Innovation

Chair: Paul Jagger MBE
Members: Bill Adams, Naheed Arshad-Mather, Frank Carter, Cllr Philip Dobson, Cllr John Harris, Cllr Shelagh Marshall

The scrutiny of Innovation was the first review to be undertaken by the Assembly’s standing Scrutiny Board. The review looked at three areas of innovation - identifying the broad range of innovation programmes and initiatives that were on offer in the region; considering how small and medium sized businesses are supported in their innovation activities; and assessing the barriers that discourage businesses from being innovative and how these obstacles could be overcome.

The Innovation review piloted the use of an online forum where Assembly members and other interested partners were able to comment on the draft scrutiny report and share their views. The Scrutiny Board made twelve recommendations on how innovation activity could be strenghtened and made more accessible for all businesses, including:

• The development of a User Guide for Innovation that clearly explains and simplifies the range of innovation support available to businesses
• The development of a new mechanism for capturing and measuring levels of innovation practice in businesses from all sectors
• The creation of a database of available grow-on accommodation in the region for successful and expanding businesses of all sectors
• To consider how the short application process for the Yorkshire Forward research and development grants can be applied to other funding streams to speed up the funding application process