Innovation Archives - Page 11 of 12 - North East Local Enterprise Partnership

Having been a member of the North East LEP Innovation Board since October 2014, Professor Alan Lowdon has been appointed as Chair of the Board.

Alan is Chairman of the Durham University Energy Institute Advisory Board, has more than 30 years’ experience in the international energy and utilities markets working for multinationals including Shell, Suez, British Gas, Rolls Royce Industrial Power, Mott MacDonald and SKM as well as heading up three university spin-off companies and leading on technology and innovation for Narec (now the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult). He currently acts as an advisor on energy to the UK and US governments and various UK universities and is a visiting professor at the University of Durham.

Alan takes over as Chair of the North East LEP Innovation Board from Professor Roy Sandbach.

We asked Alan about his thoughts on innovation in the North East and his plans for the future of the Innovation Board.

How innovative are we in the North East?

We have a great platform to build on, as the North East has historically been very good at innovation. In terms of innovation in manufacturing, energy and transport, the North East set the bar and we have a legacy of innovation which other UK regions simply don’t have.

Now, we need to continue to be flexible and to adapt as a region. We’ve got lots of skills in our colleges and universities and there is some fantastic work going on across the region’s colleges, universities and catapults. We need to give new talent an opportunity to flourish via innovation and to have a platform on which to base innovation and entrepreneurship as without innovation we risk becoming stale and uninteresting – we need to make sure we stand out as a region.

What are the priorities for the Innovation Board?

We have to be focused in what we do and prioritisation is key which is why the LEP has identified four smart specialisation areas: passenger vehicle manufacturing; subsea and offshore technology; life sciences and healthcare; and creative, digital, software and technology based services. The Board will influence at a regional level the overall innovation agenda in these areas, playing to the region’s strengths and simplifying processes.

It’s vital that we look at access to public and private capital to make sure that programmes are funded and that we identify alternative sources of capital to help bring innovative businesses out of the starting blocks.

One exciting development which will come to life over the next few months will be the Innovation Observatory, based at Durham University and developed in partnership with Newcastle, Northumbria and Sunderland Universities. The Observatory is designed to identify good innovation practices, patterns and trends, helping secure more opportunities for North East businesses in the global marketplace.

What are some examples of great innovation in North East business?

We have so many businesses using innovation in different areas of their work. PDL in Hexham is an engineering design consultancy which has drawn on its skills to accelerate into the renewable energy sector. They’ve established a presence in the USA and Asia, in areas which are getting heavily involved in the renewable energy space. PDL has an innovative approach to recruitment and retention of its staff which has paid off.
Newcastle’s Reece Innovation and IHC Concept have both used innovation to strengthen business areas such as design, manufacturing and production, while programmes such as FinanceCamp are applying innovation to the funding sector.

Why is innovation important for the North East and the region’s economic growth?

Innovation is just one part of the spectrum of activity which is carried out at the North East LEP as it works to create more and better jobs for the region. It’s important to show how innovation sits within and strengthens all the other strands of activity, including skills, funding and business growth.

Innovation isn’t just associated with research and development and we need to help people see how they can fit into the innovation landscape. Innovation sits within all kinds of business areas – processes, skills, delivery, manufacturing and funding, for example.

We can give people opportunities through mentoring, facilitation, building regional capacity and confidence in doing things differently.

What are the key ingredients of innovation?

People with the right skills and attributes create an environment where innovation flourishes. Without them, the connectivity, buzz and energy we need to accelerate forwards doesn’t exist. The key ingredients for me are open mindedness and a willingness to take risks. People who are successful innovators also generally have a propensity to be really good networkers. I call them ‘dot-joiners’ – they join other individuals together to form relationships where they can see there’s a mutual benefit in relation to abilities and skills.

In an environment where risk and failure are tolerated, and success is applauded, innovation can flourish.

