Following the national review of the Growth Hub programme across England, the D2N2 Growth Hub was reviewed by The Insight Works Limited. Their review looked at the D2N2 Growth Hub 2.0 programme which ran from June 2018 to June 2023, following the success of the original Growth Hub programme.
The review’s key findings were as follows:
The D2N2 Growth Hub 2.0 has achieved the following impact:
- Created an additional £14m of value to the D2N2 economy (based on GVA calculations)
- Delivered over 192 jobs
- Provided a ‘go to’ destination for inclusive business support, advisor support services and signposting, to help local Small to Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) develop and tackle issues which restrict their performance
- Delivered business support services to over 1,340 businesses
- Supported 696 enterprises through the project lifecycle, with over 186 receiving grant support to help with their digital needs, capital equipment and specialist consultancy costs
- Delivered around 360 events per annum with nearly 10,000 participants attending
- Achieved excellent value for money; its costs for the services it provided were a third of the cost of comparable business support programmes
The Business Investment Fund, delivered by the Growth Hub, has been particularly successful and has enabled applicants to achieve better performance and operational efficiencies. 78% of businesses that have accessed the funding stated they were more innovative as a result, and 73% had access to new technologies, equipment or facilities. The funding has allowed businesses to increase their Research and Development activities and subsequently increase their growth potential as a result.
The summative assessment for the Growth Hub 2.0 project shows it has delivered a strong level of support across the region for our SME base and achieved good levels of intervention in existing and new enterprises. The results of the assessment show incredibly strong results over the period, with 98% of businesses stating they would be likely to access future business support programmes, due to their experiences with the Growth Hub. An overwhelming majority of the businesses supported rated the Growth Hub services as good or excellent, with 92% of the respondents rating the Growth Hub Advisor support as good or excellent.
Tom Goshawk, our Head of Economic Growth and Strategy, said:
“We’re really pleased to see this report. It highlights the excellent work of the D2N2 Growth Hub team and its delivery partners, and outlines their great success in delivering support to over 690 businesses across our region. The D2N2 Growth Hub has continued to focus on the productivity challenges businesses are facing in the LEP area and through its delivery, has supported job and GVA creation, thereby helping to boost the D2N2 economy.”
For further details about the D2N2 Growth Hub, including case studies, click here
For media enquiries contact:
Nicola Swaney, Head of External Affairs, D2N2 LEP
nicola.swaney@d2n2lep.org
