Impact case study database

4.1. Pathway to Impact

In 2005 Hoel was engaged as an expert international adviser for a three year Norwegian national initiative Jobbing uten Mobbing (Working without Bullying) initiated by the Ministry of Labour under the supervision of the Norwegian Labour Inspectorate. Acting as international advisor to the Steering Committee for the duration of the project, Hoel was tasked with examining British experiences on formal responses to bullying/harassment in the workplace with high-level, tripartite participation from trade union confederations, employer organisations and the Labour Inspectorate. Due to the uniformly positive response from the participants, a committee with tripartite membership was established with Hoel as advisor. The committee subsequently endorsed the Faktaundersøkelse investigation method, based on Hoel’s cross-national research and applied to the Norwegian socio-political context. The committee also recommended anti-bullying policy development at the organisational level to assist the Faktaundersøkelse approach. Hoel was then contracted by the Labour Inspectorate to develop a three-day pilot training programme outlining the Faktaundersøkelse methodology which he delivered to an invited audience, primarily senior HR managers invited by the Labour Inspectorate. Given the success of this pilot work, Hoel then devised a revised three-day course drawing on subsequent research into bullying in the workplace [4], [5], [6], aimed at competence and capacity building within organisations for addressing workplace bullying allegations.

4.2. Impact in Scandinavian Workplaces

Since 2014, Hoel has trained over 1,000 high-level employees from many Scandinavian organisations in his ‘investigation of facts’ (faktaundersøkelse) method. These organisations include the Norwegian Armed Forces (16,000 employees), Kvaerner (2,700 employees), Statoil Equinor (21,000 employees), Veidekke (7,000 employees) and 54 local and regional authorities in Norway and Sweden including Gothenburg (55,000 employees), Stavanger (9,000 employees) Sandnes and Fredrikstad (6,000 employees each). This has resulted in a network of highly competent local case investigators across Scandinavia. Course attendees are mostly managers and advisors from an organisation’s HR function or management consultants and independent occupational health services. Attendees take insights into practical approaches and improved personal competences back to their own organisations to shape new practices and incorporate them within their own organisation’s policy frameworks [A], [B], [C], [D], [E].

Feedback on and evaluations of Hoel’s training programme have shown significant organisational impacts in four areas: (1) enhanced competency within workplaces to deal with bullying and harassment allegations, (2) improvement in the rigour of anti-bullying investigations, resulting in more equitable outcomes, (3) improvement in employee and workplace wellbeing, and (4) the development of workplace anti-bullying policies leading to cultural change.

4.2.1 Enhanced Competency

Professionals who have been trained in Hoel and colleagues’ method have been able to embed what they have learned into their own organizations, increasing competence for investigating claims of bullying. In Norway, a training organization focused on conflict resolution in the workplace, Arbeidsmiljøspesialistene, has developed training courses based on Hoel’s method [A]. Since 2014, more than 500 people have taken part in Arbeidsmiljøspesialistene’s three-day residential course aimed at building in-house competence in investigation of facts [A]. Professionals from both the public and private sectors have attended these courses, including HR/occupational health professionals from 24 local authorities [A]. More than 200 professionals have undertaken further training to receive a certification of competence in anti-bullying policy development. In Sweden, the training organization Metodicum has collaborated with Hoel to design and deliver a training course that develops competence in the investigation of facts method [B]. Since 2017, approximately 400 people have taken part in a three-day residential course that enables them to implement the method in their organizations [B]. Metodicum has trained investigators in 30 local or regional authorities in the Swedish public sector, in most cases with a minimum of two persons per authority.

Evidence from mutiple organizations shows that HR departments are better equipped to deal with bullying allegations after adopting Hoel’s investigation method. For example, the Commander of the Norwegian Armed Forces Human Resources Management Services who chaired a working group using Hoel’s method said that [C]: “ the faktaundersøkelse method has had a significant impact on the HR capabilities of the Norwegian Armed Forces. Following the #metoo campaign and associated whistle-blowing cases, there has been an explosion of work for our organization in handling cases of bullying and harassment. Without Hoel and colleagues’ methods and training, we would not have developed such clear procedures for dealing with these complaints. Adopting these highly trusted and effective procedures has significantly increased our capacity and competence to undertake this increasingly important work”.

At Kvaerner, Hoel trained 40 employees in his method, which has resulted in a network of local, competent investigators. The company highlights that [D]: “ the training and development of the network has significantly improved our internal competencies for dealing with complaints of bullying”.

4.2.2. Equitable outcomes

Participants in the faktaundersokelse courses have confirmed that one of the most significant outcomes of their training has been an improvement in the rigour and stringency of internal anti-bullying investigations. Many participants reported that prior to Hoel’s training course, there was an uneven application of process as anti-bullying investigations were mostly carried out at local levels and with varying levels of formality by different managers. This led to arbitrary and often unsatisfactory outcomes for both complainants and defendants. The faktaundersokelse procedure has therefore [C]: “ enshrined fair treatment in cases of bullying and whistleblowing [in the Norwegian Armed Forces], as the cases are now carried out according to a standardised policy and investigatory methodology that is based on firm legal foundations”.

At Kvaerner, the procedure has been praised as [D]:“ a very orderly tool to investigate complaints”. An internal workforce survey confirmed that in more than 80% of anti-bullying cases carried out since the faktaundersokelse procedure was implemented at the company, a satisfactory resolution to the dispute was reached without further complaint or need for additional investigation.

4.2.3. Workplace Wellbeing

At the Norwegian Armed Forces, Hoel’s procedure [C]: “ has engendered an improvement in the emotional wellbeing of both complainants and defendants, as they feel reassured by the stringency and formality of the process and have a high degree of confidence in the fairness of the procedure. This is evidenced by the fact that there have been no complaints about the application of the process, either by complainants or defendants, once a resolution has been reached”.

4.3. Development of Policies and Cultural Change

Hoel has devised a further two-day course on anti-bullying policy development and implementation. A number of large companies in Scandinavia, that were previously lacking official anti-bullying policies, have attested to organisation-wide cultural changes that have occurred since the development of new anti-bullying policies stemming from this course. For example Holger Iversen, Vice-President of HR at Kvaerner, has stated that Hoel’s methodology and training course directly fed into the development of a new anti-bullying policy which has [D]: “ created a cultural change in the organisation by underscoring a ‘duty to act’ where harassment is seen or reported. Managers within the organisation are now compelled to take action as soon as they have been made aware of unacceptable behaviour”. Kvaerner subsequently ran training courses for its employees to educate them on the new policy; a workforce survey in 2020 with 872 responses found that the policy is ‘extremely well known’ and respondents reported that now the policy is in place, there has been increased trust among employees that managers and the HR department would handle complaints in a satisfactory manner [D]. Veidekke’s occupational safety officer stated that “ Veidekke have developed procedures for handling employee grievances, including complaints of bullying and harassment, based on Professor Hoel and Professor Einarsen’s “Faktaundersøkelse” (FU/Investigation of Facts) principle”[E]. She stated that “ One of the main outcomes of adopting the FU/Investigation of Facts methodology has been the formalisation of the investigation process to be fair and transparent for all parties” [E].

Evidencing the effects of policy and culture changes triggered by Hoel’s method, the Norwegian Armed Forces conducted an internal survey (MOST survey, 8,900 respondents) which illustrated that [C]: “ the number of bullying and harassment allegations within the organisation [had] risen dramatically”, especially since the prevalence of the #metoo social media campaign. For the organisation, these results show that Hoel’s faktaundersøkelse method [C]: “ has entered the language of the Norwegian Armed Forces and has become a firmly rooted and well-respected concept amongst employees. As such, it has led to a cultural change within the Armed Forces in which employees feel able to bring complaints without the fear that they will be treated unfairly.” Moreover, the Armed Forces has catalysed the use of faktaundersokelse procedures on a national level by creating a new working group with the Department for Defence on whistleblowing procedures and reporting channels which [C] “ uses Hoel and colleagues’ method as a common language to create an understanding of how to fairly process such complaints”. Such central coordination groups are also evident in the Gothenburg local authority, where local trade unions have participated in the training programs and have fully endorsed the implementation of the methodology [B].

4.4. Impact on Court Cases and Legal Debate

Although most faktaundersøkelse investigations are resolved within workplaces, within the last few years an increasing number of court decisions in employment-related cases by Norwegian magistrates courts ( tingrett) and appeals courts at county level ( lagmannsrett) have referenced the methodology [F]. Such acknowledgement of the process in court documents [G] confirms that faktaundersøkelse has not only become a common pathway to conflict resolution within Norwegian workplaces, but also a recognised process within the Norwegian legal system in cases where the conflict is escalated to courts. The faktaundersokelse procedure has had a significant impact on legal debate as it is now recognised as playing an important role in resolving conflict within Norwegian workplaces.

Since 2014, Geels’ research has made a substantial contribution to shaping environmental thinking and policy-making at the international level, for example with the European Environment Agency and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Changed Understandings and Influenced Policy Recommendations at the European Environment Agency

Geels’ research has had a profound impact on the EEA, which is a scientific advisory body designed to provide independent information on the environment to inform policy-making at European level. Impact has been facilitated through extensive engagement with EEA officials since 2014 that culminated in Geels’ appointment to the EEA’s Scientific Committee in 2017. The Committee provides scientific advice on areas of work undertaken by the Agency and is influential in framing the agenda of the Agency. As described below, Geels’ work and close involvement with the EEA has significantly influenced the EEA’s thinking and informed its knowledge base. The Executive Director of the EEA, credits Geels with “ inform[ing] the European Commission, the European Parliament, Member States, and the wider public about the need to frame climate and environmental challenges in a systemic sustainability transitions perspective” [A].

