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Our projects classified by our different periods

The différents periods
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All
Creative
Digital
Disruptive
Entrepreneurial
Green
Scientific
REID Consulting has shown its resolve to deliver a vast and diverse collection of projects and assignments for a range of clients, from the very local to the truly international.

Rather than list them all, we present this wealth of experience as a compilation of ‘theme songs’ that bring together our work covering different topics and territories. After 30 years in any business, a ‘best of' collection is a kindness…

We present them to you divided by our different periods.
Green period
Eco-innovation Report

This ground-breaking report from 2008 (cited over 300 times) argued that reliance on traditional ‘end-of-pipe’ environmental technologies is not enough to tackle the ecological and climate crisis. In contrast, eco-innovation means the creation of novel and competitively priced goods, processes, systems, services, and procedures that can satisfy human needs and bring quality of life to all people with a minimal use of natural resources per unit of output and a minimal release of toxic substances.

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Creative period
Evaluating Creative Wallonia and the Creative Hubs

For this assignment, REID brought together a crack team of specialists ranging from anthropologists to economists to dive into the underground of the Walloon creative economy. The team applied a theory of change framework to analyse the effects of the policy experimentation conducted through the Creative Wallonia programme and the creation of nine Creative Hubs. Although they observed many sparks of ingenuity, the overall results were mixed. Nevertheless, fostering creativity as a means of boosting innovation should remain part of the Walloon policy to support economic transformation. The challenge is to maintain the ‘quirky and singular’ nature of the actions to support creativity via the Creative Hubs while ensuring a greater synergy with the mainstream business support ecosystem. REID’s work helped inspire the concept of innovation platforms which will be deployed from 2021 onwards.

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Scientific period
Evaluation of the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office funding instruments portfolio

How should the Belgian Federal authorities best invest their science policy budget in the coming decade ? This was the question we set out to answer.

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Disruptive period
Global Competitiveness Study - Finland

REID consultants on tour… we spent long hours in the far North analysing how business ecosystems work in Finland and whether they reach global heights. As part of this work, we developed the open innovation system model which has been used as framework in on-going work for a range of clients to assess the innovation performance and capacities of countries and regions. A key lesson from the study was that to achieve global competitiveness, the business ecosystems require tailored and diverse forms of support that often stretch beyond the remit and resources of one agency alone. This applies to the development of new business models nationally (e.g. regulatory or policy changes lagging technology) as well as internationally (e.g. attracting strategic investors, etc.).

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Entrepreneurial period
Handbook on Innovative High Growth Enterprises

REID was commissioned by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) to research and draft a handbook targeted at policy makers, business mentors and investors in the six Eastern Europe and South Caucasus (EESC) countries. The handbook provides insights into policy tools illustrated by examples from the Baltic States, the Nordic region, Scotland and Singapore. The handbook seeks to provide ‘hands-on’ help to those involved in designing policies and institutions to support the transformative potential of innovative high-growth firms. Based on the handbook, REID developed a series of three training sessions, which were delivered online in March 2021, providing a potent mix of practitioner insights and case study sessions built around exemplar businesses.

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Disruptive period
Inside the black box – linking innovation policy to performance

REID’s reinvention test was to develop new ways of linking innovation indicators to policy and societal impacts as part of the European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS, 2018-2020). We developed an operational guidance for exploring linkages between research and innovation policy developments and innovation performance as measured by the EIS. The work set out options for more integrated reporting at national and European levels so as to further increase the usefulness of the EIS for national and regional policy-makers as well as informing the European Semester process.

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Green period
Integrating environmental sustainability

As the natural environment increasingly suffers from the loss of biodiversity, pollution and climate change, the relationship between innovation performance and environment (and thus socio-economic) sustainability grows in importance. Indeed, enterprises, public sector organisations and researchers are under increasing pressure to come up with innovations that generate environmental benefits and address societal challenges. EU level policy developments, such as the European Green Deal and the Recovery plan for Europe, underline the need for the European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS) to take account of the pivotal role of research and innovation in contributing to societal challenges. The exploratory report examined all relevant indicators and proposed, after testing, two additional indicators for including in future EIS rounds.

