Review of the Scottish Enterprise and Royal Society of Edinburgh Enterprise Fellowship Programme: independent review of business performance and economic impact - executive summary

Scottish Enterprise commissioned an independent review of the Scottish Enterprise and Royal Society of Edinburgh Enterprise Fellowship Programme, to evaluate the performance of businesses which emerged as a result of Enterprise Fellows' participation in the programme and to assess those businesses' economic impact on the Scottish and UK economies. The aim of the programme is to assist individuals, mainly academics, to develop their entrepreneurial skills as they take forward new business ventures, usually science or technology-related.

Ernst & Young focused on the financial performance of the businesses and Oxford Economics focused on the economic impact. The authors jointly developed an electronic questionnaire, distributed to each Fellow, with a 73 per cent response rate.

According to the data, 44 businesses have so far been incorporated and 35 are trading. Only one business is known to have ceased trading. The programme generated investment of £70million between 2001 and 2006. Business turnover increased by 53% on average each year. Four businesses were identified as achieving sustained growth. National economic impact cannot be accurately calculated at such an early stage; however, in 2006, 277 people were directly employed by Fellowship businesses, most of whom were educated to at least degree level. Available data for 2006 showed a direct impact on Scotland's GVA of £1.4million.

No recommendations are made in this summary.