Changed EEA Thinking

Since 2014, the EEA has explicitly adopted Professor Geels’ socio-technical transition framework to frame the causes of persistent environmental problems, such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and resource scarcity problems. The 2014 work programme Expanding the Knowledge Base for Policy Implementation and Long-term Transitions [B] used Geels’ concept of ‘socio-technical systems’ to argue the need for transitions. The work programme was significant because it set out the EEA’s vision and agenda for the provision of timely, targeted, relevant and reliable information to policy-making agents across the 27 EU member states. The work programme was the prime source of knowledge at European level informing the implementation of European and national environment and climate policies between 2014 and 2018. One of the four Strategic Areas outlined by the work programme was ‘Assessing Systemic Challenges’, which heavily relied on Geels’ work on socio-technical transitions. For example, environmental policy was traditionally framed in terms of externalities and input-output problems, leading to a focus on taxes and regulations as environmental policy instruments. However, for long-term, structural problems, the EEA recognised that this approach was not sufficient. Geels’ work helped to reframe the issues in the work programme in terms of the need to fundamentally change core socio-technical systems (particularly food, energy, mobility), which involved changes in technology, markets, industry, consumption and values [B]. The Executive Director of the EEA has attested that “ Professor Geels’ research on socio-technical transitions has increased our fundamental understanding of sustainability transitions...He has been the most influential academic in the domain of sustainability transitions and technological innovation that we have worked with” [A].

In 2016, Geels wrote a scientific background paper for the EEA based on his research into the multilevel perspective that provided key understandings of sustainability transitions. Since then, the EEA has used Geels’ multilevel perspective as an analytical framework underpinning much of its work. For example, in 2016/2017 the EEA published three reports ( Sustainability Transitions: Now for the Long term; Transitions towards a more sustainable mobility system and Circular by Design: Products in the Circular Economy) which extensively apply the multilevel perspective and draw on Geels’ work throughout. The first report uses Geels’ research [3] to identify the trade-offs of transforming socio-technical systems. The second report uses the multilevel perspective to guide empirical work in four chapters concerning the shape of future transport systems. The third report uses Geels’ observations on the dynamic and power-laden nature of transitions to provide insights into the mechanisms required for successfully transitioning towards a circular economy.

This increasing reliance on Geels’ work prompted the EEA to invite Geels to write a chapter on the multilevel perspective in the EEA report Perspectives on Transitions to Sustainability (2018). The general introduction to this report [C] states that “ the multi-level perspective (MLP) has emerged as the dominant analytical framework for understanding transitions”. The Executive Director of the EEA reports that the framework is utilised in several subsequent assessment reports on sustainable mobility, the circular economy, and food systems and through Geels’ research “ our knowledge base on Sustainability Transitions has developed substantially since 2015” [A].

Geels’ work has most recently influenced the EEA’s five yearly flagship report SOER 2020 ( The European Environment: State and Outlook 2020: Knowledge for Transition to a Sustainable Europe) [D] which offers science-based insights on how society and policy-makers must respond to huge and complex environmental challenges. The report’s analysis of worsening environmental trends stresses how Europe will not achieve its 2030 goals without urgent action to address the increasing impacts of climate change and the overconsumption of natural resources. The report uses Geels’ multilevel perspective as an organising framework and dedicates a whole chapter to Geels’ concept of transitions, namely Chapter 17 ‘Responding to Sustainability Challenges’, which references five of Geels’ Manchester publications, including [1, 2].

Influenced Policy Recommendations

Since 2018, Geels’ research has directly fed into policy recommendations made by the EEA to the EU and its member states. Geels was the Principal Investigator on three specific service contracts for the EEA within a wider framework contract for “ provision of expert assistance on forward-looking analysis, sustainability assessments and systemic transitions”. This research resulted in the 2019 EEA report Sustainability transitions: Policy and practice [E] that highlights how transitions thinking is being operationalised at different scales across Europe. The report uses the multilevel perspective as its core framework, citing 11 of Geels’ Manchester produced articles (including [1], [2], [3]). As the Executive Director of the EEA highlights, Geels’ framework underpins several of the report’s specific policy suggestions — illustrated through cases from across Europe — concerning innovation, diffusion, impacts, cities, finance, missions, and wider governance challenges; as such, Geels provides “ concrete approaches and instruments that policymakers can use to advance sustainability transitions” [A].

The EEA launched its Policy and Practice report on sustainability transitions [E] on 10 September 2019 in Brussels at a closed, high-level meeting, with participation from one deputy secretary-general, four directors-general, two deputy directors-general, and six directors from multiple European Commission departments, including the departments of Environment, Climate Action, Research and Innovation, Regional and Urban Policy, Agriculture and Rural Development, and Mobility and Transport. This endorsement enabled the report to feed into discussions about the European Green Deal, which is an ambitious set of policy initiatives by the European Commission with the aim to make the EU carbon neutral by 2050 across buildings, agri-food, energy and mobility systems. The Green Deal will affect all 27 member-states and will invest an estimated EUR1,000,000,000,000 in sustainable transitions to a carbon neutral society [F]. As the Executive Director of the EEA attests: “ The ideas developed over the last years of collaboration [with Geels] are deeply embedded in the European Green Deal, formulated by the President of the European Commission, Mrs. Von der Leyen … I am confident to say that it is the thinking of academics like Professor Geels that is pivotal to our society meeting challenges framed in the Paris Agreement, the Sustainable Development Goals and multiple other ambitious processes of European and global importance.” [A]

Informing the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

Geels’ research has had a pivotal influence on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a body of the United Nations that provides evidenced-based advice to governments and citizens to help society tackle global climate change.

Geels gave a Keynote Talk in 2016 at the Scoping Meeting of the IPCC for the Special Report on 1.5⁰C Global Warming. The corresponding IPCC report [G], Global warming of 1.5⁰C (published in October 2018), was strongly framed in transition terms, especially Chapter 2 (on mitigation pathways) and Chapter 4 (strengthening and implementing the global response). The report explicitly defines Geels’ concept of socio-technical transitions in its glossary of key underpinning concepts and terms, and cites Geels numerous times, drawing on five of his publications, including [1], [2], [3] and [6]. The report recognises that “the socio-technical transition literature points to multiple complexities in real-world settings that prevent reaching ‘idealised’ policy conditions but at the same time can still accelerate transformative change through other co-evolutionary processes of technology and society (Geels et al., 2017).” [G]

The IPCC report argued that limiting climate change to 1.5⁰C will require deep and rapid transitions in several systems (energy, land-use, cities, transport and industry). The report received global coverage in the media. The New York Times described it as a “ landmark report” [H]. It featured on the front page of The Guardian and on the evening news reports of ABC, NBC and PBS in the USA.

Following the IPCC report, the Secretary General of the United Nations convened a Climate Action Summit in December 2019. The official report from the summit recognized that “ the Climate Action Summit reinforced 1.5°C as the socially, economically, politically and scientifically safe limit to global warming by the end of this century” [I]. The report calls for nations to develop plans “ in line with the findings of the IPCC 1.5⁰C report” and observes that the summit secured “ the commitments of 70 countries to deliver more ambitious NDCs [Nationally Determined Contributions] in 2020 in line with net zero emissions by 2050 strategies” [I].

As a result of Geels’ expertise and influence following his involvement with the Scoping Meeting of the IPCC for the Special Report on 1.5⁰C Global Warming, Geels was chosen to be a Lead Author for the Working Group III contribution to the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report (AR6, due in 2021), particularly for Chapter 5 – “ Demand, services and social aspects of mitigation” [J]. The IPCC Assessment reports are important policy-relevant documents that feed into the international negotiations to address climate change.

Impact on Resource Allocation

The impact of the research has been on government resource allocation for primary care, both within GM and at the national level.

The CLAHRC team’s first study [3], evaluating the GM pilot programme, provided key evidence to the NHS in GM and had an important influence on the commissioning of 7-day access schemes across Greater Manchester, which resulted in significant resource allocation from local and national health funds. The Head of Primary Care Transformation at the GMHSCP stated that the CLAHRC report “ provided vital evidence that was at the forefront of informing our decision to commit to rolling out extended access to the 2.8 million people living in Greater Manchester under our Primary Care Reform Programme” [A]. The rollout commenced in 2017 and, informed by CLARHC research, was funded in Bury, Manchester and Wigan through a successful bidding process to the national GP Access Fund (GPAF) and the rest of the region by a significant investment of GBP41,000,000 in the Primary Care Reform programme across Greater Manchester [B] for areas not in receipt of GPAF funding. The GMHSCP said that CLAHRC research “ informed the design of the successful Greater Manchester bids for the national GP Access Fund worth a total of GBP10,700,000” [A]. Overall, the evidence provided in the CLAHRC report informed resource allocation in GM totalling in excess of GBP50,000,000.

The impact of CLAHRC’s evaluation research has also extended beyond GM. Based on the CLAHRC report [3], in 2015, the Manchester research team was approached by the successful bidders (two consultancies, Mott MacDonald and SQW) to be the evaluation provider for the NHS England GPAF, Phases 1 and 2. Initially, the CLAHRC team was asked to provide methodological advice on the phase 1 evaluation of the GPAF initiative. Subsequently, the team embarked on a formal partnership for the evaluation of the national phase 2 GPAF scheme, which covered approximately 10,600,000 patients in over 1,400 GP practices through 37 different schemes [C]. Whittaker and Hodgson provided advice on metrics to capture appointment and cost data to inform cost-effectiveness calculations. Whittaker also provided advice on the methodology for the quantitative analysis of A&E impacts of the GPAF schemes.

NHS England provided support to continue extended access in the areas it had funded through GPAF until March 2018. From April 2018 Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) were required to commission and fund additional capacity in general practice to ensure improved access – including sufficient routine appointments at evenings and weekends to meet locally determined demand, thereby meeting requirements specified at the national level [D] [E], as detailed in Operational Planning Guidance [F]. In terms of resource allocation, commissioners were provided with funding of GBP6 per head of population (weighted) for each patient, to cover the full cost of the extended access service, on a recurrent basis, up to and including the financial year 2019/20 [F]. This figure was rounded up by NHS England from the cost per patient of GBP5.60 calculated by the CLAHRC team in their analysis for the first project [G].

Impacts on the Design of Strategies and Implementation Plans

In addition to its influence on the allocation of public funds, the first CLAHRC report [4] also shaped the design and implementation of the 7-day access scheme across Greater Manchester. As noted above, the report recommended six ‘enablers’ for the successful implementation of 7-day access, supported by an implementation checklist, all of which were referenced as critical enablers in the GM Primary Care Strategy [A]. The Head of Primary Care Transformation at the GMHSCP, stated that “ the plans and service specifications [of the rollout] were also heavily shaped by the evidence provided by the [CLAHRC] evaluation. This was supported by an implementation checklist that collated the learning from the evaluation concerning the enablers and barriers to implementation, a resource we now use to inform implementation of an array of new innovations or services in primary care” [A].

One particular enabler suggested by the CLAHRC report – a sufficient primary care workforce – has resulted in further commitments to innovative service design and organisational change by the NHS in GM. The importance of workforce highlighted in the CLAHRC research led to the creation of a Primary Care Workforce Strategy Group in December 2017. The CLARHC team provided the evidence that influenced the workforce policies and strategic plans of the NHS in GM, with follow on CLAHRC work exploring the workforce challenges facing General Practices across GM being referenced in The Greater Manchester Primary Care Workforce Strategy 2019 – 2024 [H], which was devised to address these challenges.

The CLAHRC research also influenced extended access to primary care nationally. Three of the seven core requirements [E] published in the national planning guidance draw on the results of both phases of the CLAHRC’s GPAF evaluation [G]:

• Timing of appointments: specified to meet local population needs. CLAHRC and national evaluations showed that demand was not uniform across the weekend [6]

• Capacity: Phase 1 evaluation showed that pilots were providing an additional 30 minutes of consultation time per 1,000 patients [G] and this figure has been directly used in the planning guidance [F]

• Measurement: the challenges of identifying and measuring appointment activity were noted in the CLAHRC reports [3, 5] and the national evaluations. Consequently, a new national tool has been commissioned to automatically measure appointment activity. In the interim, data is being produced from existing systems.

In addition, findings from the first report [3] and paper [1] were included in an evidence review by the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) which was part of national guidance on emergency care in 2018 [I].

Impacts on Service Provision

CLAHRC’s research into the rollout of the 7-day access scheme helped to improve access to primary care and enhance service provision. The Head of Primary Care Transformation at GMHSCP states that CLAHRC’s evidence was “ vital” to the rollout of the scheme, which resulted “ in an additional 1,500 hours per week of GP and practice nurse time being available to patients across the region” [A]. These additional hours equated to 51,806 extra out-of-hours appointments in 2016, with a significant increase in uptake by young and female patients, and a steady increase in uptake for weekend appointments [6]. By 2019 extended access was available to all patients across GM [J].

By providing robust evidence for key decision-makers and informing the design of successful implementation plans, the CLAHRC research helped to increase the volume, accessibility and convenience of primary care service provision for 2.8 million patients across the Greater Manchester region.

The research has led to new commercially successful products and services being developed for the European manufacturing industry, enhanced the capabilities of European supply systems and led to significant improvements to the efficiency and effectiveness of one of Europe’s largest manufacturing companies. This includes a new software system, initially contracted for EUR1,800,000 and eventually leading to estimated savings of EUR10,000,000 per year and boosting throughput by 10%, which also won the Airbus Best Innovation Award for ‘Research to Practice’ in 2018.

4.1. New products and services in the European technology industry

CertiCon Ltd is a Czech technology company specialising in the innovation and development of software solutions for the healthcare, telecommunications, automotive and aeronautical industries. It operates in 30 countries and was an industrial collaborator with Mehandjiev on the ARUM and DIGICOR projects. This collaboration resulted in a new software product, EPIQUA, which was based on Mehandjiev’s research [2,4] into how to model the knowledge underpinning systems which can re-plan production activities after supply chain disruptions [A]. CertiCon quickly added EPIQUA to its commercial portfolio. The Chairman of CertiCon, reports that “ the University of Manchester produced an ontology and an approach to handling re-planning of production activities in response to supply disruptions … and played a key role in implementing a prototype system [EPIQUA] which demonstrated the viability of this approach and was trialled with three separate use cases” [A].

Airbus subsequently placed orders for EPIQUA with CertiCon worth EUR1,800,000 to develop a full commercial version of the prototype [A]. The first version of the system was successfully delivered to Airbus and implemented in 2018 and two additional versions for different types of assembling workshops were delivered later in 2019 [A].

4.2. Enhancing collaborative capability in European supply systems

Hanse Aerospace is Germany’s largest independent association of aerospace suppliers and service providers, with over 150 member companies who generate annual turnover totalling around EUR11,000,000,000. Since 2019, Hanse Aerospace has been using a software module, the Collaborative Team Formation (CTF) module, developed by Mehandjiev’s team during the DIGICOR research project [6] based on earlier research [1,3,4], to enhance capability in the aerospace supply chain. The CTF module is the core of a digital platform that allows SME members of Hanse Aerospace to construct collaborations in pursuit of a manufacturing opportunity. A typical opportunity advertised by the platform is to supply manufacturers (e.g. Airbus and their Tier 1 suppliers) with an aircraft subsystem such as a side wall or lavatory. Such opportunities range in value from EUR500,000 to EUR3,000,000 over 5 years [B].

The CTF module specifically allows Hanse Aerospace to support the formation of collaborative teams among SMEs when they are bidding for opportunities and contracts, by matching SMEs based on their knowledge and skills which can together deliver an aerospace product or subsystem at various stages of procurement. A spokesperson for Hanse Aerospace stated that without access to the CTF module SMEs can only create collaborative teams using a manual exploration process which limits the number of opportunities they can bid for [B]. The spokesperson for Hanse Aerospace also confirmed that the CTF has been successful in automating the collaboration exploration process, leading to a three-fold increase in the number of collaborative opportunities SME members can access. They explain that “ this new capability increases the competitiveness of the manufacturing sector in the Hamburg region” [B] as local SMEs can now gain access to approximately 50 collaborative business opportunities per annum, which previously were difficult for them to access alone.

Similarly, two British companies, Control 2K Limited and Sematronix Ltd, have used Mehandjiev’s software to build a collaboration portal for an SME cluster in Wales. The portal enables SMEs in Wales to collaborate when bidding for contracts with large original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). The portal uses the Tender Decomposition and Matchmaking Service (TDMS) module developed by Mehandjiev during the DIGICOR research project based on earlier research [1,3,4]. The TDMS module enables SME organizations to join forces to combine the knowledge, skills and capacity to tender for complex manufacturing work. As reported by the Managing Director of the two businesses, the TDMS module and portal “ provides a new capability for Control 2K Limited and Sematronix Ltd to support the formation of collaborative teams when bidding for business opportunities” [C]. Over 300 SMEs from Wales are using the portal through three affiliated associations (the Welsh Automotive Cluster, the Aerospace Forum and the Electronics Forum), which, the Managing Director of Control 2K attests, “ increases the competiveness of Welsh manufacturing” [C]. The new SME cluster portal disseminates approximately 200 opportunities for collaborative bids each year [C]. A typical bid is to supply an OEM like Ford with a car subsystem such as a suspension module and would be valued at GBP500,000 over 3 years. The Managing Director further attests that “ without access to the TDMS module through the SME Cluster portal or similar distribution platform, SME subscribers will not be eligible for the majority of these opportunities … [and would] have to create collaborative teams using a very slow and costly manual process” [C].

4.3. Improved efficiency and effectiveness of European Aerospace manufacturing

Airbus is one of the largest global corporations involved in designing and manufacturing aerospace products, employing over 133,000 people and creating revenues in excess of EUR63,000,000,000. Airbus has benefited from Mehandjiev’s research through improvements to its production re-planning systems and its procurement and supply system.

Airbus used the manufacturing ontology and knowledge-based approach to re-planning production systems for supply disruptions, which were developed by Mehandjiev and colleagues on the ARUM project [2] and using Mehandjiev’s earlier research [1,4,5]. The Research Project Leader of Systems Engineering at Airbus reports that Airbus use a version of the EPIQUA system prototyped by Mehandjiev in collaboration with CertiCon (see section 4.1) [D]. The Airbus EPIQUA system is classified as TRL9, which certifies it as an actual system proven in its operational environment. The Airbus Project Leader reports that “ Airbus calculations demonstrate that the re-planning system has a major economic impact on Airbus operations, saving EUR10,000,000 per annum in operating costs and allowing 10% increase of throughput” [D]. The project result won the Airbus Best Innovation Award for ‘Research to Practice’ in 2018.

Airbus also benefits from the CTF module Mehandjiev developed through the DIGICOR project [6], based on earlier research [1,3,4]. The Research Project Leader of Systems Engineering at Airbus explains that “ the CTF module provides a radically new way of working by supporting rapid procurement of subsystems allowing aircraft to be personalised to the requirements of specific airlines” [D]. Airbus calculate that this approach has resulted in a 30% improvement in speed of procurement and lower costs by 2% per personalisation [D]. The Project Leader further confirmed that Airbus is supporting the follow-up commercial exploitation of Mehandjiev’s research. This includes the incorporation of the CTF module into the eFactory European Manufacturing platform [E], which is a European-wide digital platform that interlinks different stakeholders of the digital manufacturing domain to maximise connectivity, interoperability and efficiency across the supply chains.

Changing National Government understanding and strategies

Based on her ageing workforce research expertise, Johnson was invited to contribute to a review for the Government Office for Science called The Future of an Ageing Population. Johnson specifically contributed critical evidence to section 2.1 in the 2016 report [B] which drew extensively on her 2015 Foresight evidence review [3]. Previously, an ageing workforce was seen to be detrimental to employers but Johnson’s evidence provided a new perspective “particularly to employers and wider society”. This research highlighted the many benefits of older people in the workforce and acknowledged that an extended working life had “non-financial” benefits, such as improved cognitive and health related benefits for individuals. The report uses Johnson’s evidence to develop specific policy implications which enabled the UK Government to expand its understanding of the potential benefits of longer working lives. This included: 1) the necessity for a range of adaptations and approaches to overcoming barriers to working longer and enhancing productivity in the ageing workforce (including addressing negative attitudes, health needs, workplace design, technology and adaptations in HR policies and working practices); 2) the need for lifetime learning and training of an ageing workforce to prevent skills gaps; 3) a need to address the causes of varying employment rates among older people across the UK population.

The report has been used by policy-makers to formulate future-proof policies for an ageing workforce. In particular, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has used the report to directly feed into its Fuller Working Lives strategy (2017) which encourages businesses to retain, retrain and recruit older workers and presents the benefits of a fuller working life. As the Lead for Employer Engagement and Trials on the Fuller Working Lives Strategy at the DWP [C], states: “Johnson has contributed to our understanding of the ability and needs of older workers …Johnson’s work on the ‘ Foresight Future of an Ageing Population’ evidence review directly fed into and contributed to the development and promotion of the Fuller Working Lives strategy and the Industrial Strategy”. The strategy commits to five government actions, including new legislation to support Fuller Working Lives and developing the evidence base for further action.

Informing Local Government Strategy and Policy in Greater Manchester

Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) has directly used Johnson’s research on ageing and well-being to inform its understanding of age-friendly workplaces. Johnson disseminated her research findings via extensive policy-focused engagement, including becoming an invited member of both the Greater Manchester Ageing Hub (since 2016) and the Manchester City Council Ageing Hub Work and Economy Group (since 2017). She also presented at the GMCA Economy Scrutiny Committee (March 2017) on age discrimination, gender and race and the Workshop for Age Friendly Employment in Manchester (May 2019).

Her dissemination and engagement activity subsequently influenced the creation of three new GMCA policies: 1. The city’s Ageing Strategy, 2. The GM Local Industrial Strategy, and 3. GM Ageing Hub’s Economy and Work Strategy and Action Plan. The Programme Lead for the Age Friendly Manchester initiative at the City Council’s Manchester Health and Care Commission, states [D]: “Johnson has made a sizeable contribution to the City’s Ageing Strategy… her work on the ‘Foresight Future of an Ageing Population’ evidence review directly fed into and contributed to the development and promotion of the Greater Manchester Local Industrial Strategy”. Subsequently, the GM Local Industrial Strategy has a significant focus on an Ageing Society and has pledged to honour the Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter, which includes a commitment to promote decent and safe work opportunities for older people. The Assistant Director - Employment (Policy, Strategy & Delivery) at the GMCA, states that [E]: “ Johnson’s research has informed the development of GM Ageing Hub’s Economy and Work Strategy and Action Plan, in particular the ‘test & learn’ locality pilots sponsored by Department for Work & Pensions Fuller Working Lives unit, Centre for Ageing Better (CfAB) and GMCA”. He comments that as a result of this work, the GMCA has been better able to “ target our research, projects and other activities in order to benefit the older workforce in Greater Manchester”.

Johnson’s research has benefited employers in the Greater Manchester region by helping them to understand the needs of their ageing workforce. In 2018 and 2019, she provided key evidence concerning the ageing workforce and their health and wellbeing needs to a GMCA and CfAB initiative called the ‘Age Friendly GM Employer Handbook’ which will be available and promoted to all companies and employers in the Greater Manchester area. AHPD guidelines directly contributed to Section 3 ‘Ensure everyone has the health support they need’, with a link included from the handbook to the guidelines. The handbook was produced as a result of GMCA and CfAB prioritising future-proof policies, which is a key issue Johnson recommended to these organisations. This is the first handbook of its kind and the Assistant Director at GMCA states that [E]: “ [Johnson] made a significant contribution…thus assisting employers in the Greater Manchester region in understanding the needs of, and supporting, their ageing workforce”.

Improving Organisational Policy and Practice for Older Workers in the Logistics and Transport Sector

Professor Johnson’s research [6] with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the national regulator for workplace health and safety, has provided them with an evidence base from which to formulate policy and practices. In particular, she has focussed on the needs of an ageing workforce within the logistics and transport sector – including its below average record for health and safety performance [6]. Johnson worked with the HSE to identify emerging health risks within the sector’s ageing workforce, before developing novel ways to better prepare for and deal with these risks. The work documented the significant adverse health consequences for older workers, such as musculoskeletal disorders, stress, fatigue and obesity, as well as increasingly harder physical demands on ageing bodies when performing loading and unloading tasks. Previously, the HSE had little data on these specific risks and thus Johnson’s report directly informed HSE’s priority science area under its ‘demographics hub’. The HSE’s Chief Scientific Advisor commented that Johnson has directly informed “new perspectives” on the risks of an ageing logistics workforce and stated that her report increased the HSE’s capacity to carry out the “ assessment and control of health risks and the identification and development of novel ways to deal with existing risk” [F]. The HSE has subsequently used Johnson’s recommendations to operationalise age-friendly policies. For example, it is now policy that professional drivers must have access to welfare facilities, such as toilet and refreshment facilities, at any company to which they are delivering goods.

Johnson’s work with the HSE led to the development of the AHPD network [A]. The AHPD was set up by Johnson in 2017 and currently has over 70 member organisations. This includes transport and logistic firms and representatives, unions, as well as the DVLA. The network acts as a forum to exchange knowledge and best practice and reaches over 20,000 employees.

In 2019, Johnson produced the first industry-led guidelines (funded by an ESRC Impact Acceleration Account grant) for best practice relating to age and wellbeing in the logistics and transport sector. The guidelines were officially launched at an event held at the GM Ageing Hub conference in February 2019 and are freely accessible via the AHPD Network website. They have been downloaded over 130 times to date by stakeholders in the logistics and transport sector.

Several organisations have used these guidelines to develop age-friendly wellbeing policies, such as Bibby Distribution, which employs 600+ drivers operational across 40 UK sites. Bibby’s Driver Training and Telematics Manager states that [G]: “ key recommendations and ideas in the Guidelines directly resulted in a number of new initiatives and organisational investments being made at Bibby Distribution, including the establishment of a driver committee to improve communication to isolated older drivers and the creation of a Knowledge Portal which is linked through innovation in-cab technology so that drivers can access the company’s health and wellbeing information in their downtime while they are away from the office.” He further states that the company has established a training programme and that the Guidelines have been “ an invaluable catalyst for restructuring training provision within the company and have provided a framework for ensuring that the wellbeing needs of ageing drivers are recognised and alleviated through increased understanding and awareness of the issues they face”.

Clipper Logistics is another large company that has benefited from Johnson’s research. This organisation operates out of 47 sites across Europe with a turnover of GBP450,000,000 per annum. Its National Driver Training Manager has commented [H] that the AHDP guidelines have “ created a better understanding of the health and wellbeing needs of older drivers. At Clipper Logistics, we have paid particular attention to the guideline’s recommendations around the mental and physical challenges older drivers face when undertaking duties such as night driving and extended periods spent driving alone”. The AHPD Guidelines have triggered a change in attitude towards ageing drivers in the company, and encourage a more proactive approach towards improving the working lives of ageing drivers where previously information on how to make appropriate provisions for older drivers was very limited. The research and guidelines have also prompted alterations to the firm’s HR strategies and employee training, such as changes to materials within the Driver Certificate of Professional Competence (DCPC) course delivered to all drivers. Furthermore, the guidelines prompted the company to take their training provision ‘in-house’ to better tailor the training to the needs of their ageing workforce. The National Driver Training Manager states that [H] “ The guidelines provided a rigorous, evidence-based framework when making the decision to restructure the training courses with a view to placing more emphasis on the physical and mental wellbeing of older drivers. The course will be delivered to all 455+ drivers in 2020”.

Context and pathway to impact

Zolkiewski, Burton and colleagues have applied the findings from their case-based fieldwork to generate actionable insights in the form of new operating principles, which have helped companies develop profitable models of B2B services and servitization [1,2]. Specifically, a team led by Zolkiewski has applied research findings on the interaction between customers, networks and innovation in B2B relationships in separate KTPs with HMG Paints Ltd (HMG) and IPEC Ltd.

