Scottish Enterprise evaluation of the STAC project: final report

The Scottish Technology and Collaboration (STAC) project supports collaborative projects involving Scottish software small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). STAC Advisors provide an ‘honest broker’ service to SMEs, encouraging and facilitating collaborations with the aim of developing projects which are more efficient, more profitable and of enhanced quality. The evaluation assesses the impacts, to date and into the future, of the STAC Project Phase 4, which funded two facilitators who worked with small technology firms (mainly software based).

The methodology consisted of consultation with the two facilitators of the STAC project and a business survey of the companies assisted by the project.

The STAC project has clearly achieved some tangible benefits to assisted companies in terms of impacts. Economic impacts to date are estimated to be: £1.6m of sales; £0.87m GVA; and around 13 jobs at the Scotland level. Up to 2012, these are estimated to be: £5.4m of sales (discounted); £3.2m GVA (discounted); and around 55 jobs at the Scotland level. The project has excellent cost benefit ratios: impacts to date are estimated at 1:2.24, 1:6.24 for future impacts and 1:8.49 for total impacts. Qualitative impacts have also been highlighted by beneficiary companies and the facilitators. Areas of good practice have been identified, including: the flexibility given to the facilitators which has allowed them to select companies most likely to succeed and provide bespoke needs and support to the companies; and the long-term nature of the project which has allowed benefits time to accrue.

It is recommended that the STAC project be continued. Recommendations for improving future projects include: continuing to carry out early market-validation to ensure SMEs have a viable product; setting up interest groups around new technologies; more marketing of success stories by SE; and linking SME products to the public sector as well as the private sector.