Business Capacity Building Clusters

Creative industries Scotland: Capitalising on creativity

This cluster was awarded to the Institute for Capitalising on Creativity which is a consortium of the Management School at the University of St Andrews; Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design at Dundee University: the School of Computing and Creative Technologies, University of Abertay; and the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.

Through a portfolio of Capacity Building awards it offers a programme of research and knowledge transfer proposals that address all of the 13 different areas of the DCMS description of the creative industries, aiming to build research capacity and knowledge of the sector through an analysis the interplay of intellectual, social, cultural and economic capital that sustains it.

Exeter cluster in sport, leisure and tourism

Sport, leisure and tourism are vital components in economy, society and culture in the United Kingdom. Despite its importance to contemporary life, this sector has traditionally suffered from skills gaps, a lack of research capacity, and a history of under-funding for high-level, strategic research.

This cluster will be particularly timely: A review of current trends, policy on and relating to sport, leisure and tourism, and the predominant position of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games in public debate, indicates the sector faces a number of significant challenges to build capacity, to encourage engagement between business and higher education, and to secure the greatest legacy from the games.

The University of Exeter has a long and distinguished track record in knowledge creation and transfer in sport, leisure and tourism. It has a unique combination of ESRC recognitions in the areas of sport, leisure and tourism.

EREBUS: Engaging research for business transformation

The EREBUS capacity building cluster, developed in consultation with a range of business stakeholders in the West Midlands, aims to create an enhanced capacity for business research which can drive business transformation for small to medium sized enterprises. By business transformation we mean a radical change in  organisational culture, structure or market offerings which leads to a step change in firm’s sales, growth or productivity.

The EREBUS team is a partnership between the universities of Aston, Warwick and Birmingham, thus combining a significant research capability with undoubted strength in knowledge and technology transfer. All three universities are recognised regionally, nationally and internationally for their research and have particular and complementary strengths in 'third stream' activities. EREBUS is focused upon making impact in the Energy, Financial Services and Health technologies sectors which have been identified as priorities within the ESRC’s Business Engagement Strategy.

EREBUS will also create a new group of world-class social science researchers engaged in this transformative research. The capacity building cluster will act as the catalyst for change by establishing and facilitating a community of business researchers from across these leading research universities. This community will collaborate on preparing for outstanding engagement, knowledge co-production and enhancing its business impact throughout the West Midlands and beyond.

RIBEN: Retail cluster

To encourage closer dialogue and collaboration between social scientists and the retail industry the ESRC Retail Industry Business Engagement Network (RIBEN) Capacity Building Cluster was created. The aim is to provide a new generation of university-based researchers with first-hand experience of working on issues of relevance to the retail sector and are committed to the co-production of knowledge and knowledge transfer with the sector.

RIBEN is a consortium which brings together four of the UK’s leading retail research groups at the Universities of Southampton, Oxford, Leeds and Surrey. Together these groups have some of the strongest existing research partnerships with the retail industry, plus long-standing records of research funding involving industry, ESRC, and various forms of collaborative industry/research council arrangements. Working together within the structure of RIBEN, the four groups will seek to foster wider engagement of UK university-based social scientists with the retail industry, both directly, and also via acting as 'hubs' through which other (perhaps more isolated) researchers with retail and consumption interests can more effectively engage in knowledge production and transfer with the industry.