In relation to the HMG KTP and as explained below, Zolkiewski and colleagues:

1. developed a formalised innovation management process that enabled the firm to identify new products and create new revenue streams;

2. helped the firm to access new markets.

In relation to the IPEC KTP and as explained below, Zolkiewski and her team:

1. developed a new scalable servitization strategy that created a definable new business area;

2. and enabled the firm to develop advanced services [5], which opened access to export markets.

In both cases, the pathway to impact involved a strategic review of existing business models, the development of new processes, governance structures and innovation practices. This led to new products, markets, and organisational cultures, which in turn increased sales revenue. Applying this research has enabled further research to materialise, and benefit other KTPs. This approach produces a virtuous circle of application, impact and further research [3-6].

Impact of the HMG KTP - selecting innovative products and services, and providing access to a wider market

HMG is a medium-sized, family owned, industrial surface coatings manufacturer based in Collyhurst, Manchester. Established in 1930, it is the UK’s leading independent manufacturer of bespoke paints and coatings for use in commercial transport, original equipment manufacturing, civil engineering and construction.

The HMG KTP applied the team’s research in B2B marketing, new product and service innovation processes and change management within SME B2B networks [1, 2]. The aim of the KTP was to develop a formalised innovation management process, covering inception, evaluation and bringing the product and service to market. The KTP helped to address a culture in the firm whereby product and service innovations that did not have immediate application with the existing customer base failed. The company lacked a formal process to monitor, manage and control the development and exploitation of innovations. Innovation in SMEs is often constrained by the tendency to be conservative and serve existing customers with proven solutions. While this secures current revenue streams, it tends to discourage the creation of new ones. UoM researchers worked with HMG to increase its innovative capability, creating a formal product screening process that enabled the firm to identify new products that could develop new revenue streams.

The pathway to impact began with the team’s research insights on how to build firms’ capacity to address the interaction between services, customers, innovation and technology. This happened through a number of processes. The existing innovation process was reviewed and the need for a new “pre-development” process identified. A toolkit for the pre-development stages of the new innovation management process was developed and Technical Risk Assessment Meetings (TRAM) were introduced to oversee the proposed innovations.

Drawing on the relational and focal networks approach, the HMG KTP incorporated a customer needs assessment methodology into the process for selecting innovative products and services, which enabled HMG to access a wider market [2, 3]. The KTP team delivered a new product and service screening system that allowed innovation efforts to be more clearly focussed both on existing markets and on new target markets. “ Working with Professor Zolkiewski and colleagues from [UoM] allowed us to develop a process for selecting innovative products and services that better met HMG’s customers’ needs and provided HMG with access to a wider market while remaining focussed on the profitability of these innovations.”[A]

One of the first products identified through the new selection processes, implemented under Zolkiewski’s guidance, is “monothane,” a product topcoat that requires no primer. This innovation was shortlisted for Insider Media’s “Made in the North West Technology Award” and has subsequently become one of the company’s most important products [B]. HMG have commented that the KTP led to “ the implementation of a clear new product and service screening system that allowed innovation efforts to be more clearly focussed on existing markets and new target markets” [A]. HMG has attributed circa GBP5,710,000 in sales (from the end of the KTP in 2011 to December 2019) to the KTP [A].

Impact of the IPEC KTP – expanding into overseas markets, increasing personnel and turnover

IPEC Ltd. is a British company that develops world-leading technology for monitoring faults and problems in power networks across the world; around 90% of its business comes from outside the UK. IPEC’s monitoring systems send data back to secure servers at its head office and the company offers a range of data hosting options. The IPEC KTP aimed to develop a new scalable servitization strategy to allow the company to innovate a range of complimentary services to support its existing business. The researchers helped IPEC move forward in the value chain, from focusing exclusively on manufacturing, to greater involvement in distribution and system servicing.

Working with Zolkiewski and her team, IPEC, translated the theoretical knowledge outlined above into the firm’s specific context. This happened through a three-stage process: A steering group of key IPEC managers and employees was set up at the start of the project; Learning Lunches were used to transfer knowledge to the whole organisation and outputs from the KTP were directly incorporated into its policy and process management systems.

A series of stakeholder interviews with the company’s customers, distributors, employees and managers led to the identification of five key areas for servitization, including, for example, developing a leasing service and new remote diagnostic services. Drawing on the relational, customer-focused approach outlined above, the company engaged with its existing clients, improving direct knowledge of its end user’s needs. Translating the “focal networks” approach [4,5], the KTP oversaw the creation of a dedicated Support Department to manage the non-product side of customer relations and a new 30 step distributor management model was designed and rolled out to help align perceptions of service quality. This model also sets out a process and rules for the creation of new services.

One of the “ greatest changes” was changing the company culture from “ just shipping hardware to customers” towards a service focus [C]. IPEC used to see its interaction with customers as ending upon the installation of their systems, but the organisation now continue the interaction into servicing and upgrading. Fundamentally, UoM researchers helped IPEC to shift strategically from an upstream manufacturer to a more forwardly integrated company providing products and associated services. For example, the company was able to complement their existing monitoring and instrumentation products, with “system performance” and “expert analysis” services [D].

These new knowledge management process and culture changes enabled IPEC to create “ a definable new business area” [C]. It enabled the firm to develop advanced services [5], which opened access to overseas markets in 10 new countries. The firm has attributed circa GBP 364,000 in sales revenue to the KTP in the four years following its end in 2015 [C]. As context, the sales turnover for the year prior to commencing the KTP (2012-13) was GBP638,000, with profit before tax standing at GBP16,000 [C].

IPEC won the Queens Award for Export in 2016 in recognition of the company’s substantial and sustained increase in export earnings over three consecutive 12-month periods, with the company’s press release around this award explicitly acknowledging the role the KTP played in this achievement [E]. IPEC’s new focus on international markets led, in September 2020, to a GBP5,000,000 contract with the Saudi Electric Company (SEC). The contract “is the biggest the company has secured since its launch in 1995” [F].

The KTP with IPEC has been used by the Chartered Association of Business Schools (a membership body which supports the UK’s business and management education sector and its leaders) as a specific example of how companies working with researchers in business schools can boost the UK's productivity and tackle the Grand Challenges laid out in the UK government’s Industrial Strategy [G].

Context

The WEI research has influenced the thinking and policies of international policymaking bodies (European Parliament, ILO), national policy actors (Greek government, South African policy makers, Portuguese government) and international trade union organisations (European Trade Union Institute (ETUI), European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC).

Pathway to impact

The WEI team has longstanding relationships with the ILO and the ETUI. For example, Rubery has been a member of the ILO’s biennial research conference steering committee since 2011 and a member of the ETUI advisory board from 2010 to 2018. Since 2013 these links have strengthened. Grimshaw, Rubery, Koukiadaki and Tavora have all individually, as well as collectively, been commissioned to undertake research for the ILO. Research has been disseminated through conferences, seminars and by WEI researchers providing training to the ILO. Grimshaw and Rubery made a one-week ESRC-funded visit to the ILO in 2015. The fact that in 2018 Grimshaw was appointed as the ILO’s research director further testifies to these connections, although the impact reported here precedes and is independent of his appointment. ETUI links have been strengthened through invited publications, two joint book projects and invitations to Koukiadaki to present evidence to the Council of Europe, contribute to a ETUC training event in Warsaw on collective bargaining and to join an ETUI employment lawyers’ advisory network on Transnational Trade Union Rights.

Reach and significance

The ILO, a member of the UN system, has 187 member countries and is responsible for setting international labour standards and shaping international debates and practices on employment. The European Parliament shapes EU policy-making for 28 EU member states and the ETUC represents 45,000,000 workers and 90 trade unions supported by its research arm the ETUI.

1. Impact on international policy bodies

European Parliament

Koukiadaki’s work on temporary contracts and precarious work for the European Parliament (EP) Committee on Petitions was instrumental in the Committee’s decision to put forward an oral question and resolution to the EP on the topic of precariousness and the abuse of fixed term contracts [text removed for publication]. The resolution was adopted by the European Parliament in May 2018. [text removed for publication]

The ILO

The WEI research on minimum wages, precarious work and the gender pay gap has been extensively utilised by the ILO in its flagship publications, including its biennial global wage reports, its 2016 non-standard work report, and its centennial year gender equality report [B]. According to the ILO’s senior wage specialist [B], WEI research on how minimum wages [1] informed guidance concerning how minimum wages and collective bargaining can be more effective when used together in the ILO’s Minimum Wage Policy Guide [C]. This guide has been “ used to inform and train policymakers on minimum wage policies in a very large number of countries including recently Bulgaria, Cambodia, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, or Vietnam, to name just a few” [B]. Likewise WEI research informed guidance on how minimum wages influence gender pay equality in the ILO’s 2013 guide, Equal Pay: An introductory guide. The guide clarified the ILO's Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) and provided the ILO’s guidance to the 173 ratifying countries on how the Convention should be applied in practice [B]. It has been downloaded 2,200 times on a third party website.

WEI research on collective bargaining [2] led to three ILO commissioned reports that influenced international and national policymaking. First, a background report [4] evidencing how social dialogue contributes to economic performance fed into the new Global Deal, an initiative of the Swedish government in partnership with the ILO and the OECD aimed at promoting decent work and inclusive growth through social dialogue. According to the senior specialist in industrial relations at the ILO [D], the report provided the basis for a thematic brief [E] for the Global Deal on the business case for social dialogue, which was presented to the ILO, the OECD and United Nations General Assembly in September 2017. The World Economic Forum informed the Global Deal initiative by letter that this was their most successful event at the United Nations General Assembly (for example the video of the event had been watched 500,000 times). Second, a report [3] evaluating the effects of the crisis-related reforms on Greek collective bargaining constituted one of the main ILO inputs to the consultation on a review of the Greek regulatory framework mandated by a Eurosummit in July 2015 and was used for recommendations to Greek policy-makers. Third, in 2018 Tavora was commissioned to review developments on collective bargaining since the economic crisis for a report on decent work in Portugal [F] that informed the Portuguese government in its revision of the Portuguese Labour Code.

