ERDF Stakeholder Workshop 4 th May 2016: Overview and Priorities

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1 ERDF Stakeholder Workshop 4 th May 2016: Overview and Priorities Paul Witcombe Enterprise and Innovation Manager Hertfordshire LEP paul.witcombe@hertfordshirelep.co.uk Tel:

2 STRUCTURE The rationale behind Hertfordshire s priorities Hertfordshire s strategic priorities Priority project areas

3 RATIONALE FOR PRIORITIES ON MANY MEASURES, THE HERTFORDSHIRE ECONOMY IS SUCCESSFUL Knowledge-based industries Skills Entrepreneurship High levels of economic participation Jobs growth Earnings

4 BUT THERE ARE CHALLENGES Low rates of long-term economic and productivity growth Hertfordshire is 77 th out of 133 NUTS 3 areas for its long-term growth rate. Productivity growth is half that of the England average. Scaling-up With the high tech/professional/skills profile and high rates of start-up: would expect to be scaling up above the national average rather than below it Providing the workforce High participation, high growth in demand both inside and adjacent to Hertfordshire

5 Factors that influence productivity Finance and Capital investment Appropriate skills i.e. skills that match employer needs, that complement or allow best use of technology Innovation Entrepreneurship & management

6 LEP ERDF PRIORITIES Innovation; research/ technological development and novel product/service development SME Competitiveness; Sector support, supply chain development, business advice for SMEs Low Carbon economy; Carbon reduction, energy efficiency

7 INNOVATION Transferring Knowledge: Promoting the generation and sharing of ideas through Knowledge Exchange and collaboration Product and Process development: Enabling the conversion of ideas into novel products and processes through R&D Commercialising ideas: advising on routes to market, strategic business planning, facilitating risk capital

8 SME COMPETITIVENESS Coaching and mentoring SMEs to develop the capability to grow Help for start-ups to become sustainable through strategic business planning; leadership and management Improving Access to Finance: Enabling capital investment to improve competitiveness and productivity Helping SMEs become Investor Ready Helping SMEs trade Internationally

9 LOW CARBON Support transfer of environmental technologies from one sector to another Help SMEs to develop, design and manufacture products utilising low carbon technologies. Enable HEI and peer to peer knowledge transfer to encourage commercialisation of Low Carbon technologies.

10 ERDF: where we stand today ERDF Programme in England has been delayed by more than one year Institutional architecture now in place to enable faster decision making Growing and effective relationship between CLG growth teams and LEPs. Still a long way to go but project pipelines are growing Pressing need to accelerate project development if the full benefit of ERDF is to maximised for SMEs in Hertfordshire

11 Allocated ERDF Budget 27,720,621 Total ERDF Commitments 8,316,087 Budget remaining 19,404,534 % Budget remaining 70% Applications by Priority Axis ERDF Priority Axis Total Applications PA1: Innovation & R&D 7 PA3: SME Competitiveness 9 PA4: Low Carbon Economy 6 Grand Total 22 Applications by project status Values Project Status Total Applications ( ) Business case 8 6,571,087 Concept 5 4,000,000 Rejected 5 Withdrawn 2 Contract awarded 2 1,745,000 Grand Total 22 12,316,087

12 Value of Pipeline applications by ERDF Priority Axis Sum of ESIF ( ) Column Labels ERDF Priority Axis Business case Contract awarded Grand Total PA1: Innovation & R&D 2,004,000 1,021,000 3,025,000 PA3: SME Competitiveness 2,937, ,000 3,661,087 PA4: Low Carbon Economy 1,630,000 1,630,000 Grand Total 6,571,087 1,745,000 8,316,087

13 Summary ERDF is a key mechanism for delivering business support and achieving shared objectives to grow SMEs in Herts Take up of ERDF has been slow but the project pipeline is growing. Significant gaps remain in the following areas: Grants to support SME expansion, proof of concept and prototype development Innovation based peer to peer networks Sector specific business support for LEP priority sectors and Social Enterprise Measures to support energy efficiency and the take up of low carbon technologies LEP welcomes the development of projects focused on driving SME competitiveness and productivity. Collaboration between delivery partners is encouraged whether inside the county or outside it

14 HERTFORDSHIRE LOCAL ENTERPRISE PARTNERSHIP Paul Witcombe Enterprise and Innovation Manager Tel: