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Enterprise Europe Network has helped a Guildford firm secure a £50,000 Innovate UK grant to develop and trial a digital platform for social care providers to track their performance now and after the Covid-19 pandemic.
BetterTrack’s technology allows both service providers and those commissioning social care services to measure and report on the level of performance across client care, staffing and safeguarding.
The company was awarded a Covid-19 FastTrack grant for proof-of-concept work on the social care tracker after approaching EEN for advice on how best to present their application.
The aim of the six-month project is to improve the quality of performance indicators for local, regional and national responses to the pandemic. It also addresses the problem that providers face keeping on track during the pandemic and improving their performance.
COVID-19 competition funding
BetterTrack has since recruited two new team members and by the end of the project will have a staff of up to four, with a management team working on operational, human resources, sustainability and social objectives. An added benefit from the funding application has been to improve their skills in preparation for further bids, including pitching for external investment.
EEN also contributed to ideas for stakeholder engagement and plans for exploitation of the technology.
Company founder Andrew Hudson said: “The immediate impact of winning the grant is that we have been able to recruit two senior developers and kick-start development in a digital platform that has the potential to transform social care, SME productivity and a sustainability-led recovery.
“I’m certain that the feedback from our EEN adviser, Valerie Pondaven, gave our proposal the extra edge needed to get over the line. This was the tipping point, which has been five years in the making. We cannot thank Valerie enough for her input and look forward to working with her and EEN.
Applications beyond social care
He added: “We now have a clearer understanding of the scale of the challenge and are engaging national stakeholders who can see how our solution has the potential to transform the social care sector.”
BetterTrack’s measurement platform has a broad range of applications beyond social care, including:
- performance scorecards for small business leaders, teams and advisers to drive productivity improvements and turnaround post Covid-19
- measurement of UN Sustainable Development Goal impacts by government agencies and major projects to accelerate progress in the UK
- collaborative indicator development tools for use by professional bodies, academics and working groups.
