EEDA blog

European funding shows what it can deliver in the East of England

David Morrall - director, Europe and International - EEDA — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 09:28:28 +0000

Creating Futures. Not, on this occasion, as shamelessly immodest as it may sound. At least not for the six inspiring winners and shortlisted candidates at the ‘Creating Futures’ event in celebration of European Programmes, held at the Maltings in Ely.

As many of you will be aware, the East of England benefits from over £300 million of European Structural Funds, to be spent between 2007-2013.

Put another way, we have £300 million to help over 60,000 unemployed people, deliver 14,000 new qualifications and provide support for innovation and hundreds of low carbon companies….The list is endless. This blog is (thankfully!) not.

But how many people in the East of England really know about this incredibly important story of European investment into the economy and lives of individual companies and people in all six of the region’s counties?

According to an email that has just landed in my inbox, not many. In the largest survey of its kind charting European Member State perception of EU Structural Fund programmes, the UK is, apparently, ranked bottom of the pile for recognition of their existence.

At the Creating Futures event last week we heard about a tiny fraction of the employers and people whose lives have been transformed by these European programmes. Listening to their stories and seeing the reactions when winners were announced, it was clear to me and everyone else in the audience just how important it was to showcase our successes here.

It mattered, not just because it is genuinely uplifting to hear about how an individual like Chrissy Proctor (winner of the ‘Personal Transformation’ award) turned her life around after company failure, to establish a thriving enterprise coaching project in Suffolk; nor just because of the exciting green technology products and markets being opened up by the InCrops project (winner of the ‘Low Carbon Innovation’ category); nor even because of the ground-breaking Centre for Disability Studies in Essex (winner of the ‘Environmental Excellence’ award) whose facilities are providing vital services for people with disabilities in the UK’s first Passiv Haus building – which uses less electricity per day than it takes to boil a kettle.

Well, I’m getting carried away here – of course all of these examples matter, massively!

But really, it’s when you put the best of what we are doing through European funding together that you begin to see a bigger picture unfolding. I think this comes across really well in our informal video record of the day:

As a region we are showing outstanding innovation in areas that are set to grow as hugely important sectors within our economy, such as green technologies. This was plain to see throughout the day.

As we respond to tough economic times we are going to need people with vision, resilience and entrepreneurship. The kind of people, in fact, whose excellence was recognised at ‘Creating Futures’.

European programmes are, very evidently, a major source that we need to keep on tapping to support future growth. And next year’s class of Creating Futures winners.

Taking a lead in electric vehicles

Deborah Cadman - chief executive - EEDA — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:02:32 +0000

As the government promises to provide grants of up to £5,000 to motorists looking to buy electric vehicles, I was at the University of Hertfordshire today talking to partners about an ambitious bid that EEDA has been facilitating to secure funding to install a network of charging points for electric vehicles across the East of England.

The move to electric powered vehicles provides a massive opportunity for businesses in the East of England. At the heart of the bid is our plan to use the network as a catalyst for the region’s talent to develop new technologies, services, business models and industries.

The North East may have the manufacturing capability but when it comes to vehicle research, design and development then industry comes here – Caterpillar, Ford, General Motors, Lotus, Nissan and Ricardo have all put down roots in the region.

More than fifty public and private partners have already expressed support for the bid, including General motors, Visteon, Lotus, BAA Stansted, BT, Marshalls and Millbrook Proving Ground.

Having had an initial expression of interest shortlisted by the Office of Low Emission Vehicles we are now working towards submitting a full bid for funding by the end of October.

The bid represents everything that is great about the East of England, it’s bigger and bolder than many of the other bids, it capitalises on our existing strengths and capabilities, and it brings together the best of the private and public sector

There is still an opportunity to get involved.

We’d like to hear from businesses in the East of England that are keen to reduce their carbon emissions by operating electric vehicles and installing charging posts on their business premises.

To register your interest and find out more, please email: EValu8@futuretransportsystems.co.uk

I’m confident that we can catalyse an economic and environmental revolution in the East of England that will create a lasting legacy and thousands of jobs.

The East of England leads the way

David Morrall - director, Europe and International - EEDA — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 19:47:29 +0000

I talked in my previous post about how we, in the East of England, can influence the future for a ‘greener social market’ in Europe.

