This collaborative project aims to aid businesses in the West of England with their readiness in the areas of climate emergency, progressing innovation and workforce diversity, pointing to additional resources to support future ambitions. The project will address the challenge of transitioning towards an inclusive clean growth economy, focusing on strategy development support.

The work is in line with WECA’s overarching aim to achieve long-term and clean growth, aiming to enhance work and productivity practices among SMEs in the West of England.

The project has two core strands

Strand 1: How can social mobility be supported in businesses in the West of England?

Achieving greater social mobility is important for sustainable and inclusive business growth and the productivity of a diverse workforce. Yet, there is little guidance available to small- and medium-sized businesses in the West of England about how to implement good practices.

We are looking for stories from individuals who have spent their professional life in the West of England and can tell us about their experience of social mobility. We are also interested to hear from organizations that have implemented innovative approaches to social mobility and would be happy to showcase these.

This work is part of the Bristol Model project, a knowledge exchange collaboration between the University of Bristol and WECA. We seek to share examples of successful approaches to social mobility, to learn from each other and provide businesses with a free online repository of practices that appear to work.

For further information about the study, please read the Participant Information Sheet (PDF, 109kB)‌. For questions, please contact Jess Brown Research Associate, The University of Bristol

Strand 2: How can SMEs in the West of England be supported in developing strategies for a sustainable and inclusive recovery?

Supporting decision-makers and stakeholders in considering a range of dimensions (HR diversity, technological innovation, environmental sustainability) in strategizing for business growth and recovery can be achieved through self-assessment toolkits that can be used to help benchmark one’s performance against good practice.

Our project aims to develop such a self-assessment tool tailored to SMEs in the Southwest. The project’s research assistants have reviewed available toolkits from academia and public sector agencies and are currently synthesizing the findings. We aim to share the insights and hold a co-design workshop with organizational representatives to co-create the prototype of the strategy-making support process.

Further information about how to participate will be available in early 2022. If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact the Principal Investigator: Dr Katharina Burger