Presentation to the Joint Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and
Innovation
26th May 2015
Professor Stephen Roper, Director of the Enterprise Research Centre, Warwick Business
School, Coventry, UK, CV4 7AL.
My name is Stephen Roper and I am Professor of Enterprise at Warwick Business School in
the UK. At Warwick I lead the Enterprise Research Centre or ERC, the UK’s national centre
for research on SMEs. ERC is a research partnership of five leading UK universities –
Warwick, Aston, Imperial, Birmingham and Strathclyde and is funded by the UK government
department of Business Innovation and Skills, Innovate UK and the UK’s major banks. My
interest in the all-island economy is longstanding: before moving to England in 2003 I
worked for nearly 20 years in economic research in Northern Ireland and have written
extensively on the all-island economy and particularly on issues related to innovation. I also
had the chance to spend part of my sabbatical at ESRI in 2013.
I welcome the committee’s focus on trying to build stronger synergies across the all-island
economy. This all-island perspective is long overdue in policy making in my view.
I also welcome the focus on trade but feel that a narrow focus on island wide trade is
somewhat misplaced. Instead, I would wish to see the Committee adopt a perspective which
emphasises exports from the island of Ireland and to explore mechanisms which can be put
in place to encourage exporting. My remarks will therefore focus on building co-operation,
innovation and exporting.
Recent research has emphasised three findings.
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First, innovation and exporting are very closely related. SMEs that export grow more
than twice as fast as those that do not, while ‘internationally active’ SMEs are three
times more likely to introduce products or services that are new to their sector than
those which are entirely domestic in orientation1.
Second, innovation is enhanced where firms co-operate either with other firms or
universities. Indeed, one study we recently published on Irish data suggests that
external contacts account for 40 per cent of innovative output in small firms (25 per
cent in larger companies)2.
1
European Commission (2010) ‘Internationalisation of European SMEs’, Directorate-General for Enterprise and
Industry, Brussels. , http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/sme/marketaccess/files/internationalisation_of_european_smes_final_en.pdf.
Vahter, P; J H Love and S Roper. 2013. "Openness and Innovation Performance: Are Small Firms Different?,"
Research Paper 12: Enterprise Research Centre,
2
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Third, the productivity gains of innovation are maximised when firms are also
exporting3.
Co-operating for innovation under-pins all of this. And, so promoting innovation collaboration
is key to the joint objectives of maximising trade and job creation.
Some useful steps have already been taken in this direction through the Island-wide
Innovation Vouchers programme and the development programmes run by IntertradeIreland.
Let me make three further policy suggestions:
(a) Brokerage – many smaller firms often find it difficult to identify potential
innovation partners and brokerage can be very helpful in helping firms provide
partners. This type of support could usefully be developed perhaps through the EEN
offices and we have previously suggested an approach for Northern Ireland4.
(b) Prioritising collaborative innovation support – typically levels of universitybusiness collaboration in Scandinavia are greater than those in Ireland. This is said
to be because they place more emphasis on collaborative innovation funding. A
cross-border priority is also possible here.
(c) Supply chains- these provide opportunities for innovation co-operation. Where
supply chains are cross-border already these provide the basis for developing deeper
collaboration.
I hope this perspective is a useful contribution to your debate and I look forward to
addressing any questions you may have.
Love, J H; N Hewitt-Dundas and S Roper. 2010. "Service Innovation, Embeddedness and Business
Performance." Regional Studies, 44(8 ), 983-1004
3
4
http://www.detini.gov.uk/dt1_13_0160614__open_innovation_centre_in_northern_ireland__evidence_pack_-_final.pdf