• Main Prioritites

Enterprise

Enterprise skills are crucial to the economic vitality of industries, regions and countries. New ideas and jobs need to be created faster than they are lost in order to respond to the global culture of constant change. 

The Enterprise standing group is lead by Louise Tyrie (SW RDA) you can contact her at louise.tyrie@southwestrda.org.uk

An Enterprising Culture in the UK is one of the government's main policy drivers. The need to improve the amount businesses make from the same number of employees means that we need to both improve the skills of those employees and the ability of the business to use them. Enterprise Skills has a wide definition:

• Employability - where an employee is proactive, able to identify and assist in solving workplace and product issues and act effectively in the team
• Transferable skills - communication, negotiation, conflict resolution, influencing, meeting management and many other societal skills required by all members of a workforce for it to run effectively
• Innovation - the identification and development of new business ideas both within and and without the work place
• Enterprise - the art of developing and running a business as well as wider economic awareness
• Leadership - management skills that are required at all levels

There is much activity at all levels in the region and Enterprise could be defined as a cross cutting skill requirement across all the skills and sector issues in a similar way to environmental and social sustainability. Schools are well served by several private Enterprise Education providers and the Schools' Enterprise Education Network which works with the Business and Enterprise Specialist Secondary Schools as hubs for the primary spokes. This is led by the Department for Children, Schools and Families and their new contract round will seek to implement Enterprise Learning Partnerships in line with the Local Economic Partnerships. Further Education Colleges are beginning to become involved in this framework although there are many examples of best practice relating to Enterprise education in FE colleges in the region. SWRDA is currently developing an approach to FE knowledge transfer partnerships which will allow students or FE graduates to be placed in businesses to carry out research that can then be applied to the business model to assist it's development, whilst also drawing in the expertise of the lecturers. This is an established model from Higher Education establishments.
 
Another area of activity in Enterprise is the development of Priority Places. Many of the investment frameworks aim to build the enterprise cultures of their regions through business premises and coordination of support. An important element of this work is the pre start up outreach work that helps people to gain the skills and confidence they need to start a business.
 
It is difficult to decide where to add value at a regional level. We intend to begin by holding a Market Place event in the new year where we bring together as many of the actors in the Enterprise world, along with the students who participate and benefit, all along the spectrum from primary to higher education and the business support programmes.