Overall, the senior ILO specialist in wages [B] attests that WEI research outlined above constitutes “ a very substantial, significant and sustained contribution to the understanding of how legal and collective measures promote decent work and inclusive labour markets. These issues are at the core of the work of the ILO, and the University of Manchester contribution has supported our efforts both in our global role in promoting labour standards and complementary employment policies and our specific work at the member state and region level in translating these policies into specific recommendations and policy advice”.

1. Impact on national policymakers

South African minimum wage

From 2013 the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) led a campaign to introduce a national minimum wage, which was finally implemented in January 2019. A key leader of that campaign by COSATU attests [G] that WEI research helped trade union associated actors to make the case that a national minimum wage could complement rather than substitute for collective bargaining and contribute to gender pay equality. This impact is made clear in extensive references to WEI research in the National Minimum Wage Panel’s Report to the Deputy President of South Africa [H] and by the ILO’s senior wage expert [B] who was himself a member of the Commission to consider implementing a national minimum wage.

Collective Bargaining in Greece

The WEI ILO report on collective bargaining in Greece [3] was not only used directly in discussions between the Greek government and EU and IMF policymakers but also fed directly into the decision to reinstate extension mechanisms for collective bargaining agreements in May 2018. According to the former Minister for Labour, Social Security and Social Solidarity in Greece [I] the “ work by Dr Koukiadaki and her colleagues assisted us greatly in the development and implementation of relevant policy proposals and legislation.”

Collective Bargaining in Portugal

Tavora’s research on changes in collective bargaining contributed to a report on decent work in Portugal, as acknowledged in the ILO report on decent work in Portugal [F]. The ILO’s senior industrial relations specialist attests [D] that the ILO developed this report with considerable involvement from the government of Portugal. A key message of the ILO report was that a reinstatement of collective bargaining and well-protected employment was important to safeguard social cohesion and to speed up a return to economic growth. The report informed legal changes to collective bargaining in a new labour code that was introduced by the Portuguese government and published in September 2018. The code included new rules to prevent the expiration of agreements and the strengthening of the favourability principle. The ILO recognises the new labour code as being consistent with the key messages of the report for which Tavora provided important material [D].

1. Impact on international trade unions: The ETUC and ETUI

The WEI research both on collective bargaining under austerity and on precarious work provided important new evidence and arguments to support the work of the ETUI in shaping employment policy debate in Europe. As the Research Director for the ETUI attested [J], “ the research strengthened the evidence base on which the ETUI was able to draw to challenge the then dominant view that these measures were having positive impacts on the labour markets and industrial relations systems of the countries”. For example, the WEI research on segmentation and precarious work that contributed to an ETUI book enabled the ETUI to support the ETUC in its work as the lead social partner for safeguarding and promoting workers’ interests in the European Union, specifically when challenging the notion that employment deregulation promotes labour market inclusion [J]. The research director stated that the WEI “ assisted the ETUI to support the ETUC in providing theoretical and empirical arguments to underpin discussions with EU and national policy makers (or other stakeholders) on better forms of labour market policies” [J].

The research led by Shaw has provided extensive benefits to local and regional governments responding to emergencies. In brief, the benefits are:

• A new International Standard for managing emergencies, ISO 22319:2017 ‘Guidelines for planning the involvement of spontaneous volunteers’

• New policies and plans for local governments, underpinned by a shift in positive attitude toward SVs, which have significantly improved emergency response capabilities

• New guidance from national governments on managing SVs

• Tangible benefits from the deployment of SVs during actual emergencies

Context and pathway

Based on his body of research, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) invited Shaw to write guidelines for managing spontaneous volunteers, which they published in 2017 as International Standard ISO22319 [A]. Shaw’s 2015 report [1] is the only academic work cited in ISO22319, which is available in 5 languages and sold in over 24 countries. International Standards provide an international consensus on the state of the art in the subject of a given standard and provide significant economic and social benefits to organizations adopting them. ISO22319 codified lessons from Shaw’s research into a planning framework for governmental emergency managers. The standard provides practical guidance to ensure that SVs safely provide capability and capacity to help communities respond to, recover from and build resilience in the aftermath of major emergencies. Shaw has subsequently worked with local, regional and national governments in the UK, Chile, and Argentina to design and implement new plans and policies for managing SVs, based on his research and the associated guidelines embodied in ISO22319.

Changes in understanding of and attitudes towards SVs

Prior to Shaw’s research, the term ‘convergent volunteer’ was used in the UK Parliament’s Civil Contingencies Act 2004 and consequently by local and regional authorities and emergency responders. LAs had not planned for convergent volunteers – most were concerned about the risks they presented, so turned away volunteers or failed to manage them. Shaw’s definition of SVs [1, 2], incorporated in ISO22319 [A], helped to change attitudes among emergency planners and responders. In January 2019, The University of Manchester commissioned an independent impact evaluation of Shaw’s work and ISO22319 [B]. The majority of LAs surveyed (17 of 19) had already approved or were in the process of developing SV plans informed by Shaw’s research and/or ISO22319. Staffordshire, Essex and Hampshire LAs stated that Shaw’s research had changed attitudes among resilience workers; their officials now view SVs as increasing their ability to respond effectively with more resources, which has driven local change in policies and practices [B]. The Community Resilience Officer of the Cabinet Office’s Civil Contingencies Secretariat stated that Shaw’s work had “ encouraged a ground swell of interest and appetite for the [SV] agenda” [B] . A Deputy Director of the Civil Contingencies Secretariat further stated that “ his [Shaw’s] work has been explicitly shackled to statements of mandatory and good practice coming out of Cabinet Office in relation to Community resilience” [B].

SVs policy into practice: Influencing local government policy and practice in England

Shaw directly assisted English LA’s to convert SV guidance into policies and practices. In 2016-17 Shaw supported the implementation of SV planning frameworks in Lincolnshire and Somerset LAs [C, D]. The Senior Civil Contingencies Officer of Somerset Local Authority states that “ Professor Shaw was instrumental in the design of a Spontaneous Volunteers Policy for Somerset Local Authorities … Professor Shaw’s research … provided an invaluable baseline of knowledge for the design of the Policy. His research helped to conceptualise the issue of spontaneous volunteers and offer evidence-based solutions … As a result of Professor Shaw’s input, Somerset Local Authorities Civil Contingencies Partnership now has a formal structure and guidance in place for the management of spontaneous volunteers” [C]. The Emergency Planning and Business Continuity Officer for Lincolnshire County Council stated that “ The University of Manchester research informed the preparation and production of Lincolnshire County Council’s Co-ordination of Spontaneous Volunteers in Civil Emergencies Policy and Procedure thus improving practice around the management of and knowledge about Spontaneous Volunteers in the County amongst multi agency partners” [D].

The new plans and practices were used in 2020 as part of LA responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Essex County Council instigated one of the largest volunteer recruitment drives to assist the vulnerable during the pandemic. Shaw was a member of the Volunteering Tactical Coordination Group in Essex, providing advice, constructing strategies, and shaping processes using the guidance in ISO22319. The council evaluated its use of SVs, showing that 3,600 people volunteered to help Essex Welfare Services [E]. These volunteers helped vulnerable residents by shopping for essentials, collecting medicines and distributing food parcels. The evaluation report [E] cites 11 pieces of Shaw’s work.

Following Shaw’s research, the British Red Cross (BRC) initiated its SV scheme in 2017, the Community Reserve Volunteer [CRV] programme, which now has 88,000 CRVs, over 3,500 of whom have been deployed during COVID-19 to support over 80,000 people. BRC’s Head of Crisis Response stated “There is no doubt that working with you [Professor Shaw] and your team has provided me … and members of my team with a greater understanding of the SV landscape and the academic research available in this field” [F].

Influencing national government policy in the UK

On Shaw’s recommendation [2] and following his work with LAs, the UK Cabinet Office formed the National Committee on Spontaneous Volunteers (NCSV), involving Shaw as the only academic along with 10 senior practitioners. Following Ministerial approval, the UK government’s national guidance on SVs was published in June 2019, within which the Cabinet Office states: “ This guidance was developed based on existing LRF [Local Resilience Forum] activity, with special recognition for the examples provided by Lincolnshire LRF, Somerset LRF, the University of Manchester and British Red Cross” [G]. It attributes its SV definition to Shaw and provides five “ Notable examples of further guidance and resources” [G] of which four are based on Shaw’s work. To disseminate the guidance, the Cabinet Office’s Emergency Planning College commissioned Shaw to run a Volunteering Webinar Series in the early days of the COVID-19 response, delivered to over 200 staff who led volunteering programmes in their respective local authorities.

Influencing local government policy and practice in Chile

Prior to Shaw’s research, the Chilean authorities were unprepared for managing SVs. Shaw and Moreno had previously worked with LAs in Chile on community resilience. On hearing of Shaw’s work on SVs, several Chilean LAs requested Shaw and Moreno’s assistance to implement ISO22319. Twenty organisations across Concepcion Province (population 960,000) collaborated to develop Latin America’s first SV plan, published in December 2018 [H]. The National Director of the National Youth Institute of Chile (INJUV) and the Director of the Department of Disaster Risk Reduction described how the plan was put into action. They state that “ In May 2019 two tornados hit Concepcion Province and caused significant destruction whereby it was necessary to conduct our first activation of our SV plan, which successfully registered +150 SVs who were deployed to provide support. These SVs created capacity in responders to do other important work, collect information on needs of the public so we could better target our response, completed tasks for affected citizens, reduced secondary damage to property by the tasks they completed, and hastening recovery of the affected populations” [I].

