17Jul 2023 by Andrew No Comments

Heading back to Atlanta

News
We are delighted to have been invited to participate in the Atlanta Design Festival 2023, and equally pleased to have been asked to update our previous analysis of the value of the design economy to the City. Our analysis will look at performance from 2017 onwards, so it will be fascinating to contemplate the impact of the pandemic on this important industry. We look forward to reporting back on the Festival later in the year
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17Jul 2023 by Andrew No Comments

Business starts and survival in the Tees Valley, for NEEAL

Economic growth, Research, analysis and evidence
Ortus ER was engaged by the North East Enterprise Agency Ltd (NEEAL), in partnership  with Tees Valley Combined Authority, Darlington Council, Hartlepool Council and Redcar and Cleveland Council, to undertake a study to provide granular intelligence into business start up rates and demography across the Tees Valley. This included benchmarking the Tees Valley against carefully selected comparator locations to understand relative performance, identify points of difference and highlight examples of best practice.  This project calls upon our long track record of delivering insight about the patterns and importance of different ‘dynamics’ within the UK economy; business starts, closures and ‘survivors’ and their relative contribution to our economy.  By implementing a three-stage research process (analysing secondary data, undertaking desk research and consulting with key partners and stakeholders), Ortus provided the client…
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21Mar 2023 by Andy No Comments

Universities’ entry requirements, graduate outcomes and diversity in the Mathematical Sciences

Equality and diversity, Research, analysis and evidence, University
The Council for the Mathematical Sciences (CMS) and the Heads of Department of Mathematical Sciences (HoDoMS) asked Ortus to undertake research to examine the landscape regarding recruitment to mathematical sciences first degree subjects across the UK and the outcomes achieved by graduates from these degrees. The research sought to examine pre-university entry attainment patterns (i.e. A-levels in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and Highers and Advanced Highers in Scotland) and to examine diversity from the perspectives of sex and socio-economic background in relation to graduate outcomes. The aim of the study was to help inform a better understanding of how such diversity relates to mathematical sciences graduates’ careers. The research involved analysis of secondary data from UCAS and the Higher Educations Statistics Agency to explore how mathematical sciences students' sex…
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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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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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18Jul 2018 by Andy No Comments

Women Count 2018

Equality and diversity, Research, analysis and evidence
The Pipeline has published its most recent annual report into the gender balance in executive teams across the FTSE350, showing that there has been a slow down in progress to bring more women into the C-Suite in our largest companies.  The analysis includes a review of Ortus Economic Research is proud to again have delivered the analysis underpinning the report. The Pipeline delivers executive leadership programmes specifically designed for women. Research shows that organisations do better and are more able to succeed in our globalised world when they have greater gender diversity at the most senior levels. Women Count 2018 was covered extensively in the national and trade press as well as being cited by Parliament.  Examples include articles in The Times (paywall), Retail Gazette and Construction News.  
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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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05Jun 2017 by Andy No Comments

Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea’s Article 4 evidence

Local Authority, Planning, Research, analysis and evidence
Having provided key evidence in support of RBKC’s successful application for a borough-wide exemption from office-to-residential permitted development rights, in this project we updated our analysis of key sectors and the relationship between commercial premises and employment across the borough. This study used new techniques to join business data together with premises data, creating an empirical link between the commercial premises offer and the businesses on the ground.
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04Jun 2017 by Andy No Comments

The Design Economy

Charity, Research, analysis and evidence, Sectors
Design Council commissioned our team (while at TBR) to undertake an important and ground-breaking research study which articulated the value of design in the UK. The key challenge for Design Council was to present a comprehensive assessment of the value and importance of design to the UK economy. Previous methodologies had been limited in that they relied on vertical definitions of design and therefore covered only a proportion of the sector. Advancements in measuring sector scale and importance had been made in the creative industries, leading to the adoption of new techniques and the acceptance of the results of these techniques by the UK government. Initially, Design Council employed us to deliver a scoping study which explored definitions of the sector and proposed a modified version of the creative industries…
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