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Creative period
Mapping clusters in the Highlands and Islands

REID walked 500 miles to better understand how clusters and business ecosystems can emerge and flourish in even the remotest territories of Scotland. A bracing project from start to finish! We dug through mountains of data to identify new sources of economic potential that help focus Highlands & Islands Enterprise’s efforts on high value-added businesses with unique selling potential that draws on the natural environment as well as a highly skilled population.

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Entrepreneurial period
Peer review of Basque Cluster Policy

REID was commissioned, in the framework of the Interreg project ClusterS3, as one of two international peers to review and make recommendations on the cluster policy of the Basque Country. The region has more than 20 years’ experience in developing, implementing, evaluating and renewing cluster policy. The peer review took a specific look at the Basque approach to smart specialisation, based on a strong involvement of cluster organisations in selecting priorities, in the development of action plans and in the identification and design of collaborative projects. The peers delivered a series of recommendations on improving cross-cluster collaboration, internationalisation of clusters and monitoring and evaluation of cluster performance.

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Scientific period
Policy Support Facility (PSF) - Specific Support to Armenia

A year-long study leading to concrete actions and a timetable for reforming Armenia’s research and higher education ecosystem… REID charted the way for a new science funding system that delivers for Armenian society and scientists. The report set out three possible scenarios for a future consolidation of the research system and proposed a set of criteria to help guide decisions on the future research landscape.

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Scientific period
Policy Support Facility (PSF) – Specific Support to Lithuania

The Lithuanian innovation system has undergone considerable restructuring and witnessed significant investment over the last decade. This has led to improvements in capacity and performance in the higher education and research system. On the business side, the economy remains largely dominated by lower value-added production and is weakly integrated in global value chains, despite a slight shift towards high-tech manufacturing and knowledge-intensive services. Recognising these challenges, the Lithuanian government expressed interest in receiving support on two specific topics: cooperation between the public science base and business; and attraction of innovation-oriented foreign direct investment (FDI).The PSF activity was carried out from February to September 2017. It included fact-finding visits and consultations with key stakeholders. It was carried out by a group of high-level independent experts from Germany, Belgium, Sweden and the UK, assisted by the European Commission. The expert panel proposed 13 specific recommendations grouped into three themes: strengthened foundations for the R&I policy support system, science-business cooperation, and innovation-oriented FDI. For each, the team set out the operational steps required and a time frame for implementation.

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Green period
RECONFIRM – Inter-regional sustainable value chains

The Regional Co-operation Networks for Industrial Modernisation Initiative (ReConfirm) was an EU funded project designed to assist inter-regional partnership regions and industrial stakeholders in implementing their action plan under the European Union’s Smart Specialisation Platform for Industrial Modernisation. REID provided high-level advice as a ‘broker’ for two partnerships both aiming at shifting highly polluting industrial sectors towards more sustainable business practices.

Read more
Digital period
Regions in industrial transition – boosting digital transformation

A pilot action on Regions in Industrial Transition was launched in 2018 to help test new approaches to industrial transition and provide evidence to underpin post-2020 policies and programmes. Regions in industrial transition face specific challenges, notably where this is associated with a lack of an appropriate skills-base, high unit labour costs and deindustrialisation. These regions may be unable to attract sufficient extra-regional investment to encourage broad industrial modernisation or make full use of the opportunities offered by European programmes. Hauts-de-France was one of 12 region selected to identify “high impact” pilot actions. REID acted as an advisor to the Regional Council in developing a pilot action that was awarded €300,000 in support by the European Commission. The pilot action reinforced the team of the regional innovation agency (HDFID) by making available a specialist in digitalisation to conduct a series of targeted ‘digital innovation audits’ in selected ‘traditional manufacturing firms (between 80-100 firms were expected to benefit from the audit). In addition, the pilot action will test a ‘digital transition voucher’ to support selected firms to recruit and train a young or previously unemployed specialist (vocational or engineering/ICT qualifications). A key element of the process will be to ensure that the application of digital technologies is done in a way to reinforce competitiveness of the firm and avoid job losses (employment rich industrial transition).

