1. SME-large firm relationships and their implications for
SME innovation
Friday 29th
November, 2013, 12.00-15.00
Manchester Institute of Innovation Research, Manchester Business School
Oxford Road, Harold Hankins Building, Room 10.05
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are central to economic growth and the innovation that underpins it.
However, SMEs do not operate in a vacuum: one key element of their capacity to innovate is the large firms which
dominate many markets, and the relationships that SMEs have with them.
The Enterprise Research Centre (ERC) and the Manchester Institute of Innovation Research are organising this
workshop to provide an opportunity for business representatives, academics, policy makers and other
stakeholders to hear about some of the latest research evidence and discuss the implications of large firms for
SME innovation. The workshop will focus on the practical issues of how to support and improve SME-large firm
interaction and enhance the innovative benefits which can flow from this interaction
Brief presentations will be offered by distinguished speakers from the Manchester Institute of Innovation
Research, the Enterprise Research Centre and AgustaWestland, AstraZeneca and invited SMEs:
12.00-12.30 Networking lunch
12.30-12.40 Welcome and Introduction: Jakob Edler, Andrew James and Stephen Roper
12.40-13.30 Large firms as drivers of small firm innovation – research evidence (MIoIR and ERC)
13.30 -14.20 The business perspective (AgustaWestland, AstraZeneca and invited SMEs)
14.20-15.00 Roundtable discussion
MIOIR The Manchester Institute of Innovation Research is the research centre of excellence in the Manchester
Business School and the University of Manchester in the field of innovation and science studies. With more than
50 full members and a range of associated academics from across the University, MIoIR is Europe’s largest and
one of the World’s leading research centres in this field.
ERC: The Enterprise Research Centre is an independent research partnership between Warwick Business School,
Aston Business School, Imperial College Business School, Strathclyde Business School, Birmingham Business
School and De Montfort University. It is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, the Department for
Business, Innovation and Skills, the British Bankers Association and the Technology Strategy Board.
Speakers will include:
Professor Jim Love who leads the ERC’s programme of research on innovation and exporting in SMEs.
Professor Stephen Roper Director of the Enterprise Research Centre.
Dr Andrew JamesSenior Lecturer at Manchester Business School and MIoIR
Dr Sally Gee and Jack Willis, MIOIR
For further information and for registration please send an email to Siobhan.Drugan@mbs.ac.uk