Our Research

Better Business

The business world is experiencing new challenges, and this has been intensified as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic. Due to this, we recognise organisations are now likely to be transitioning into a different way of working and considering how best to move forwards. To support business leaders during the transition, we have developed a brand-new business health check tool specifically for small businesses.

Better Society

Our research will capture the local community’s views on areas that have an impact on everyday life. This could include topics such as:

• Public expenditure
• Satisfaction with local services and infrastructure
• Environment and sustainability
• Issues relating to crime, policing, health, transport, and education.

Better Future

We are about evidence based informed solutions rather than policy-based evidence making. We recognise the inter-connectedness of people, work, business, and community in a way that transcends traditional policymaking.

UDREO will build a robust evidence base to inform economic and social policy deliberations, engage with people and businesses and produce analysis to support engagement with national government policy. We will engage with the public and with businesses to inform our research agendas. To inform policy in a rigorous way, UDREO will collect new empirical data on:

• Business intelligence – will capture the dynamics of local business activity including on the size distribution of businesses, the dynamics of growth of firms and sectors, barriers to growth, (including access to finance, skills and working premises, etc). We will also consider what spatial markets businesses operate in, their innovative capabilities, linkages and networks of firms, and the nature of the competitive environment they face.
• Population and social attitudes – will capture the dynamics of local social attitudes such as priorities for public expenditure, satisfaction with local services and infrastructure, and environmental issues. The publics views on issues relating to as crime, policing, health, transport, and education will be sought also.
• Labour market intelligence – will capture the dynamics of flows into and out of the labour market, the distribution of the working population across occupations and sectors, and data on work experience, job skills, training needs, career pathways, skills gaps (and skills provision), working conditions, and the matching of workers to jobs and industry sectors. We will also capture travel-to-work-areas and the dynamics of flows of workers into and out of cities and towns.