Evaluation Report for Hi-Tech Rail Project (ERDF)

Background to the HiTech Rail Project:

The HiTech Rail project accessed £1,373,598 funding from the West Midlands ERDF 2007-2013 Programme which is match-funded by other sources (£2,633,895 total project value).

The three year project began on the 1st of December 2012 and is due to complete on the 31st of December 2015. The project is led by the University of Birmingham with the Rail Alliance as a strategic delivery partner. The key beneficiaries will be West Midlands SMEs who are either currently part of the railway supply chain or have the capability to join the supply chain.

Background and Rationale to Final Evaluation Report of the Project:

All ERDF projects are required to undertake a final evaluation of their activity, which is to be compiled in a report. ERDF’s approach to project evaluation has been designed to:

• help projects robustly demonstrate their achievements • enable projects to identify and share best practice which will help to improve performance across the programme • provide project-level evidence that supports the evaluation of the programme as a whole that collectively demonstrates to a range of audiences the performance, achievements and impact of the projects that have been delivered • inform the development of any future programmes • help projects plan and implement successful exit strategies.

The report will contain an executive summary as well as detail on how effective the project activity has been in achieving its objectives. It will also look at the reasons for its success/failure as well as commenting on the cost effectiveness of the project and any differences between what was forecast at the outset and what was delivered. This will enable key learning points to be drawn out and associated recommendations clearly stated.

Dissemination of project outputs, outcomes and impact is a crucial component of the evaluation process and will enable findings to be fed back to those individuals and organisations with an interest in the project. Given the novelty of the project and complexities of accurately quantifying the economic impact of R&D activities, we anticipate there will be wider learning outcomes for other projects and policy. The Executive Summary will be a key dissemination product as it will provide the reader with an overview of all the key aspects including: objectives, activities, financial outturn, achievements and lessons learned. It is anticipated that the summary will be circulated to:

• Internal audiences – Project Facilitator; Technology Transfer Specialists; Project Management Team. • External audiences – Project beneficiaries; regional brokerage organisations; regional universities; Technology Strategy Board; Research Councils; Railway Industry Association; Department for Transport.

Key Aims of the Evaluation Project:

The specific aims of this impact evaluation are to: • Undertake a robust assessment of wheth...

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