Lancashire’s Edge Hill University is the first university in the North West to receive the ScaleUp Institute’s endorsement, identifying its High Growth Innovation Sprint programme as one of the best scaleup programmes in the country.
Delivered by Edge Hill’s SME Productivity and Innovation Centre (PIC), the High Growth Innovation Sprint initiative supports scaleup potential businesses developing their strategic growth plans, focusing on business performance, leadership and workforce capabilities.
Since 2017, it has helped over 240 high-growth potential businesses achieve an average 29% increase in turnover and has created 517 new jobs.
The programme’s latest independent evaluation, published in March 2023, found participants typically achieve between 25% to 48% profitability improvements and a return on public investment of £1: £13.90.
Professor Simon Bolton, Director of the SME PIC, said: “Having the success of the Innovation Sprint Programme recognised by the ScaleUp Institute is a huge milestone.
“The programme has had a huge economic impact across Lancashire and the Liverpool City Region, creating jobs, boosting profits and helping businesses launch new products. I also want to thank the businesses who’ve participated in the programme for their enthusiasm in working with us to innovate and achieve their growth potential.”
The ScaleUp Institute said: “Scaleup leaders consistently state that they want access to local expertise from universities and business schools, including access to academic and graduate talent.
“Edge Hill University’s High Growth Innovation Sprint programme is an exemplar of this type of support and demonstrates the role that universities across the country can play as anchor institutions in the scaleup ecosystem.”
The PIC’s dedicated support also includes scaleup strategy development, intensive online workshops, one-to-one support with academics and business experts, world-class rapid innovation tools and frameworks.
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