Welcome to Evaluations Online
Main Content
Evaluations Online is a publicly accessible collection of evaluation and research reports from Scottish Enterprise. The reports cover all aspects of Scottish Enterprise's economic development activities and are available for download at no cost.
Latest reports
-
Qualitative review of SE Large Grant Support – case study research
The main research objective was to undertake a qualitative review of Scottish Enterprise’s (SE) large grant programmes that have delivered around 1,700 grants (£512million) to around 1,300 businesses between 2009/10 and 2017/18. The review covered Regional Selective Assistance (RSA), SMART, R&D, Training Plus, High Growth Spinout Programme (HGSP), Proof of Concept (PoC), Environmental Aid and Young Innovative Enterprise (YIE) grants. The key aims were to assess the rationale for providing grants and the impact of grants on company performance. The review also considered administrative issues such as; the application and appraisal process, grant management, linkages with other support, marketing/promotion and performance metrics. -
An econometric evaluation of Scottish Enterprise grant support to businesses
The report evaluates the impact of Scottish Enterprise grant support over the period 2009/10-2017/18 on businesses in Scotland. The grants reviewed are Regional Selective Assistance (RSA), R&D, SMART: Scotland, Environmental Aid, Proof of Concept grants, and Training Plus. The report evaluates the impact of grants on firm-level employment, turnover, and average turnover per employee (a proxy for productivity). -
Analysis and Benchmarking of Business High-Growth Performance in Scotland, January 2020
Scottish Enterprise (SE) commissioned the Enterprise Research Centre to carry out data analysis to explore further the high-growth dynamics of Scotland’s business base, benchmarking this against other regions of the UK and, where possible, other countries. The analysis also presents a critique of the definition of a HGF and sets out some alternatives definitions and methodologies to allow policymakers to more accurately focus on business growth over time. -
Foresighting for industrial wastewater treatment
Scottish Enterprise (SE) commissioned Mabbett to undertake research to provide insight into the supply chain opportunities and global market outlook of the wastewater treatment sector. Specifically, this research considers industrial plants and manufacturers who produce large quantities of wastewater. These companies may choose to operate their own wastewater treatment plant to save money, reuse water, to meet regulations or because Scottish Water may have insufficient capacity to take their wastewater. This research was commissioned in order to inform the SE Energy team about future opportunities in the industrial wastewater sector and to help SE to develop support for companies in this area. This will improve the company’s productivity, enable companies with innovative treatment technologies to demonstrate their products and in some cases, help the major user overcome any production or discharge limits. -
Economic and business performance and trends across Scotland’s regions
This study sought to bring together a wide range of data available at a regional level, to give a wider view of the economic and business performance of the regions of Scotland. The idea was by bringing a range of factors together rather than just looking at elements in isolation or perhaps links to just one aspect, we would gain a better understanding of regional strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and challenges, to develop evidence-led interventions relevant to places’ own needs. The data identified also offered the opportunity to look not just at performance but give some indication of trends over the last decade or so.