This report was produced by the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities (CFE), led by Lamia Kamal-Chaoui, Director, as part of the Programme of Work of the OECD Committee on SMEs and Entrepreneurship (CSMEE).
Marco Marchese (Policy Analyst, CFE) co-ordinated the project, with support from Juan Ramón Larraín Aylwin (Policy Analyst, CFE). The main authors of the report are Juan Ramón Larraín Aylwin, Marta Lasheras Sancho (Policy Analyst, CFE) and Marco Marchese. Michael Flood (Project Co-ordinator, CFE) and Anastasia Ri (Warwick Business School) also provided written inputs for some parts of the report. Lucia Cusmano (Head of Division, CFE) provided overall supervision of the project. Raffaele Trapasso (Head of Unit, CFE) contributed to the project inception and Andrew Paterson (Senior Advisor, CFE) gave valuable insights and comments on the draft report.
The report would not have been possible without the active engagement of the UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), whose contributions are gratefully acknowledged. In particular, special thanks go to Chris Johnson, Fergal MacManus, Jonathan Newman and Jamie Hampton, who closely followed different phases of the project’s implementation. The authors are also thankful to Casey Malynn, Edwin Poon, Max Bowling and Sarah Stannard who also offered guidance and comments at different stages of the project.
The report also benefited from the valuable inputs shared by the stakeholders who participated in the two fact-finding missions of project which included meetings with the UK government as well as stakeholders from the three regions of Greater London, West Midlands and the North-East. In particular, contributions are gratefully acknowledged from: Greater London Authority, London & Partners, British Library, British Business Bank, Innovation Growth Lab, Connected Places Catapult, TechUK, Lloyds Banking Group, Federation of Small Businesses, Be the Business, Confederation of British Industry, Department for Science, Innovation & Technology, Department for Business & Trade, Innovate UK, Warwick Manufacturing Group, Manufacturing Technology Centre, West Midlands Combined Authority, West Midlands 5G, Tech West Midlands, Sunderland Software City, North East Combined Authority, Scottish Enterprise, Universities for North East England, Hartree Centre, Digital Catapult.
Heather Mortimer-Charoy and Juan Mendez (CFE) provided project and administrative assistance. Jack Waters (CFE) and Bridgette Joyce supported the preparation of the report for publication.