In case you’re wondering why the European Commission would be at all bothered talking with a single UK region about this type of big picture planning, I can promise you that the prospect of working with people with direct (and successful) experience of this agenda, is very attractive and really exciting from where our colleagues sit in Brussels.

So, Europe’s EU 2020 strategy proposes an economy founded on growth and knowledge, with a target of three per cent of total economic output being invested in research and investment (R&D).

For Europe, getting to this position will be a real stretch; currently just 1.8 per cent is spent on R&D. In contrast, this region’s performance is 3.9 per cent and we top the UK regions on nine separate measures of innovation performance.

Equally, the East of England’s employment rates, now at 78 per cent, top the EU average of 69 per cent and exceed the EU 2020 target of 75 per cent.

We have the only ERDF Competitiveness Programme in Europe to be 100 per cent focussed on low carbon development. EU 2020 similarly envisages Europe’s shoots of recovery as being emphatically green, through the development of a low carbon economy and the exploitation of economic value from associated research and technologies.

In the East, we have a head start and much to share by virtue of our experience and research excellence in the field.

This puts us in a strong position to work with the European Commission and our own government in shaping EU 2020 and associated programmes.

Discussions with the European Commission continue and I’ll keep you updated as things develop.

Suffice to say, we have an exciting opportunity to build on our advantage.

Making evidence based policy a reality

Glenn Athey - director, Insight East - EEDA — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 10:27:30 +0000

Dr Glenn Athey, director, Insight East, EEDA

I lead Insight East, the region’s economic intelligence centre and we’ve just published our annual review. This is our first one and it has been a bit of a baptism of fire since we launched the service a year ago, in the middle of stormy economic times.

Insight East built upon the work of the East of England Observatory and added a team of economists and analysts to undertake more research, briefing and intelligence for the region.

What’s perhaps just as important is that from March 2009 the East of England had a team of people on the ground who could meet, discuss and brief decision makers in the region in person.

My team at Insight East aims to better understand the region’s economy and the impacts of changes, such as the recession.

We share this understanding in a language that can be understood by all. As well as tracking changes in the economy, decision makers in the region needed to know the recession’s underlying causes and impacts.

In 2009, Insight East published 41 economic briefings, three main economic reports, two editions of the East of England Forecasting Model, and delivered two new regional intelligence services. You can read these reports here.

Key highlights were our Recession Impact study published in September, and studies on the innovation performance of the region; and how the region compares internationally on a range of international performance indicators. We also published 11 local economic profiles which provide a brief overview of the economic performance of each unitary and county authority area.

For the next 12 months, we will be focusing on the recovery, and also assessing some of the long standing challenges facing the East of England economy, such as skills. Our aim is to provide economic analysis and insight that is directly relevant to the big economic policy questions, in a language that everybody can understand.

A room with a EU

David Morrall - director, Europe and International - EEDA — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 08:01:00 +0000

I’m fresh out of a series of seven meetings with different parts of the European Commission, all designed to promote the achievements of the European Union’s only low carbon ERDF Competitiveness Programme. Which happens to be right here in the East of England and is the reason why various units in the European Commission who deal with regional policy and climate change want to work with us a lot more closely.

So what is it about the programme that’s caught their eye? Answer: the evolution of the inobviously entitled ‘Lisbon Strategy’ now to be replaced with a re-modelled ‘EU 2020 Strategy’ .

This new strategy recognises the scale of devastation Europe has witnessed post-recession; 20 years of economic growth have been wiped off Europe since the global downturn. It focuses on five big targets with the ultimate aim of making Europe a smarter and greener social market. So out go ‘a one size fits all approach’ and a menu of ‘priorities’ so large as to be meaningless and in come specific targets, geared at EU Members State level to reflect individual circumstances.

Over the coming weeks and months EEDA will be focusing on what this means for our region and how we can influence the future. Feedback from the meetings I’ve just come out of has been encouragingly positive about the role the East of England can play in informing the debate. We’re in for some interesting times and I’ll keep you posted.

In the meantime, I’d be interested to hear your views, through the blog or by emailing me at erdf@eeda.org.uk, on how we can lever our competitive advantage in the development of a ‘greener social market’ and Europe’s EU 2020 Strategy. Or if you or your organisation feel you can contribute directly and suggest areas you’d like to get involved with, please do let me know.

