Skills

The group sought to build on previous work in 2016, to estimate enterprise demand for manufacturing, services & digital skills needs in Biopharma, and to measure the needs of industry and provision of academic & CPD courses across Ireland.

Using a robust multi-method methodology, we worked with EGFSN and an advisory group from academia, Biopharma industry and State agencies to guide the research.
This enabled us to forecast employment growth in the sector and to understand manufacturing, services & digital skills needs for the future
We used a series of scenarios to forecast supply and demand of Biopharma skills across Ireland from 2023-2027.

The group sought to build on previous work, to estimate enterprise demand for design skills, and measure the needs of industry and provision of academic design courses.

Using a ‘Design Thinking’ methodology, we worked with EGFSN and an advisory group from academia, enterprise, design and public agencies to guide the research.

This enabled us to define, empathise, ideate, prototype and test datasets, in order to understand what design skills of the future were needed.

We used a series of scenarios to forecast supply and demand of design skills across Ireland from 2020-2025.

The research established a number of key findings from across enterprise, academia, and design sectors. Based on their shared experiences, we saw how future learning pathways could be shaped to deliver design skills of the future.

The overarching outcome was to “drive change” by recommending a series of strategic actions to address the undersupply of designers to meet the predicted shortfall in design job roles in Ireland over the next 5 years. The report was published in June 2020 by EGFSN and DBEI.

Research project into breaking barriers between career explorers and employers to support Department of Economy 10X economic growth strategy in Northern Ireland Fintech and Life & Health Sciences clusters.

A research consortia comprising Cruinn, Work+, Grant Thornton & PDI used mixed methods (quantitative/qualitative) approach to the study.
Cruinn facilitated a series of co-design workshops and semi-structured interviews on the demand-side with senior directors, managers and HR professionals from SMEs in FinTech and Life & Health Sciences.. In addition, representatives from Schools, Colleges, Universities and Government Agencies on the supply-side were consulted via a separate workshop.
An international literature review of Small Advanced Economies and an economic modelling exercise were also conducted as part of research.

The Northern Ireland economy can experience a step-change by moving towards a more balanced skills system. The prize of a perfectly balanced skills system in NI is £3.6bn additional Gross Value Added (GVA) by 2030 and an increase in wages & people with higher qualifications.
Recognising that better skills matching would provide a significant boost to economic output, Government departments with a skills responsibility should allocate skills budget based on the direction of travel towards ‘Closing the Skills Gap’ in productive capacity and by providing a better skills balance in the NI economy.

Enterprises are a key provider of education and training for adults across OECD countries. Yet, policymakers lack a detailed understanding of how training in enterprises takes place.

This research approach opened a ‘black box’ of training and informal learning in enterprises by providing in-depth insights on:
i) what training and learning opportunities enterprises provide; ii) why they provide training (or not); iii) how they make decisions about training.

The research report ‘Training in Enterprises: New Evidence from 100 Case Studies’ presents evidence from 100 cases studies in five countries: Ireland, Italy, France, Austria & Estonia.
The findings will assist governments and economic policymakers in designing and implementing better policies in support of training in SME enterprises and corporate firms.

Client Projects

Working with clients to achieve higher benchmarks & best practices in their industry, market or sector, globally.

Setting the direction of travel to help clients steer & navigate the operating environment for their organisations.

Assessing the environmental, social & economic performance of clients, to govern and sustain long-term growth.