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Entrepreneurial period
SME and Entrepreneurship Reviews

REID has been on a journey from Dublin in the west to Bratislava in the east to examine how Governments’ can make life easier for those with the ‘entrepreneurial bug’ and help them innovate, scale and go international. Working as part of a team for the OECD’s Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities, REID reviewed SME and entrepreneurship programmes focusing on financing, innovation and internationalisation, entrepreneurship education and workforce skills development as well as innovative use of public procurement to support emerging high-potential firms. REID proposed a series of recommendations (for instance, in the Irish case adapting the R&D tax credit instrument to encourage innovation collaborations by SMEs inspired by Norwegian practice) to improve the effectiveness of government support that were taken up in subsequent government action plans.

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Disruptive period
Smart Specialisation Strategy (S3) - Wallonia

REID guided the regional government in Belgium’s south during a crucial renewal of its smart specialisation strategy (S3). Working with over 150 business, academic, public and societal stakeholders, we put an emphasis on how responding to societal challenges can be a win-win by driving innovation, creating value and improving quality of life. The Walloon Government adopted the new S3 strategy in March 2021 adopting the concept of Strategic Innovation Initiatives, proposed by REID and partners, to ensure an effective implementation of the five selected strategic innovation domains.

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Digital period
Smart specialisation thematic partnerships

REID has been a core player in the development of regional innovation strategies since the mid 1990s and, more recently, has been involved in designing and evaluating smart specialisation strategies. From 2014 onwards, REID advised the European Commission services and developed the initial concept for inter-regional smart specialisation partnerships working together on common topics that inspired the work of the so-called Vanguard Initiative. He has acted as an advisor to a number of thematic partnerships in fields as diverse as offshore technologies in the North Sea to the use of digital technologies, improving productivity of food manufacturers through smart sensors and applying big data to improve traceability of foods in European value chains.

Read more
Green period
Tay Cities Clean Growth

When the challenge is not just to fund projects but to build on those projects to set the region on a long-term clean growth trajectory.

Read more
Scientific period
Tracking the societal impact of research infrastructures.

Since 2011, REID has been overseeing the implementation and monitoring the impact of investments in research infrastructures (RI) from national to international scale. Based on four years of hands-on work providing technical assistance to the Lithuanian government to deliver a €350 million programme to upgrade university and research centres labs, REID and partners designed a first version of an impact pathway model to track results. This inspired a European level project (RI-PATHS) which over two-and-a-half-year period of co-design activity with major European research infrastructures including CERN, delivered an online toolkit for RI managers to track their impact. REID has also been a member of an EFSFRI working group on key performance indicators and recently was part of a team applying the impact pathways approach to the case of the European Southern Observatory.

Read more
Digital period
World Bank Digital Europe Report

Europe faces a digital dilemma. New digital technologies can help Europe become more competitive. However, while some of these new technologies create or expand access to markets for smaller firms and in lagging regions, others can create challenges for European convergence if they concentrate economic activity in large firms and leading regions. The European Commission is supporting cutting-edge research in the technological areas that characterise it, with the objectives of promoting excellence but also reducing regional research and innovation disparities. Yet, little is known about the capacity of European countries and regions to adapt to Industry 4.0 by developing and integrating different enabling technologies. REID co-authored, along with two Italian colleagues, a key input paper to a major World Bank report on this topic. The paper provides an analysis of the geography of knowledge production in Europe and investigates the comparative advantages of countries and regions as well as their technological specialisation. An emphasis was given to the identification of the factors that are typically associated with the regional capacity to integrate Industry 4.0 enabling technologies and the centrality of regions in European research networks.

