This report represents the final deliverable of the “Leaders in Innovation Fellowships programme evaluation”, which was commissioned by the Royal Academy of Engineering (the Academy), and which was undertaken by Technopolis.

The report is structured as follows:

• The remainder of this chapter presents the purpose of this evaluation
• Chapter 3 describes the design and conduct of this evaluation
• Chapter 4 presents the findings. The findings are laid out in the form of discussion and answers to the evaluation questions
• Chapter 5 presents the recommendations

There are a number of annexes to this report, including the full success stories, full profiles of comparator programmes, full survey results, and the LIF Theory of Change.

The objective of this assignment was to perform an overall review of the Leaders in Innovation Fellowships (LIF) programme for the period 2014 – 2021 with a focus on the assessment of the impact of the LIF programme to date and the effectiveness of the current delivery model in achieving impact. There were additional objectives for the evaluation:

• Produce a comprehensive assessment of the performance of the LIF programme from 2014-2021 using the Logic Model and learning questions as a guide
• Identify key practices in the delivery of the LIF programme that affect programme outcomes
• Provide a comparison of the programme’s impact and delivery model against other UK and international entrepreneurship and innovation programmes
• Develop a set of recommendations that the Academy and LIF Team can use to improve the LIF programme in the future.

Adam Krčál
Managing Consultant

Rebecca Allinson
Managing Partner

Rita Cimatti
Consultant