The SV plan was incorporated into the wider Provincial Civil Protection Plan for the region and disseminated to its 12 municipalities. Two further municipalities, Talcahuano Municipality (population 90,000) and Pudahuel Municipality (population 230,658), have developed their own SV plans based on Concepcion’s plan and using ISO22319. In Pudahuel, a new NGO was created to manage SVs and a new operating structure was adopted to implement the plan. The Pudahuel team also integrated the SV work within an initiative to train 1,200 citizens as part of a Community Emergency Response Team programme, broadening the training to cover how to be an SV team leader, and so giving the SV cell access to trained personnel [I].

Shaw and Moreno also helped Valparaiso city (population 295,000) to develop its SV plan. This was activated in December 2019 when 248 SVs registered and were successfully deployed to assist people affected by wildfires. The Chilean authorities said that “ These activations and their success would never have been possible without the SV plan and the tremendous expertise provided by The University of Manchester, particularly their provision of the SV Planning Framework based on the research of Professor Shaw and the support of Dr Moreno” [I].

Influencing national government policy and practice in Chile

The Ministry for Youth (INJUV) supported the development and implementation of SV plans in Talcahuano, Pudahuel, and Valparaiso. INJUV has incorporated training on managing SVs into its annual training package, which involves all regions of Chile [I] . Approximately 800 people have been trained as SV team leaders. INJUV created a government department to manage SVs, which provides support to other national and local organizations. INJUV secured significant government funding to implement ISO22319 in 16 regions of the country. Funding of GBP300,000 from the National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research was used to develop an online app for SVs to register before arrival at a volunteer centre.

The benefits of the increased capacity for managing SVs were evident during the COVID-19 pandemic. In December 2020, Chile had over 560,000 confirmed cases and 15,680 deaths. Activating the SV plan, INJUV established a national online platform to register and train SVs to support vulnerable people in the country. Over 3,000 individuals registered and over 300 SVs were deployed to provide vulnerable people with food and medicine [I].

Influencing local and national government policy and practice in Argentina

After learning of their work in Chile, the Ministry of Security of the Republic of Argentina invited Shaw and Moreno to turn the planning framework in ISO22319 into a plan for Neuquén Province (population 620,000). Neuquén Province is a national centre for natural resources and industry but it is also hit frequently by natural disasters. A working group was tasked in 2018 with developing a new SV plan based on ISO2231. Shaw and Moreno acted as advisors to the group, which involved 40 people from 25 organisations. The Minister of Government and Security stated that “ The support of The University of Manchester was key in giving expert information and motivating us, especially bringing lessons from the SV Planning Framework to inform our work” [J]. The Minister outlined 11 tangible benefits for Neuquén Province and five benefits to the nation [J], including:

• Establishing a new, fully staffed SV Operations Centre for activations of the SV plan

• Securing four years of funds to train staff in all Neuquén cities in SV management

• As the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded, Neuquén activated the plan, setting up an online platform to register 1,700 SVs and deploying more than 250 SVs to support vulnerable persons.

Subsequently, the Argentinian Government published its national guidance on SVs, in which Neuquén Province and The University of Manchester are cited “ as the inspiration of this national guide and much of the content closely aligns to ISO22319” [J]. According to the Minister “ This national guide to coordinate SVs has led to a necessary and unprecedented national public policy, which will bring exponential benefit to Argentina” [J].

In December 2020, Shaw won two Standards Maker Awards from the British Standards Institute for his work making standards available and his leadership in creating a new standard in community resilience and recovery.

The pioneering research on PPI by Edler and his MIOIR colleagues discussed in section two has had significant impact on four international beneficiaries:

4.1. Informing the design of the European Commission’s (EC’s) Innovation Procurement Broker scheme, thereby increasing PPI capacity across Europe

MIOIR research led by Edler influenced the EC’s design of a new programme, the Innovation Procurement Broker scheme, as a sustainable method to facilitate effective PPI. The scheme supports a coordinated system of firms that facilitate commercial connections between the suppliers of innovative solutions (especially SMEs and start-ups) and public buyers, while connecting to investors and knowledge producers such as universities. Members of the EC’s unit supporting the digital transformation of public procurement (Unit G4 of the Directorate General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs [DG GROW]) consulted Edler’s work [1-3] at the outset, which stimulated them to develop a scheme for intermediation [A]. The leader of the Broker scheme, has expressed her view that “[Edler’s] research heavily influenced the Innovation Procurement Broker; for instance, the rationale and Terms of Reference have been largely shaped by the communications with Edler.” She attests that Edler’s evidence and advice changed thinking, from the view of innovation procurement guided by a “ PPI brokerage with a supply logic”, to the realisation that PPI is about the buyer [A]. As a result of this learning process, there was increased appreciation of the importance of including the needs of public buyers in the design of public policies in order to optimise allocation of public money.

The influence of Edler’s research continues to be evident in the design of the brokerage scheme. A number of principles for the scheme were taken from Edler and Yeow [6], as confirmed by the leader of the Broker scheme [A]. These include (i) not picking winners, but enabling the process of public procurement to unfold in a more dispersed manner and (ii) the role of intermediators as crucial actors, who serve to link buyers with suppliers. The scheme was piloted in 2018 with EUR600,000 per project and has achieved significant scale, involving 20 public buyers and 40 suppliers. The scheme leader states that the scheme “ holds important economic leverage in the European Single Market” as public procurement represents approximately 14% of European GDP, equating to EUR2,000,000,000,000 every year. When managed through mechanisms such as the brokerage scheme, the scheme “ can lead to significant savings in public budgets and to more investment” [A].

For the EC, the Innovation Procurement Broker pilot served as an exemplar for similar policy experimentation and the development of PPI brokerage schemes in European countries including Italy, Norway, Austria, Germany and Ireland. For example, the Urban Agenda for Innovative and Circular Partnership (established in May 2017), which is an EU initiative comprising EU cities, regions, Member States, the European Commission and other stakeholders, recommended the development of an innovation procurement broker in Italy [A, action 2.2.1].

Following successful pilots of the brokerage scheme, the EC developed other initiatives based on Edler and his MIOIR colleagues’ research. This includes the Procure2Innovate programme, a Horizon2020 project (EU contribution EUR1,999,491,25) owned by the Directorate General with whom the MIOIR team are providing innovation procurement guidance [A]. This project provides improved institutional support for public procurers of information and communication technologies (ICT), expanding competence for PPI in 10 EU countries.

The body of research developed by Edler and colleagues has also influenced frameworks and policies that guide various aspects of PPI across the EC and EU member states; this research is used extensively in key reports on developing strategic frameworks for PPI [B], capacity building for PPI [C], and evaluating the impact of PPI [D]. For instance, Edler and Georghiou’s principle of interactive learning [1], which mandates dialogue between the procuring authority/unit and suppliers is now enshrined in EU Directive 2014/24/EU and its calls for long-term innovation partnerships [B].

4.2. Influencing policies and funding criteria and establishing a new PPI funding mechanism at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)

In Latin America, public procurement accounts for approximately 20% of GDP, so there is significant potential to use PPI to strengthen innovation and economic development in these countries. Actors in the region approached the MIOIR team for evidence and advice on developing PPI. In 2016, Uyarra, Edler and colleagues wrote a report for the IDB outlining existing practices for PPI in developed countries. Edler then gave an invited keynote address on demand side policies underpinning PPI to the annual IDB conference in Bogota, November 2017. Uyarra and Edler delivered further talks at IDB workshops and seminars on PPI. Uyarra and Edler were then chosen from 66 potential expert groups to directly advise IDB, thereby influencing directly the IDB’s thinking and policies on PPI.

The Principal Specialist in the Division of Competiveness, Technology and Innovation at the IDB acknowledged that there were three levels of impact from the MIOIR research [E].

(i) Edler and MIOIR colleagues’ research extended the IDB’s understanding of PPI and the IDB presented the results of the work to high-level policy makers in specific ‘target’ countries in the region. The Principal Specialist states that the team’s work “was a breakthrough in how the Bank and the country representatives thought about the potential of public procurement and the mechanisms with which it can be mobilized for triggering innovative activity and economic development. This has indeed been a game-changer for the region” [E]. Chile, Brazil and Colombia have now prepared policy frameworks to promote PPI. For instance, Colombia ran a pilot in collaboration with the Institute of Cancerology, the Ministry of Health and the National University to foster the production of biotechnology-based solutions in-house. The estimated demand for this particular solution is USD400,000,000 [E].

(ii) IDB changed its funding criteria for all the projects it co-funds, from a supply-oriented approach to one that sets procurement as the focus of utilization of funds. As the Principal Specialist attests, “ a critical impact of the [Manchester] work was on Bank policy itself. The Bank has changed its conditionality; all countries with projects co-funded by the Bank will have to follow new regulations as regards public procurement” [E].

(iii) Latin American countries with projects funded by the IDB now have to abide by new guidelines introduced by the IDB to endorse and promote PPI. As The Principal Specialist states, the impact of this is significant considering that the IDB “ is an important funding body for infrastructure, education and health in the Latin-American region” [E], where public procurement accounts for 20% of GDP.

