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Yorkshire Universities Technical Assistance (YUTA) Project and the ESIF Good Practice

Guide (GPG)

2 December, Sheffield

Ian Rowe Sue Brownlow

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Yorkshire Universities represents 12 higher education institutions in Yorkshire:

Bradford, Hull, Huddersfield, Leeds, Leeds Beckett, Leeds Trinity, Leeds College of Art, Leeds College of Music, Sheffield, Sheffield Hallam, York, and York St John.

Why a Technical Assistance Project?• YU history of working with Structural Funds• To inform members about the new programme• Capacity to develop ideas/projects• Funding availability

Why a Good Practice Guide?• To capture good practice from the HE sector• Apply within the context of the 2014-2020 ESIF

About the Guide

• Practitioner-led• For leaders and senior

managers in Universities and LEPs

• Focused on the new ESIF programme

• Audience-led content

Topics covered• National perspectives• New programme overview• Good practice experience:

• Supporting innovation• SME engagement

• New opportunities:• Widening participation and

higher level skills• Student enterprise and

employability• Social innovation• Low carbon economy and

resource efficiency• Next steps

Strategic engagement:Four key aspects of good practice

• Strategic fit– Find the space where University strategy, Local Growth strategy and ESIF

priorities meet– Focus on outcomes not activities

• Partnering not bidding– Co-creation of the investment concept– With business, community and investment partners

• Operations not projects– Bundles of activity to address high level outcomes– Will usually require a collaborative approach

• Multi-level engagement– Internally and externally– Great communications– Strategic leadership is vital

Key features of successful R&D and Innovation projects

• Be clear about specialist niches in global R&D and innovation

• Focus on commercial growth, not just world-class R&D

• Encourage innovation sub-group of LEP or ESIF committee

• Work with business to develop and advocate the proposal

• Innovation Centres as a hub for innovation support, not just for tenants

• Link through to wide range of university support

• Promote and explain innovation to SMEs

• Charge market rents (or more)

Examples of SME Engagement supported by ESIF

Postgraduate programmes• KESS Wales• CUC Research• UHI Postgrad

research awards• Digital City

Fellowships (Teesside and partners)

• Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Innovation

Graduate placements• Unlocking Potential

(Cornwall and South West)

• GO Wales• Graduate Recruitment

& Placements (Teesside)

• Graduate Entrepreneurship (Huddersfield and Yorkshire Universities partners)

Innovation Vouchers• Innovation University

Enterprise Network (Coventry, Wolverhampton)

• Scottish Innovation Vouchers

• Knowledge Action Network (Manchester Met and partners)

• Yorkshire Innovation Fund

• West Midlands Innovation Vouchers

Key features of successful SME engagement projects

• Long-term, joined-up strategy, through combined operations

• Local partnerships to offer single contact point to SMEs

• Part of Local Growth Hub offer

• Placements and postgraduates are attractive to new SMEs

• Use of simplified cost options

• Use of ESF

New Opportunities – key issues

Social innovation means social issues and socially inclusive process Opportunities for knowledge transfer and innovation in low carbon technologies

Focus widening participation & higher level skills on ESIF prioritiesEnterprise and employability -enhancements to mainstream undergraduate tuition

What might a Higher Level Skills Operation look like?

Integrated and multi-partner operation which:• Delivers targeted widening participation activity … demonstrate

how this clearly goes beyond mainstream University WP activity• Drives demand from SMEs for undergraduate, graduate and

postgraduate projects, provides a simple gateway and offers targeted subsidy … eg contributes to costs for first-time SMEs or collaborative postgraduate programmes in S3 areas

• Supports SME and institutional costs of developing new industry partnerships and innovative approaches to student employability involving employers … highly targeted on local skills shortages where student recruitment is the key barrier eg ICT

Next steps for Universities

• Senior representation on ESIF committee / Innovation sub-group (and use it)

• Informal agreement about Universities ESIF role• Focus – think operations• Consider new opportunities• Involve external partners in development of ideas• Communicate, in business language• Set up skilled team(s) to drive project

development

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Where next for YUTA?• Project identification and development – (agri-science, health innovation,

energy, manufacturing supply chains, SME innovation, high level skills)

Challenges• LEP engagement• Developing wider partnerships• Match funding

The Importance of a sector group• Sharing information and ideas• Creating solutions to shared challenges• A sector voice with government

Questions?

Sue Brownlowsuebrownlow@gmail.com

Ian Rowei.rowe@yorkshireuniversities.ac.uk