Now I’ve got started on the blog trail, more thoughts on Europe and the international agenda will follow but it’ll be much more interesting if it evolves into a ‘conversation’ so please leave a comment or question!

A low carbon innovation revolution… right here in the making

Jeff Laidler - programme manager, low carbon innovation - EEDA — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 11:38:21 +0000

The EEDA and Crown Estate offshore wind event promoting the opportunities of the offshore wind energy industry reinforced the obvious: as the ‘space for ideas’ region we are at the centre of a potential low carbon innovation revolution.

Here’s why. On the back of a major evidence base report we’ve been able to identify the region’s strengths and capabilities as well as opportunities for low carbon innovation.

As a region we lead the UK in low carbon vehicles (think research and development, alternative fuels and new vehicle design) and environmental technologies (think waste recovery and recycling). We also have leading positions in offshore wind, low carbon buildings, green ICT, energy grids and network transmissions, and advanced materials.

Put another way, as a region we have key capabilities and comparative advantage in the following sectors: offshore wind, biorenewables, vehicles, the built environment, water and resource recovery, and advanced engineering and manufacturing.

Together they have an envied critical mass of world class research and development between industry, academic institutions and business. Together they provide unparalleled opportunities for cross-sector collaboration. Together they give SMEs in our region tremendous market opportunities, not just in the UK but globally.

Overall then you can see that these six sectors have the greatest low carbon innovation potential to drive our region to a future and much hyped low carbon economy.

Still not convinced?

Then read all about it. We’ve produced overviews of six sectors which form the heart of the low carbon innovation future for the East of England. In all six sectors the story is a compelling one. It’s not the final story but the beginning of one.

There’s no doubt that as a region we’re moving towards a low carbon innovation revolution. It’s already happening. Not only does it confirm that we are the ‘space for ideas’ region but we also have in the making the UK’s first and foremost low carbon innovation cluster based in the East of England.

If you want to find out more about what EEDA is doing to help usher in the low carbon innovation revolution then read about our low carbon innovation programme.

The wind is in the East

Johnathan Reynolds - sustainable development manager - EEDA — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 09:06:14 +0000

Last week we welcomed nearly 300 businesses and partners to Lowestoft to promote the opportunities of the offshore wind energy industry to businesses in the region and across the UK.

It was no surprise to me that there was standing room only at OrbisEnergy - the East of England is, after all, at the centre of the world’s largest market for offshore wind deployment and the UK’s most dense area of offshore wind energy development. That, coupled with the strengths and abilities built up over the last 40 years by the region’s offshore gas and oil industry, our strong automotive, marine and engineering sectors, and our world-class ports mean that companies in this region are perfectly placed to get their share of what could potentially be a £75 billion industry.

Will Pope, EEDA’s chair designate, shared the stage with Bob Blizzard MP and representatives from The Crown Estate, Department for Energy and Climate Change and ScottishPower Renewables/Vattenfall - the round 3 developer for the East Anglian Array. It was great to hear such enthusiasm for the offshore energy ambitions of the region and the commitment from government and the industry to have the offshore wind farm projects up and running between 2015 and 2020.

The East Anglian Array site is particularly exciting - it’s the second largest of the round 3 developments, will cover an area ten per cent larger that the county of Norfolk and could yield around 7.2GW of power - enough clean, green energy for over 5 million homes – double the number of households in the region. However, the wider offshore wind opportunities both around the UK and around the world are just as exciting and offer even bigger rewards for companies that step up to the challenge.

I’m often asked about how companies can get involved in these big offshore developments which are several years away, and my response is normally pretty simple. Get involved now! The Round 3 offshore wind opportunities are indeed vast, and the opportunities around Round 1 and 2 projects are also available, whether it’s operations and maintenance of developments such as Scroby Sands at Great Yarmouth, or supporting the deployment and installation of Greater Gabbard off the Suffolk coast.

It’s an interesting dilemma we now face in the East of England in that we often spend a great deal of time looking for or stimulating the next big economic opportunity… and here we are now with so much potential on our doorstep that it could really transform the industrial landscape of the region for the long term. It’s here for the taking and I’m committed to working with our partners to maximise the region’s potential.