Read more
We believe that every town, city or region is bursting with creative potential that can be  channelled to make the lives of all who live there better. We have conducted a broad range of projects on so-called place-based policies that respond to the specific socio-economic challenges of a territory in order to identify unique opportunities for development.
Digital is in everything from our kitchens and cars to our schools and farms. It is shaping society and the way we work. Done well, digitalisation helps governments keep in touch with citizens, levels up access to education, revolutionises factories and unpacks life-saving medical and security solutions.
‍
Yet, it can also deepen a digital divide in society and raises huge issues about who owns and controls data. At REID, we believe in, and work towards, a human-centric internet and data-driven society.
Digital period
Regions in industrial transition – boosting digital transformation

A pilot action on Regions in Industrial Transition was launched in 2018 to help test new approaches to industrial transition and provide evidence to underpin post-2020 policies and programmes. Regions in industrial transition face specific challenges, notably where this is associated with a lack of an appropriate skills-base, high unit labour costs and deindustrialisation. These regions may be unable to attract sufficient extra-regional investment to encourage broad industrial modernisation or make full use of the opportunities offered by European programmes. Hauts-de-France was one of 12 region selected to identify “high impact” pilot actions. REID acted as an advisor to the Regional Council in developing a pilot action that was awarded €300,000 in support by the European Commission. The pilot action reinforced the team of the regional innovation agency (HDFID) by making available a specialist in digitalisation to conduct a series of targeted ‘digital innovation audits’ in selected ‘traditional manufacturing firms (between 80-100 firms were expected to benefit from the audit). In addition, the pilot action will test a ‘digital transition voucher’ to support selected firms to recruit and train a young or previously unemployed specialist (vocational or engineering/ICT qualifications). A key element of the process will be to ensure that the application of digital technologies is done in a way to reinforce competitiveness of the firm and avoid job losses (employment rich industrial transition).

Read more
Digital period
Smart specialisation thematic partnerships

REID has been a core player in the development of regional innovation strategies since the mid 1990s and, more recently, has been involved in designing and evaluating smart specialisation strategies. From 2014 onwards, REID advised the European Commission services and developed the initial concept for inter-regional smart specialisation partnerships working together on common topics that inspired the work of the so-called Vanguard Initiative. He has acted as an advisor to a number of thematic partnerships in fields as diverse as offshore technologies in the North Sea to the use of digital technologies, improving productivity of food manufacturers through smart sensors and applying big data to improve traceability of foods in European value chains.

Read more
Digital period
World Bank Digital Europe Report

Europe faces a digital dilemma. New digital technologies can help Europe become more competitive. However, while some of these new technologies create or expand access to markets for smaller firms and in lagging regions, others can create challenges for European convergence if they concentrate economic activity in large firms and leading regions. The European Commission is supporting cutting-edge research in the technological areas that characterise it, with the objectives of promoting excellence but also reducing regional research and innovation disparities. Yet, little is known about the capacity of European countries and regions to adapt to Industry 4.0 by developing and integrating different enabling technologies. REID co-authored, along with two Italian colleagues, a key input paper to a major World Bank report on this topic. The paper provides an analysis of the geography of knowledge production in Europe and investigates the comparative advantages of countries and regions as well as their technological specialisation. An emphasis was given to the identification of the factors that are typically associated with the regional capacity to integrate Industry 4.0 enabling technologies and the centrality of regions in European research networks.

Read more
Understanding how the world works implies knowing about the elements that make up a system, but above all being able to track the interactions and flows (of knowledge, materials, etc.). The innovations that change our lives are the ones that disrupt entire systems (artificial intelligence, decentralised energy, smart mobility, health, etc.). 
Entrepreneurs sometimes struggle to live down the Wall Street mantra of “greed is good”. At REID, we believe in a wider understanding of ‘value’ in the pursuit of business ventures. Imagination and opportunity spur innovations that generate returns for the entrepreneur but also value for communities and society. It’s a question of attitude.

We work on projects that unleash the sort of ‘creative destruction’ that transforms our economies, social and public sectors for the better.
It’s time for some soul searching. Our planet is facing an unprecedented environmental crisis. Nothing short of a new way of producing, consuming and living is needed to tackle climate change, biodiversity loss and resource depletion.
‍
REID asks the tough questions and scrutinises the policies and systems holding back our transition to a sustainable and green ‘circular economy’. From our findings, we lay the ‘eco-innovation’ tracks to help drive transformative change.
Green period
Eco-innovation Report

This ground-breaking report from 2008 (cited over 300 times) argued that reliance on traditional ‘end-of-pipe’ environmental technologies is not enough to tackle the ecological and climate crisis. In contrast, eco-innovation means the creation of novel and competitively priced goods, processes, systems, services, and procedures that can satisfy human needs and bring quality of life to all people with a minimal use of natural resources per unit of output and a minimal release of toxic substances.