Find out more about the North East LEP Innovation board here

First bids approved for North East LEP/Gatsby National Careers Benchmark Pilot

The first North East schools leading a pilot programme have received more than £50,000 between them to help fund their innovative ideas to improve careers education – ideas that could be used across the country if they prove successful.

The proposals are part of the Gatsby Foundation National Career Benchmarks Pilot led by the North East Local Enterprise Partnership (North East LEP).

The projects are being funded by Lord Sainsbury’s Gatsby Foundation as part of a four-year national pilot running in the North East LEP area to test eight benchmarks of good career guidance.

North East schools and colleges were selected to test how the benchmarks can be implemented, identify any barriers to helping young people make more informed decisions about their future study and employment, and ensure that young people are better equipped with the skills employers need.

Sixteen schools and colleges in the North East LEP area are taking part in the national pilot and the findings will be rolled out across the country at the end of the project.

A total of £53,100 was approved in the first round of awards from the Innovation and Activity Fund. Pilot schools and colleges were asked to submit their innovative ideas to further develop careers education in collaboration with employers and other education providers.

Ryan Gibson, National Facilitator for the Career Benchmarks Pilot at the North East LEP, said: “There is a real buzz around careers education in the North East LEP area. Lots of schools and colleges are using the benchmarks and making an impact on good practice at a national level.

“The Innovation and Activity Fund is supporting schools and colleges that are already participating in the pilot to develop innovative practices, systems and processes that help schools and colleges to make measurable and rapid progress towards achieving the benchmarks.

“Successful projects are those that are able to demonstrate increased partnership working, enhanced collaboration, potential wider benefit, replication and scalability.

“We’re looking for projects that use an innovative approach to address particularly challenging issues, identified by initial audits against the benchmarks. Solutions can then be tested and potentially rolled out across the country.”

The first three grants will fund projects from St Joseph’s Catholic Academy in Hebburn, Churchill Community College in Wallsend, and six schools and colleges in the newly-formed Labour Market Information working group.

The project led by St Joseph’s will look at how employer engagement programmes such as the Careers and Enterprise Company’s and North East LEP’s flagship Enterprise Adviser Programme can be successfully integrated alongside existing provision.

The project will concentrate on benchmarks targeting meaningful encounters with employers and employees and multiple experiences of workplaces.

St Joseph’s will produce a best practice guide detailing how a school can map its current provision and what it must do to effectively integrate employers across the school. This guide will be made available to every school and college in England via the North East LEP and the Gatsby Foundation.

Churchill Community College in North Tyneside will work with Northumbria University’s Multidisciplinary Innovation Unit to explore creative ways of schools and colleges providing high quality work related experiences in challenging financial environments. A series of recommendations will be made, with the most appropriate being tested by the school.

The Labour Market Information project, a collaboration between six schools and colleges, will spend two months working with young people to explore how they currently access information about job sectors, apprenticeships, vacancies and pay and how they would like to access this in the future.

This research will form a case study that will be used by the national ‘LMI for All’ data portal and will inform future thinking about how young people and their parents get better help to access important information about future career opportunities.

The national pilot, including the projects funded through the innovation fund, will be independently evaluated by the International Centre for Guidance Studies, led by Tristram Hooley, at the University of Derby.

Future funding windows will be looking for pilot schools and colleges to work in partnership with other organisations to enhance school/college ability to achieve the benchmarks and improve careers guidance provision.

The Career Benchmarks were drawn up by Professor Sir John Holman after visiting the Netherlands, Germany, Hong Kong, Finland, Canada and Ireland, as well as a selection of UK schools, which have strong international reputations for careers guidance and educational results. The benchmarks for creating good careers guidance are :

A stable careers programme
Learning from career and labour market information
Addressing the needs of each pupil
Linking curriculum learning to careers
Encounters with employers and employees
Experiences of work places
Encounters with further and higher education
Personal guidance

Dr Peter Simpson, N8 Research Partnership and Life Sciences lead on the North East LEP Innovation Board, and Geoff Davison, Bionow

The North East Local Enterprise Partnership (North East LEP) Innovation Board members have been working on a new strategy to grow the North East’s Health and Life Sciences sector.

