UK SBS BLOJEU-CR140040INNUK Economic Evaluation

Tender description

The UK Catapult centres are independent, not-for-profit, technology & innovation centres set up by Innovate UK on behalf of the UK government with the headline objective of closing the gap between concept and commercialisation to drive UK economic growth. They do this by providing a national R&D capability that provides concentrated expertise, access to cutting-edge equipment and specialist facilities to develop and test ideas in reality. They also act as industry convenors and thought leaders, bringing together business, academia and government to drive innovation and unlock markets. Each Catapult specialises in a different area of technology which the UK has genuine potential to generate growth in strategically important global markets. Catapults all offer innovative facilities and expertise to enable businesses and researchers to collaboratively solve key problems and develop new products and services on a commercial scale. The Catapult vision is to bridge the gap between these ambitious businesses and the expertise of the UK’s world-class research communities. Catapults exist to: • Reduce the risk of innovation and accelerate the pace of business development • Create sustainable jobs and growth • Develop the UK’s skills and knowledge base and its global competitiveness The aim is for Catapults, once mature, to operate on a 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 funding model, whereby one third of their funding is core government funding, one third is competitively won from national and EU funding and the final third comes from commercial contracts. Innovate UK core funding is currently set at £10m per annum per Catapult, excluding one-off additional spending bids. Each Catapult agrees a five year plan for achieving increased economic growth in their respective sector with Innovate UK, and reports a quarterly set of key performance metrics (KPIs) to enable Innovate UK to monitor their progress against those strategies. There are currently seven Catapult centres, although only four of those existing Catapults are included within this tender: - Offshore Renewable Energy (established 2012) - Transport Systems (established 2013) - Digital (established 2013) - Future Cities (established 2013) This aim of this project is to produce four reports – one for each of the Catapults listed above. Each Catapult report will comprise of three elements: 1. A retrospective baseline of the relevant industry at the time the Catapult was established. In some cases relevant studies have already been undertaken that can inform this work. 2. A bespoke logic model for the Catapult, specifying the channels through which it can generate economic impact. In some cases logic models have already been developed and need to be reviewed. 3. A recommended evaluation framework that can be used by the Catapult going forward to measure its economic impact, including identifying which indicators should be measured, and how. Although each framework will be bespoke