-level strategic decision-making. Our role was to deliver quantitative economic analysis focusing on economic growth and trends. This utilised both national statistics and government data sources as well as our own unique longitudinal business dataset to create a detailed appraisal of…
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