The North East LEP has identified Life Sciences as an important strategic area of economic activity in the region, and so the LEP Innovation Board’s experts are keen to develop an industry strategy and action plan to foster growth of the Health and Life Sciences sector in the North East. This represents a great opportunity to generate economic returns from more and better jobs if it is embraced by key partners.

The North East is already a great place to do Life Sciences, and a great place to live and work. But we feel there is so much more potential to unlock. Over recent months, we have sought your views on a range of possible priorities that we had scoped to help achieve this. For those of you who filled in our Life Sciences survey, a huge thank you – and congratulations to Julie Wright, Commercial Manager at Data Trial Limited; winner of our Kindle Fire prize!

This feedback has been incredibly helpful in sharpening the vision and directing the prioritisation of actions. From analysing your feedback, the Life Sciences working group has agreed three key areas for prioritised LEP support and additional opportunities.

Areas we have identified as possible priority opportunities include:

• Fully leveraging nationally important assets and centres – within the region and beyond – to help local companies.
• Enhancing specialist funding opportunities – to ensure that innovative regional companies have access to the funding and support they need to thrive here
• Facilitating strong linkages to academia and other external innovation sources
o Creating the conditions to build a cluster economy in Health in Development & Ageing
o Enhanced Health Grand Challenges Programme

In order to support these priorities, support and grow the business base the team have also been working through ways for the LEP to ensure:
• A long term plan for provision of specialist health and life sciences company accommodation
• Sector-specific specialist skills sector plans
• Effective strategic leadership & coordination for the region
• Promoting the life sciences sector nationally and internationally
• Growth of our distinctive assets and niches
• Improving the Scientific, Technical and Leadership Skills base

The Life Sciences working group and the North East LEP Innovation Board are doing this work as volunteers – because our passion is for the growing the economy of the region together.

So thank you again for your input, and we look forward to sharing with you an update on the LEP response to our proposals shortly.

The North East Local Enterprise Partnership (North East LEP) is encouraging local businesses to get behind the latest groundbreaking new venture to arrive in the region – FabLab Sunderland.

Part of a global network that started at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in America, FabLab Sunderland is a place for businesses, entrepreneurs, schools and members of the public to make and create almost anything using the technology, skills and materials available onsite.

Part business incubator, part education space, FabLab Sunderland promotes engineering, design, electronics and software development from its site at the University of Sunderland. Its focus on innovation and improving skills fits with the North East LEP’s strategic economic plan for the region that emphasises the importance of smart specialisation areas and developing a workforce quipped with the right skills for these jobs.

Part-funded through the North East Growth Deal, which is managed and delivered by the North East LEP, FabLab Sunderland aims to support and develop existing and new businesses in the LEP area, as well as inspire the next generation of engineers, developers and programmers.

Tony Canning, FabLab Manager at the University of Sunderland said: “FabLabs offer real opportunity to a wide range of people; from schools, the public and businesses, to access equipment they may not otherwise have available.

“As the first in the North East region we are keen to engage with the STEAM agenda – particularly for schools for whom we can coordinate workshops to reinforce and enhance learning. We are also keen to support businesses as a part of University of Sunderland’s Enterprise and Innovation directorate.”

Helen Golightly, Chief Operating Office at the North East LEP said: “FabLab Sunderland can play a vital role in supporting the skills agenda in the region.

“Not only is it a fantastic resource for the business community, it is already looking at ways to engage with schools through curriculum-based learning and by promoting STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) subjects, its providing the skills we need to create more and better jobs for the North East.”

Hans Möller, Innovation Director at the North East LEP said: “A key part of our strategic economic plan for the North East is built around innovation; something FabLab Sunderland excels at. We have identified smart specialisation areas and I believe all of these industries – automotive, creative and digital, life sciences and subsea – could benefit from engaging with FabLab Sunderland and supporting its work with industry and the education sector.”