Read more
Green period
Integrating environmental sustainability

As the natural environment increasingly suffers from the loss of biodiversity, pollution and climate change, the relationship between innovation performance and environment (and thus socio-economic) sustainability grows in importance. Indeed, enterprises, public sector organisations and researchers are under increasing pressure to come up with innovations that generate environmental benefits and address societal challenges. EU level policy developments, such as the European Green Deal and the Recovery plan for Europe, underline the need for the European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS) to take account of the pivotal role of research and innovation in contributing to societal challenges. The exploratory report examined all relevant indicators and proposed, after testing, two additional indicators for including in future EIS rounds.

Read more
Green period
RECONFIRM – Inter-regional sustainable value chains

The Regional Co-operation Networks for Industrial Modernisation Initiative (ReConfirm) was an EU funded project designed to assist inter-regional partnership regions and industrial stakeholders in implementing their action plan under the European Union’s Smart Specialisation Platform for Industrial Modernisation. REID provided high-level advice as a ‘broker’ for two partnerships both aiming at shifting highly polluting industrial sectors towards more sustainable business practices.

Read more
Green period
Tay Cities Clean Growth

When the challenge is not just to fund projects but to build on those projects to set the region on a long-term clean growth trajectory.

Read more
The power of science is the foundation for societal well-being and sustainable development. Governments, businesses and charitable foundations all invest in science, whether to advance knowledge or develop technologies. Our work helps all those involved in this ‘scientific endeavour’ to plan and forecast future investments and assess the socio-economic impact of science. 
Scientific period
Evaluation of the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office funding instruments portfolio

How should the Belgian Federal authorities best invest their science policy budget in the coming decade ? This was the question we set out to answer.

Read more
Scientific period
Policy Support Facility (PSF) - Specific Support to Armenia

A year-long study leading to concrete actions and a timetable for reforming Armenia’s research and higher education ecosystem… REID charted the way for a new science funding system that delivers for Armenian society and scientists. The report set out three possible scenarios for a future consolidation of the research system and proposed a set of criteria to help guide decisions on the future research landscape.

Read more
Scientific period
Policy Support Facility (PSF) – Specific Support to Lithuania

The Lithuanian innovation system has undergone considerable restructuring and witnessed significant investment over the last decade. This has led to improvements in capacity and performance in the higher education and research system. On the business side, the economy remains largely dominated by lower value-added production and is weakly integrated in global value chains, despite a slight shift towards high-tech manufacturing and knowledge-intensive services. Recognising these challenges, the Lithuanian government expressed interest in receiving support on two specific topics: cooperation between the public science base and business; and attraction of innovation-oriented foreign direct investment (FDI).The PSF activity was carried out from February to September 2017. It included fact-finding visits and consultations with key stakeholders. It was carried out by a group of high-level independent experts from Germany, Belgium, Sweden and the UK, assisted by the European Commission. The expert panel proposed 13 specific recommendations grouped into three themes: strengthened foundations for the R&I policy support system, science-business cooperation, and innovation-oriented FDI. For each, the team set out the operational steps required and a time frame for implementation.

Read more
Scientific period
Tracking the societal impact of research infrastructures.

Since 2011, REID has been overseeing the implementation and monitoring the impact of investments in research infrastructures (RI) from national to international scale. Based on four years of hands-on work providing technical assistance to the Lithuanian government to deliver a €350 million programme to upgrade university and research centres labs, REID and partners designed a first version of an impact pathway model to track results. This inspired a European level project (RI-PATHS) which over two-and-a-half-year period of co-design activity with major European research infrastructures including CERN, delivered an online toolkit for RI managers to track their impact. REID has also been a member of an EFSFRI working group on key performance indicators and recently was part of a team applying the impact pathways approach to the case of the European Southern Observatory.

Read more