Research News ESRC Enterprise Research Centre

Kiran Trehan is to be one of the experts who will contribute to a new £2.9m Enterprise Research Centre, designed to boost the performance of the UK’s small and medium-sized companies and inform the Government’s business policy. The University of Birmingham will lead research into diversity and ethnic minority businesses in the UK, building on the work of Enterprise Diversity Alliance. This is a new-generation response to transforming communities and corporations through mutually beneficial enterprise activities, led by Kiran and Professor Monder Ram of De Montfort University. Backed by the British Bankers’ Association (BBA), leading policy-makers and professional bodies, its ambition is to ‘make diversity and enterprise everyone’s business’.

Warwick and Aston Universities have been chosen to host a new Enterprise Research Centre that will help develop understanding of the factors affecting business investment, performance and growth. They will work alongside a consortium of other universities including ourselves, Strathclyde, De Montfort and Imperial College London. The centre was launched 1 January 2013 and it is anticipated that it will become a national and international focal point for research, knowledge and expertise on small and medium-sized businesses.

The new £2.9 million centre will exploit and develop the existing knowledge base and data resources, strengthen the links between evidence and practice, and inform Government policy and business practice for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in the UK. It is a joint collaboration between the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), the British Bankers Association (BBA), the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Technology Strategy Board.