FabLab Sunderland is one of 350 FabLabs across the world. They play a vital role in supporting innovation and invention; helping many new products come to market. One of the most successful is Dutch-based 3D printing firm, Ultimaker (www.ultimaker.com). Developed and built inside a FabLab, Ultimaker now sells its 3D printing products and software across the world.

The FabLab concept combines a workspace, community maker-space and learning zone – encouraging people from all walks of life to collaborate, exchange ideas and make things using the specialist equipment on site.

FabLab Sunderland aims to offer easy-access support to SMEs, connecting regional businesses with a global community of learners, educators, technologists, researchers, makers and innovators; creating new innovative jobs for people across the region.

FabLab Sunderland was included in the North East Local Enterprise Partnership’s additional proposed projects, when it announced the expanded Growth Deal with Government in January 2015. The Growth Deal will see an extra £40.6m invested in the North East economy between 2016 and 2021. This is in addition to the £289.3m of funding committed by the Government last year.

For more information about FabLab Sunderland, visit www.fablabsunderland.org

On International Women’s Day, 8th March 2016, HSBC announced the shortlist in their recent business competition. Of the ten people short-listed, there was just one woman- and that’s out of over 1000 applicants to the competition.

This could have been a one-off, but similarly, last summer, in the Virgin Pitch to Rich competition which attracted multiples of 1000s of entries, yet again, the shortlist of ten was nine men and one woman (http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/pitch-to-rich/). What is going wrong here? Why is it that business ideas presented by women are not chosen as winners? I can’t believe that the quality of the applications from women to both competitions was so much lower that it caused them to be so under- represented in the short-lists. I’ve used these business competition examples as a proxy for women’s engagement in innovation, which is perhaps misplaced, but having searched my networks (which are mainly North East England based) and tried to uncover women who are innovating, it is clear that there are women in senior positions in supportive /facilitative roles in innovation environments, but it’s hard to find women who are openly ‘innovating in business’.

At this point I should declare my interest; one is that as a former secondee to the North East Local Enterprise Partnership Innovation team, but secondly, (and my major prompt for this article), is I am particularly irked as I entered my invention to both competitions. Now naturally I feel my innovative business deserves to be up there in the top ten(!) (in a nutshell, I’ve designed a new baby’s cotbed, (see http://www.karekot.com/) which systematically reduces the hazards I faced with my baby in a traditional wooden-barred cot). I’ve followed all the due process rules of product development, including spending thousands on intellectual property, but for whatever reason I have not yet managed to get it ‘over the line’ and get it to market. Karekot was inspired by my daughter when she was a baby- she’s now six and a half and it’s getting embarrassing that it has taken me so long! There are mitigating circumstances however, and rather than brooding on my own bitterness, which I admit I’m good at (!), I’ve tried to understand why it is that women are so under-represented in innovation:

The investment network is imbalanced

I’ll start off by saying it’s great that we have a female investor network here in North East England http://www.gabriel-investors.com/, but most of the investment opportunities still require pitching to a majority of men. I have recently been recommended to approach a North East based investment network and did some research on their members – all 16 of them listed are men! Whilst I have no fear of pitching to this audience, and have done it with some success in the past, for some women with great ideas and creativity, this can really be off-putting. From the investor perspective, (and indeed in any grouping of similar types of people), they will naturally associate with those who are like them. But, wouldn’t it be great if there could be a more diverse mix on our investment panels resulting in a more diverse mix of businesses funded? It’s interesting (and quite sad really) to note that an investment platform called CircleUp uses data to select potential investment businesses, rather than a human, to avoid bias see http://www.fastcompany.com/3057844/when-data-not-humans-guide-vc-funding-more-women-win but it is with some success, as 35% of its funded companies have a female Chief Exec or Founder compared to the usual rate of traditional VC investments being less than 10%. And there are examples of where investments in female led businesses pay off; First Round Capital reported female founders performing 63 % better than investments made with all-male founding teams (http://thenextweb.com/insider/2016/03/11/961528/). Village Capital (http://impactalpha.com/social-enterprise-leveling-the-investment-playing-field/) found that female-run companies outperformed male-led firms by at least 20 percent in revenue earned and jobs created while raising less capital. Now these examples are from the USA- what might we do here?

