The Appointment of Consultancy Support for a final evaluation of North East Wales Innovation and Ski

Description

The UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) is part of UK government's commitment to level up all parts of the UK by delivering on each of the levelling up objectives: Boost productivity, pay, jobs and living standards by growing the private sector, especially in those places where they are lagging. The North East Wales Innovation and Skills Network project builds on Wrexham University’s (WU) existing Ladder of Innovation business engagement programme by enhancing participation in Knowledge Transfer activities. This includes access to academic time, skills, materials, equipment and training. Currently North Wales businesses can access up to five vouchers worth £500 each to cover some of the costs of such activities. Through this proposal, up to five additional Knowledge Transfer Vouchers worth £500 each will be available to businesses in the counties of Denbighshire, Flintshire and Wrexham as a contribution towards collaborative R&D activities, pilot studies, proof of concept activities, etc. Additional financial support will also be available to NE Wales businesses for mini-Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) which embed a graduate within a business to work on a research area of potential commercial benefit, and engage in learning activities/CPD. Normally only academic costs are funded (c.30%) and graduate cost is shouldered by participating businesses, but SPF will fund this balance. Owing to the shorter time available to deliver this initiative we have limited the project to offering six (6) mini KTP’s only as there is insufficient time to complete a full KTP (c.2 years). Whilst this has reduced the cash match funding as indicated at Stage 1 and reduced SPF grant request accordingly we anticipate that some mini-KTPs will proceed to full KTPs beyond the timeframe of the project. These will add significant value to the regional economy. Finally, the project will scope training and research needs of business through feasibility studies and joint workshops, engage with entrepreneurs in both for-profit and social enterprises and deliver a series of engagement events through the project lifetime. For both collaborative R&D/KT and CPD/training aspects The North East Wales Innovation and Skills Network will focus on six areas of academic strength at WU to ensure that these activities are targeted and realistic in terms of delivery within the timeframe. This will also support the up-and-coming North Wales Growth Deal funded Enterprise Engineering and Optic Centre (EEOC) project based on the university’s Plas Coch site in Wrexham and OpTIC centre in St Asaph, as well as work at Northop Campus and Broughton. In addition, there is a new The Cyber Innovation Academy launching late 2023 on the Wrexham campus. Scope and Objective of the Invitation to Tender We anticipate that initially a baseline assessment for the project will be carried out, to understand current levels of activity and to determine clear milestones over its lifetime. Establishment of baselines will be undertaken through internal stakeholder review. This inception evaluation process will also confirm that the proposed monitoring process is robust and fit for purpose. The project would then culminate in a summative evaluation. The summative evaluation will attempt to isolate those impacts that are attributable to the funded activity from other interventions. This evaluation will be commissioned with the aim of determining the effectiveness, results and impacts of the SPF funded project and will include any unforeseen outcomes/disbenefits that may have arisen. During the last 3 months of the project, the focus will shift towards documenting the project for the above summative evaluation. Key data will have been captured during the operation phase from all aspects of the project. We envisage the steps below being followed for subsequent evaluations against the new targets set for the funded project, in order to identify successes and any challenges: Delivery and