An Initial Formative Evaluation of Best Market Solutions
In 2011 the UK Commission adopted an investment based approach to support employer groups to develop innovative, infrastructure solutions to employment and skills problems. This is the first report from a programme of research to evaluate the investments. The project explored the establishment and early stages of the first projects to receive investment through the Growth and Innovative Fund.
Evidence Report : An Initial Formative Evaluation of Best Market Solutions (PDF, 1.2 Mb)
Executive Summary (PDF, 884 Kb)
Published – September 2012
The aim of this early evaluation was to learn lessons from the way in which project ideas were conceived, and subsequently developed. The study has adopted a case study approach, with six of the Round 1 Growth and Innovation Fund (GIF) projects examined in detail. The findings in the study’s main report focus on these six case studies, though these are extended to the wider set of 12 projects invested in through Round 1 of GIF.
This evaluation has looked at many aspects of the programme at this early stage and makes recommendations on how to improve and support the proposals employers bring forward and how the UK Commission can best evaluate the success of the programme.
Given that most projects had only just started at the time of the research, it is yet too early to undertake an assessment of outcomes. However, the evaluation assessed the extent to which Round 1 of GIF has aligned with the three key principles underpinning GIF and the investment approach, namely that initiatives ought to be: employer-led; innovative; and self-sustaining in the medium and long-term. The assessment of the evaluators is that the first Round of GIF has largely aligned with the first two of these principles.
- There is some good evidence of how employer engagement has brought forward new ideas and has been used to test project design options. Whilst there is variety in the extent to which initiatives have genuinely been driven from the bottom-up, this in part reflects the nature of project origins;
- Solutions are bringing forward new ideas, notably models from other contexts, i.e. context-specific innovation. In addition, projects are incorporating adaptive innovation: they are using new delivery and/or engagement processes, by drawing on good practice. That there are very few examples of transformative innovation (i.e. radically new ideas) is unsurprising, and we would not expect this to increase significantly in future rounds of GIF. This is because such innovation is rare in any case, and in particular in a public policy arena with regulations and legal frameworks.
- It is too early to comment on the extent to which sustainable business models are being developed, and so a conclusion on alignment with the third principle cannot be made at this stage. However, the evaluation has noted that there is a relatively short period of time before self-sufficiency is required. Given initial feedback, it would not be surprising if further public funding, or some other form of sponsorship, was required at the end of the GIF investment period as a transition to when delivery costs could be fully covered by revenues.
