In February 2019 ERS were commissioned to undertake a summative assessment of the Innovate2Succeed (I2S) Enterprise Programme on behalf of RTC North. I2S was a three-year programme designed to support SMEs to enhance innovation management capability, resulting in increased effectiveness in generating and commercially exploiting their ideas. ERS undertook evaluations covering three separate LEP areas; Liverpool City Region, Leeds City Region and North East LEP, which were part of the wider delivery pilot scheme consisting twelve LEP areas.

The programme was delivered by RTC North Limited with ERDF and match funding provided by Innovate UK part-funded through ERDF. The budget for the programme was £3,000,000, with ERDF providing £1,500,000. The project objectives were founded on the recommendations from a consortium-wide Horizon 2020 Innovation Services Working Group, drawn from experts across the UK sub-regions in close consultation with Innovate UK, on the ERDF Operational Programme Priority Axis 1 and Investment Priority 1b, and in response to the North East LEP’s priorities.

ERS undertook final evaluations in accordance with the ERDF Summative Assessment Guidance. An important first task was to undertake a review of relevant programme documentation and data, including: ERDF funding applications, ERDF claims progress reports and I2S Logic Models. The document and data review, alongside the inception meeting, informed the development of research tools for the primary research strands of data collection.

Consultations were undertaken with the programme management and individual teams of innovation advisers from across the three LEP areas. Programme management consultations were undertaken on a one-to-one basis, whereas innovation advisers were consulted via a facilitated focus group, to understand their views on how the programme was run and the impacts that it was having on the beneficiary businesses. Three separate beneficiary e-surveys were developed by ERS and disseminated via RTC North marketing staff to 219 beneficiaries. The responses informed qualitative analysis and the economic impact assessment. The economic impact assessment covered impacts achieved to date attributable to the intervention support as well as projected future impacts and a value for money assessment expressed a benefit-cost ratio (BCR). Final deliverables were three individual final summative assessment reports, covering the areas outlined in ERDF ESIF-GN-1-033 reporting guidance.