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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01Nov 2018 by Andy No Comments

South East LEP Growth Plan

Economic growth, Local Enterprise Partnership, Strategy and policy development
The Ortus team (whilst working at TBR) and Shared Intelligence were commissioned by the South East Local Enterprise Partnership to provide economic analysis and consultancy advice to support the preparation of the South East 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…
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01Nov 2018 by Andy No Comments

The size and performance of the UK’s Low Carbon industries

Government, Research, analysis and evidence, Sectors
This project was a data-driven analysis of this highly dynamic and emerging sector. The Ortus team, whilst working at TBR, led a multi-disciplinary team that designed and implemented a novel and comprehensive methodology. The study required the development of new definitions for the low carbon economy based on numerous sub-sectors, the capture and analysis of business and economic data for each sub-sector (including GVA), a large survey to capture business operations and financial data which was robust at the level of each sub-sector, economic and data modelling to generate population-level estimates and the production of a published report. The study used economic impact assessment techniques and followed Green and Magenta Book guidelines. The study has been used by UK Government as well as a wide range of stakeholders to evidence…
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01Nov 2018 by Andy No Comments

Productivity Performance in Central Bedfordshire

Economic growth, Local Authority, Research, analysis and evidence
Central Bedfordshire Council engaged Andrew Graves and colleagues at TBR to undertake a study to test the assumption that Central Bedfordshire is a low Gross Value Added (GVA) and low productivity economy and, if this was found to be the case, to investigate the causes. The study focused on analysis of secondary data to explore the economic output and productivity performance of the local economy. The first task was to establish and describe the key measures of output and productivity and to acquire the data necessary to assess these for Central Bedfordshire and comparator areas.  Measures employed included total GVA, GVA per capita, GVA per filled job, GVA per hour worked and GVA per firm.  The study also investigated innovation levels using granular data from the UK Innovation Survey (UKIS),…
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25May 2018 by Andy No Comments

Economic Futures and the Milton Keynes Growth Strategy

Economic growth, Local Authority, Research, analysis and evidence
According to the National Infrastructure Commission, the Cambridge-Oxford ARC is set to set a population increase of over 1 million and a growth in employment of 1.1 million between now and 2050.  Milton Keynes is located right in the middle of the ARC and therefore faces a major growth opportunity. Working as part of a multi-disciplinary team, Ortus Economic Research was charged with developing a range of grounded, evidence-based future scenarios for the economy of Milton Keynes and to support the integration of the scenarios into a spatial growth strategy.
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16May 2018 by Andy No Comments

Doncaster’s sector specialisms

Economic growth, Local Authority, Strategy and policy development
Working with Sheffield University, the Ortus team delivered an extensive review of the economic size and scale of economic clusters (i.e. specialisms) in the Doncaster economy and reviewed the opportunities for these clusters to contribute to inclusive growth targets. The project considered two specific factors: The ‘enablers’ that are key to maximising economic opportunity and growth across any identified platforms or sectorsScenarios for future growth and how specific platforms or sectors may contribute to future growth in employment and economic wealth. Through a range of quantitative analyses, using public and business datasets, we first identified the key strengths of the Doncaster economy from an economic cluster point of view. This identified four clusters of significance – Engineering & Technology, Future Mobility, Advanced Materials and Creative & Digital. The study then…
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03Mar 2018 by Andy No Comments

Benchmarking study of Athena SWAN programmes

Equality and diversity, Research, analysis and evidence, University
The London Mathematical Society commissioned Ortus Economic Research to deliver this benchmarking study examining the staff and student gender balance within UK Mathematics departments and to identify good practice in addressing gender imbalances. The study was led by a steering group which included Dr Eugenie Hunsicker (Warwick University) and Professor John Greenlees (Sheffield University). The purpose of the study was to assist the Society in their efforts to provide valuable research and data to members in support of the Women and Diversity in Mathematics initiative and its Good Practice Scheme. Specifically, the objectives of the project were to: derive a picture of gender diversity in mathematics departments in the UK publish both quantitative and qualitative evidence relevant to gender diversity identify issues for further, more detailed investigation The research has…
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