People working in economic development and regeneration are being invited to help shape a new practical analytics platform designed to guide rural business policy.

The Rural Enterprise Support Analytics (RESA) tool focuses on rates of business start-up, growth and survival to enable local and regional policymakers to better understand and benchmark their area to inform decision-making.

The online platform – which is supported by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) – enables local/combined authorities and Local Enterprise Partnerships to assess the combinations of economic factors which influence these rates, rather than comparing them in isolation.

The team behind RESA at Northumbria University and the National Innovation Centre for Rural Enterprise at Newcastle University is holding an online session on Wednesday 28 February, 10-11.30am, to gather feedback on the platform to shape its development before it is rolled out later in the year. Register for the session

Gary Bosworth, Professor of Entrepreneurship at Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University, said: “The platform is based on research which identified external enablers of high performing business populations in rural local authority districts and found, what we all know, that rural areas are quite different from urban areas and each other.

“Our aim is for the tool to help draw out those differences and potential in the rural economy to help tailor support where it is needed most, and we’d urge anyone who would find this information useful to join us and give feedback.”

Derek Egan, Economic and Social Research Analyst at Defra, said: “This new approach to understanding rural economies can provide locally-specific evidence to inform targeted investments aimed at supporting rural businesses to prosper and we encourage people working in economic regeneration to get involved.”

If you have any queries about the tool or session, please email at gary.bosworth@northumbria.ac.uk