Innovation, Skills, Funding and Growth Opportunities for North East businesses

Innovation, Skills, Funding and Growth Opportunities for North East businesses.

The North East Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) is calling on the North East business community to come together in January to hear about opportunities to be involved with plans to create 100,000 more and better jobs for the region.

Members of the LEP’s senior management team will outline how businesses can get involved in the various programmes run by the LEP, covering areas such as funding, innovations, skills and business growth.

Helen Golightly, Executive Director at the North East LEP, explained: “This event is open to all businesses and intermediary organisations who want to find out more about our plans to grow the economy here in the North East.

“It’s a chance to ask questions and find out how you, your organisation and your clients could be a part of some of the exciting opportunities for businesses here in the region.”

The North East LEP manages over £500 million of public funding and plays an influencing role in the allocation of regional European funding and the event will include a briefing from the North East LEP Executive Director, Helen Golightly, on the funding landscape.

Innovation, and opportunities for businesses to get involved with innovation events and initiatives across the North East will also be discussed, including an outline of the innovation priorities which are set out in the region’s Strategic Economic Plan – the document which lays out a clear roadmap for creating more and better jobs.

There will also be opportunities for business leaders to find out how they can support the LEP’s work in the skills arena, including building on this year’s national pilot of careers benchmarks in North East schools, and the successful Enterprise Advisers programme, which pairs business leaders with schools’ senior management teams.
Attendees will also find out how they can make use of the North East Growth Hub, a free resource which brings together initiatives for growing businesses and scaleups.
Helen added: “We have one of the fastest growing regional economies outside London and as we enter 2018 we are working hard to continue this growth.

“We’re calling on the business community here in the North East to continue to support the delivery of the region’s Strategic Economic Plan and we also want to make sure that everyone who could benefit from our programmes is doing so.”

North East LEP Chair Andrew Hodgson will lead the event, which takes place on Friday 19 January, from 8.30am to 10.30am, at the Centre for Life in Newcastle.

The event is free to attend and is aimed at those in financial, professional and business services in the North East LEP area (Sunderland, Durham, Gateshead, Newcastle, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, Northumberland).