TARGETING Innovation, the Glasgow-based information technology, social media and innovation consultant, has moved into employee ownership – 20 years after it began trading.
The organisation started out in 1993 as a partnership with Scottish universities and Scottish Enterprise, backed by funding from the European Union.
Twenty years on it has moved into employee hands under a strategy designed to secure its future and pave the way for further expansion.
No changes are planned for the management of the organisation, though there will now be employee representation on the board.
The company, which employs 11 staff in Glasgow and a further three in Leeds, has got off to a flying start as a co-operative by netting new contract wins and extensions worth more than £500,000 on both sides of the Border.
A contract with the Scottish Government will see it develop online support for early stage inventors, which will include tools and resources to help individuals and businesses progress new ideas, as well as workshops and one to one surgeries.
The support is geared toward maximising the commercial return and economic impact of new business ideas.
Targeting Innovation said it been assisted in its switch to employee ownership by Co-operative Development Scotland, a subsidiary of Scottish Enterprise.
Co-ownership Solutions, a partner-owned body that provides support for employee-owned and co-operative businesses, provided legal, financial and employee engagement advice.
The transition in ownership involved the creation of an Employee Benefit Trust which acquired 51% of the shares, with the balance being held by the employees.
George Boag, chief executive of Targeting Innovation, said: "I am delighted the company has been acquired by the employees, securing its future in Scotland. Winning new contracts sets us off on the right foot.
"When the company was founded 20 years ago with the support of Glasgow Development Agency, it was funded entirely through European grant funding.
"The company quickly evolved into a self-funding model, securing business through competitive tendering, along with other private sector commissions."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article