A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been created between Peer Works, a programme delivered by Prosper, The Productivity Institute at the University of Manchester, and its Scotland Productivity Forum, led by the University of Glasgow. 

The University of Glasgow’s Adam Smith Business School and School of Social and Political Sciences is a partner in The Productivity Institute, which is headquartered at Alliance Manchester Business School. Economic and business specialists, together with leading experts from a range of disciplines and backgrounds, are working directly with policymakers and business to better understand, measure and enable improvements in productivity across the UK.

Increasing productivity and innovation in Scotland is crucial to transforming the economy and the three organisations are uniquely placed to collaborate in order to drive increased productivity across businesses, and help deliver the ambitions of the Scottish Government.

The MoU will formalise the existing working partnership, which includes a research project and events. This will see the partners working more closely on policy initiatives, impactful events, collaborative research and in the communication of good practice to employers around ways to increase their productivity.

Professor Sir Anton Muscatelli, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Glasgow, said: “The interface between Universities and business has huge potential as a driver of innovation and productivity growth, which is one of the key challenges for the UK economy. Colleagues at the University of Glasgow have been deeply engaged with this subject and we’ve been working in collaboration with the Productivity Institute and Prosper for some time. I am therefore delighted that we are strengthening and formalising our partnership to make an even greater impact in research and the sharing of good practice.”

Clare Reid, Director of Policy and Public Affairs at Prosper, said: “For every part of Scotland to thrive, we need the business base to be as efficient and competitive as possible. Research evidence shows that peer-to-peer learning is an effective way to support businesses, particularly smaller businesses. Peer Works is an established and successful programme that has been providing, in partnership with the Scottish Government, a forum for peer-to-peer learning since 2019. This collaboration with The Productivity Institute, the Scotland Productivity Forum and the University of Glasgow will help us further enhance Scotland’s productivity.”

Professor Bart van Ark, Managing Director of The Productivity Institute commented: “Businesses are the main drivers of productivity growth, yet it often remains unclear to leaders in key business functions how they should be thinking about productivity and how to incorporate it into their everyday actions to add value.

“The Productivity Institute and the Scotland Productivity Forum look forward to further strengthening our collaboration with Prosper to reach businesses in Scotland to ensure productivity-boosting measures are better understood and incorporated into an organisation’s broader strategy.”

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First published: 3 June 2024

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