The IDB has subsequently invested USD500,000 in a number of pilot projects that use the new PPI funding mechanism, including [E]:

• In Ecuador, the IDB is working with Aguas Quito, the local water supply state owned company, to identify novel solutions for water leaks (project named Proyecto Fuga Cero).

• In Uruguay, the IDB now works with a state owned pharma company – Laboratorio Dorrego – that produces pharmaceutical drugs for the Ministry of Health.

• In Peru, the IDB is working with the Environment Ministry to introduce sensor applications to monitor the degree of human made pollution in the TitiCaca Lake Basin.

4.3. Establishing national guidelines and changing public procurement in Chile

The IDB work has led to further impacts in Chile in particular. Uyarra and MIOIR colleagues’ research was cited in the background paper that informed the first ever directive for Public Procurement of Innovation in Chile, launched in January 2018 [F]. The Chilean government then used the MIOIR research led by Edler for the IDB to develop a government working document for PPI and a national initiative on PPI, resulting in national guidelines for public procurement [G]. The [Text removed for publication] highlights that work by Edler and his MIOIR colleagues influenced thinking, practice and capacity. [Text removed for publication] states that “the documents and other activities that we developed are largely based on their work… The research of Edler and colleagues was essential for providing evidence that persuaded agencies that were initially resistant to join in the PPI strategy” [F].

This engagement resulted in three pilot projects to test the procurement approach proposed by Edler and his MIOIR colleagues in Chile. An online platform – the Chilecompra Innovation Platform – was then created to match 850 Chilean government agencies with national innovators. [Text removed for publication] explains that “ this pilot has played a significant role in changing how public procurement is seen now as driving demand for innovation. This is because, for the first time, a share of the approximately USD13,000,000 that the government allocates annually for public purchases and the USD1,003,000,000 that it destines to innovation worked together” [F]. She states that as a result of the project and the research of the UoM team “ public procurement has become an enabler of competitiveness in the private sector” in Chile.

4.4. Influencing how the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) conceptualises and measures PPI

The MIOIR research led by Edler has influenced the OECD’s understanding of the policy rationale for PPI, by providing evidence and methods to assess policies and by suggesting solutions to improve the implementation of PPI instruments.

Based on his PPI research, Edler contributed directly to the drafting of the OECD’s 2016 report on PPI for low carbon innovation, as acknowledged in the report [H]. Research by him and his MIOIR colleagues is cited throughout the report, specifically informing recommendations concerning how PPI can foster low carbon innovation, and addressing barriers and solutions to sustainability. The report had significant international impact. It was used to set the terms for the 33^rd Round Table on Sustainable Development in Paris in 2016 and supported discussions with high-level government experts [H].

In 2016, the OECD compiled an influential report on measuring the link between public procurement and innovation [I] to provide policy indicators and advice. The document relies heavily on work by Edler and his MIOIR colleagues [1,3,6] for key concepts and definitions [I, p.17,21] as well as PPI measurement approaches (I, p.61). The report builds on the MIOIR team’s findings concerning the need to improve skills among procurement personnel to effectively support innovation [I, p.69-70]. Research by Edler and his colleagues is the most frequently cited non EC/OECD source in the report.

Research on the foundational economy (FE) has had an impact on policy and practice at national level through Welsh Government and at local and city region level in Wales. The results include the design of new policies and economic strategies for facilitating the FE, the distribution of Welsh Government funds (GBP4,350,000) to support local innovation in foundational service delivery, and new forms of working across public services to support enterprises in the FE.

Pathway to Impact

The impact developed through a series of collaborative relationships and processes, particularly through Williams’ creation of the Foundational Economy Network Wales as a key intermediary. The network’s bi-monthly meetings bring together organisations across sectors to facilitate the implementation of the FE approach, including third sector organisations such as housing asociations and care providers, Welsh think tanks (namely the Bevan Foundation and the Institute of Welsh Affairs), the Welsh Local Government Association, the Wales Co-operative Centre and the Future Generations Commission. As attested by the CEO of Coastal Housing [A], a not for profit housing association that provides over 5,500 homes in the Swansea area, the network “has played a key role as a forum for building shared understanding. It provides a valuable opportunity for organisations from different sectors to come together, share ideas, and contribute to policy development in Wales. This has included contributing to the concept of the innovative Foundational Economy Challenge Fund, and supporting the projects funded by it, and the accompanying Community of Practice”.

More generally, Froud and Williams’ engagement work built cross-party political support for the FE approach via a series of presentations to Labour and Plaid Party Conferences, Cross Party Groups, and the Welsh Assembly Economy, Skills and Infrastructure Committee. As a result, early in 2017 members of the Welsh Assembly initiated a plenary debate [B] which secured cross-party support for a motion which “ calls on the Welsh Government to develop a strategy to maximise the impact of the ‘Foundational Economy’ across Wales as part of its work on developing a new economic strategy”. The transcript [B] shows how Labour, Plaid Cymru and Conservative assembly members all referred explicitly to the Manchester researchers and their ideas and evidence on the foundational economy.

Informing political strategies, policies and economic plans

All the above informed a foundational turn in Welsh economic strategy. The 2017 Welsh Government ‘Economic Action Plan’ [C] includes two pages (pp.15-16) on the FE and identifies four “ foundation sectors’ for development in the Welsh economy– tourism, food, retail and care – through economic inititaives ‘in a joined-up and consistent way across government” [C]. The Economic Action Plan explicitly calls for FE ideas to be integrated into wider cross-governmental policy reforms, specifically the Welsh Government Valleys Taskforce, which adresses the problems of the deindustrialised Welsh Valleys. The Taskforce’s 2017 delivery plan [D] includes two pages (pp.20-21) on increasing opportunities in the FE which are directly informed by the Manchester research.

Furthermore, in 2018 a new Ministerial Advisory Board on the Foundational Economy was set up to bring together Welsh Government officers, third sector, NGOs and researchers. Williams is a member of this Board which is chaired by the CEO of Coastal Housing, who attests [A] how this group has “ put forward a package of post Covid foundational recovery policies ….and is now focusing on delivering this package of recovery policies as a key pillar of Welsh Government’s economic reconstruction plans”.

Delivering and implementing the FE

A new Deputy Minister for Economy and Transport, was appointed in 2018 with explicit responsibility for delivering the foundational economic policy. The Deputy Minister explains [E] how “ through collaborative interaction between the Manchester team and key Welsh policy-makers, Wales is now the first country in the world to adopt the foundational economy approach at national level” and is implementing the new policies with explicit focus on ‘three pillars’ of FE work [E], namely (1) funding local foundational projects, (2) reforming public procurement and (3) developing new kinds of small business policy:

1. Funding local foundational projects: The Welsh Government has set up a Foundational Economy Challenge Fund which has already distributed GBP4,350,000 to 52 local projects for innovative delivery of foundational goods and services [F]. The Deputy Minister states [E] that “ we [the Welsh government] established the Welsh Government’s Foundational Economy Challenge Fund based directly on Williams’ and the team’s foundational argument for innovation through experiment backed by communities of practice and scaling up”. The small-scale, experimental foundational projects over 1-2 years are already demonstrating scalable impacts.Three examples illustrate the reach and significance of these experiments. First, a new model for organising Welsh GP practice services which uses triage and on site mental health and community service teams so that GPs can concentrate on physical health problems. Second, a friendship app for digitally connecting adults with learning difficulties. Third, experiments for organising micro businesses to provide domestic care for older people in rural localities.

2. Reforming public procurement: Welsh Government reform of public procurement aims not only to localise purchasing but to build capable firms and value adding supply chains, as with the Carmarthenshire project for reform of public sector food procurement. The Deputy Minister [E] states that “ The work of the Manchester researchers on procurement and supply chain analysis is guiding this agenda”. The Head of Commercial Innovation at the Welsh Government explains [G] that “ the task is to shift to a new kind of relational procurement and this depends on combining data from our Welsh Government team with the analysis of the foundational research team...”. The pace of procurement reform has accelerated since the PPE procurement crisis in the first Covid lock down and Williams now sits as external advisor on the weekly high level meetings of the Economy Ministry with the Welsh NHS where the issue is to identify what more can be locally procured for social value without excessive cost.

3. Small business support: Business Wales, the government agency responsible for small business support, is actively developing new small business policies based on foundational economy principles. As the Policy Manager of the Federation of Small Business Wales) observes [H], “ this new priority reflects how the researchers’ argument about the problem of the ‘missing middle’ in their 2015 report has shaped the policy agenda of all political parties…” More recently, Froud and Williams have with others authored a report which recommends that the Further Education campuses distributed around Wales should be used as business support hubs. This report is commissioned by Colegau Cymru, the trade association of Welsh further education which convenes the Further Education Principals’ Forum.

As well as national impact through Welsh Government, FE is having impact at community and regional level. A spokesperson for Cwmni Bro, a North Wales network of social enterprises, explains [I] how “ foundational thinking… empowers … our integrated and holistic model of community development”, and an FE Challenge Fund award “has allowed Cwmni Bro to link up with other smaller social enterprises in neighbouring valleys”. The Chief Executive of the Cardiff Capital City Region states [J] that her newly approved GBP10,000,000 Local Wealth Building Fund “ has borrowed heavily from the principles of Karel’s work on ‘foundational renewal’”.

All the above adds up to a systematic shift in economic thinking and policy in Wales which is consolidated by the Welsh Economic Recovery Plan to be published in early 2021. The foundational economy will figure as one of the pillars of economic recovery in Wales.