Let’s not forget the rest of the energy sector though, where the East of England also has huge opportunities. Over 4GW of new nuclear power and cleaner coal-fired power stations that can capture the carbon emissions and store it underground, and a whole host of new innovative low carbon technologies putting the East of England at the heart of the low carbon future.

If you want to know more about offshore wind in the region click here to read ‘East of England Offshore Wind - Powering the Future’.

To see presentations from the event click here.

To contact EEDA about offshore wind email offshorewind@eeda.org.uk

Manufacturing centre stage

Simon Coward - centre director - Hethel Engineering Centre — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 10:23:55 +0000

I am thrilled to see the much improved manufacturing stop go live. Having been involved in its development, I knew it was coming so I won’t feign surprise but it’s arrival is great news for all of us who work in manufacturing or engineering. After all, until now, there has been no easy way to check out what’s happening in the East of England. Lots of people and organisations doing great things but no one place to go if you need to know the who, what, where and when of it all.

Of course it needs to stay current if it’s going to be properly useful in the long term but the news and events sections will help with that. I’m particularly pleased to see clusters getting a good showing. The Hethel team created the maps for low carbon automotive and energy and they’re a powerful way to communicate the expertise, supply chains and research and development capacity we have here in the region.

I know EEDA is keen for the site to continue to evolve so I would encourage you to take a look and get involved, either by submitting news and events or making a suggestion for additional info to go on the site by emailing businessupport@eeda.org.uk

At the end of the day, the more we (in the sector) contribute, the better and more current it will be.

Four people, four visits but only one day… in Norfolk

Deborah Cadman - chief executive - EEDA — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 09:28:46 +0000

Four senior civil servants left the region on Monday with a very clear impression of the positive contribution that Norfolk makes to the UK economy.

In a visit designed to showcase some of the best of Norfolk, EEDA and other local partners including Shaping Norfolk’s Future, Norfolk County Council and Norwich City Council delivered an action-packed schedule for policy chiefs from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS).

The day started at the Hethel Engineering Centre with a brief presentation from centre director, Simon Coward and a short tour of the site. Thanks to the flexibility of a couple of the companies operating at the site, the team was able to chat to businesses such as Sonar Link, Active Technologies and Scion Sprays.

A short ride took us to the impressive Lotus factory round the corner where we were greeted by some mean looking machines and a very welcoming Simon Wood who delivered a brilliant presentation showcasing the remarkable and world-leading work that is going on at Lotus. No trip would be complete without a sit on one a couple of the surprisingly comfortable cars.

It’s was back into our more mundane vehicles and onto The Genome Analysis Centre (TGAC) at the Norwich Research Park (NRP). I’ve been here a number of times but it never ceases to amaze me. With over 9,000 people, NRP has one of Europe’s largest single-site concentrations of research in Health, Food and Environmental Sciences. Thanks to investments from EEDA and other partners, the work done at TGAC will help the UK secure its food supply and help us combat the superbugs of the future.

We’re were out of time before we knew it and it was time for our fourth and final visit of the day – Aviva. No trip to Norwich would be complete without seeing the great Marble Hall in Surrey Street. Mark Hodges, chief executive of Aviva UK gave us an overview of why Norwich is part of Aviva’s identity and part of the company’s plans for the future, and representatives from Archant – the owners of regional newspapers such as the Eastern Daily Press and East Anglian Daily Times – gave their perspective of business confidence in the County and any barriers to further growth and success – infrastructure is a recurring theme!

We put the team from London back on the train. I feel that we’ve barely scratched the surface of what this dynamic county has to offer – what about Palm Paper in King’s Lynn or Eastport at Great Yarmouth? But with the restrictions of geography we did what we could in one day and made a good start at changing hearts and minds back in London. But there is more still to be done!

January e-briefings

EEDA — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 14:39:58 +0000

EEDA’s January e-briefings to businesses and partners are available to read online now.

In this edition: new EEDA chair, new Business Link and trade and inward investment support announced, Understanding Finance workshops, sweet success for manufacturers and more.

EEDA blog

European funding shows what it can deliver in the East of England

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Taking a lead in electric vehicles

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The East of England leads the way

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Making evidence based policy a reality

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A room with a EU

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A low carbon innovation revolution… right here in the making

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The wind is in the East

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Manufacturing centre stage

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Four people, four visits but only one day… in Norfolk

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January e-briefings

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