Place-based innovation and collaboration in the dairy sector

Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) commissioned Wavehill to undertake an independent interim and final evaluation of the Digital Dairy Chain (DDC) programme, a UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Strength in Places Fund (SIPF) initiative covering Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland and Cumbria in England.

The £24.8m programme was launched in February 2022 and represents a major investment to transform the regional dairy sector and drive economic growth through grant funding, business support, skills development and technological innovation.

The DDC programme is delivered by a consortium of nine partner organisations, and provides a coordinated package of support spanning innovation brokerage, collaborative R&D, digital demonstrators, enabling technologies, Maker Spaces and product development facilities, alongside STEM outreach and workforce development. This creates a clear route for dairy businesses to access expertise, facilities and funding, while strengthening links between industry, research and skills providers. Inclusive growth is embedded throughout programme activities, with targeted engagement supporting women, young people (aged 18-30) and other underrepresented groups.

Wavehill’s evaluation assesses both delivery and impact, combining performance data, stakeholder consultation and contribution analysis to examine implementation, governance and the extent to which activity is reaching and benefiting dairy businesses. We are also undertaking counterfactual analysis and examining the programme within the context of comparator regions with dairy sector of a similar scale to the DDC area. The work provides robust evidence on progress and emerging outcomes, alongside the programme’s likely contribution to longer-term impacts including business performance, innovation adoption, skills development and wider economic change.

At the interim stage, findings show how a large-scale, place-based programme can activate collaboration across a sector. The programme is creating new connections between businesses and research organisations, enabling firms to engage in innovation activity (often for the first time) including participation in R&D, development of new products and processes, and increased confidence to innovate.

The interim findings also demonstrate how coordinated investment across innovation, skills and business support is strengthening the dairy innovation ecosystem. The programme is also building a pipeline of innovation and fostering relationships between businesses, researchers and emerging talent that had not previously existed at this scale.