VIDEO-SW
The Inspire South West programme aimed to promote innovation in South West England, and was jointly funded by the South West RDA and the European Commission, as part of the EU European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) 'Innovative Actions' programme.
As part of Inspire SW, we ran a project to promote Research and Innovation in the region - the VIDEO SW Project during the period Aug 2004 to Nov 2005 - and successsfully produced TV quality reserch and innovation films that can be viewed here.
Final Report
The project team’s view, endorsed by our Marketing Group, was that the project was a major success, as
- all high quality, tangible outputs were produced, on schedule, on budget and with all targets achieved *;
- additional exposure was also achieved, with the material produced available also on DVD and downloadable and, hence, reaching wider audiences;
- considerable experience was gained by HEIs of working collaboratively; and
- the project leaves us strongly placed to be able to assist the RDA in future work.
(* one target could not be achieved, as the Regional Science and Industry Council was not created when expected.)
Problems encountered were concerned with detailed management of the project, particularly
- lack of understanding of initial complex negotiations needed to agree two HEI partners for all 15 films, and of subsequent delivery involving not only the two agreed HEIs but also the partner production / distribution company, Research-TV;
- serious under resourcing in terms of time and, hence, cost of detailed management of project.
These problems were addressed largely by the contribution of time by the University of Bath but can also be addressed in any future work.
Good practice emerged in organising projects collegially, yet still addressing the complex nature of a project drawn from the 14 SW HEIs, requiring 15 separate outputs all independent of the other 14, and a further partner, Research-TV. Despite the problems encountered, acknowledged above, the management style proved to be effective.
Long-tem sustainability of the project is not possible without further direct funding.