Beyond traditional evaluation: North East LEP seeks evaluator to uncover hidden impact of innovation programme

The North East Local Enterprise Partnership (North East LEP) is looking for an organisation to evaluate its latest open innovation programme. Emily Carlson, Innovation Programme Manager, explains why she wants to move beyond traditional evaluation models.

At the North East LEP, data and evaluation drive everything we do; they help us learn and improve.

We’re now looking for an organisation to work with us on evaluating our recent Challenge North Tyne programme which we ran with Innovation SuperNetwork with funding from the North of Tyne Combined Authority.  The programme helps businesses in Newcastle, North Tyneside and Northumberland launch new products and services that have real potential to be successful.

But, as this is an innovation-focused programme, we want to go beyond traditional evaluation methods and uncover the full impact of the programme. We are looking for more than a cost-benefit analysis, and want this evaluation to create a blueprint for evaluating other challenge-led programmes in the future.

Challenge North Tyne launched in 2022 and tasked businesses with coming up with new ways of solving some of the issues we’re facing in society. Now, 48 businesses have been awarded a £5,000 grant and are part of an accelerator programme to develop their ideas, and we would like to work with an evaluator who can examine not just the economic impact of the programme in terms of investment and jobs but who can also help us to unearth some of the less obvious results.

These might be changes in mind-set, or the birth of new collaborations – things that could go on to change the way businesses in our region innovate in the future.

Challenge North Tyne focused on two areas in particular: healthy ageing, and decarbonisation. Businesses put forward ideas which they believe could help decarbonise our homes, or help older people live happier, better connected, more active lives. In July, we’ll see how the accelerator programme has helped the businesses develop their ideas at a showcase event and we’d like our evaluators to be on board by then.

The full impact of increasing innovation in our region won’t be felt immediately. Programmes like Challenge North Tyne are a long term investment in the North East and we want to make sure we capture its impact and learn how to run even more successful challenge-led programmes in the future.

This evaluation will guide the way we support businesses to bring new ideas to market, so we want to get it right. If you could help, we’d love to hear from you.

The opportunity to apply for the evaluation of the Challenge North Tyne programme closes on 3 April 2023. Find out more and apply here.

Challenge North Tyne is an £800,000 open innovation project delivered by the North East LEP and Innovation SuperNetwork. The project, funded by the North of Tyne Combined Authority, is designed to bring our region’s most innovative minds together to tackle pressing problems and emerging opportunities, for the benefit of all involved.