Women present their ideas/opportunities differently and with less confidence

I’ve noticed that women are much more humble, to the point that they are apologetic about their idea/invention when presenting. It seems to be a natural default position to accept any criticism, implied or otherwise, rather than legitimately challenge it. This is about belief and confidence I guess. Avril MacDonald wrote a fabulous report about the different approaches boys and girls take in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) environment (https://www.wisecampaign.org.uk/uploads/wise/files/not_for_people_like_me.pdf) and has done some very interesting work on the different approaches that men and women adopt when applying for jobs: When it comes to for example, the ten essential criteria that the job requires, potential female and male applicants might have just seven essential skills, but at this point the female will reject it out of hand as she does not have the full set of essential skills, whereas a male will just go for it anyway and probably get the job– well good on him! In my recent experience I was speaking to an excellent financial advisor about what would be reasonable to pitch for as a salary for me to potential investors; my default position was around minimum wage, his advice was to almost double it as in the past investors had not baulked at the Chief Executive taking a reasonable, but not exorbitant salary!

Innovation is perceived as “techy” but truly great innovation sees unarticulated needs and women are often better at identifying these as product or service opportunities

Innovation is ‘sciency and techy’ ?– No its not, it certainly can be, but innovation can apply to every aspect of our lives. However, looking at the on-going imbalance of women who study and work in the STEM industries and the perception that innovation predominates in these industries, this might again partially explain why there is an under-representation of women in innovation in the workplace. An article published on International Women’s Day : http://www.information-age.com/industry/uk-industry/123461066/international-womens-day-2016-10-things-you-need-know-about-women-tech#sthash.Z5BDLfkL.dpuf cited just 7% of girls currently taking up computer studies A-level courses. At University only 17% of those studying computer science in higher education are women, which is the lowest percentage in any field except for engineering and technology. In these subjects women make up just 15% of the enrolments. Of that small percentage of women who take STEM subjects, only half (51%) actually go on to do STEM-related jobs. But, women are good at seeing problems and creating solutions to them. The nursery industry is a really good example of where mums especially come up with new products because what they have experienced simply didn’t work well enough.

Women still remain the main carers

‘Mummy, you’re always working!’ – how can that plaintive wail from a cute as chips six year old not tug at your heart strings and not take you away from that important aspect of your business plan? I regularly get this and I constantly feel the guilt as I juggle to keep her sweet, the house in a state of reasonable tidiness and progress my business, in effect, in my spare time. And school run and school pick up always mean that I’m one of the last in work and one of the first to leave so, those breakfast meetings and dinners in swanky (and not so swanky hotels!) are off the agenda. This is, I know, where many informal, but productive conversations are had.

And finally, the pearler!:

‘It’s a lifestyle business’

WHAT??? When recently speaking to a potential investor about my business, this is the comment I received from him. Why is there an assumption that because you are female you naturally fall into the ‘lifestyle business’ category? – the conversation ended pretty soon after that!

So, that could appear to be quite a subjective rant, and whilst I know a lot of men want to see change I do feel a little better for it! If this article provokes responses of women (and men!) who can challenge my assumptions and relay different experiences great – but even better if they are actually doing it, let’s shout about it and get it out there!

Katharine Paterson
Founder and Director at So To Company Ltd

The future is electric and the North East is in pole position to take the lead

The widespread adoption of electric vehicles (EV) is something that the North East has been gearing up to for the last six years and it is recognised as one of the North East LEP’s smart spec areas. Since 2013, the manufacture of the all-electric Nissan LEAF has been happening here in Sunderland and many companies, including ourselves, have been working on projects, research and product development surrounding the emergence of this technology.

Change is certainly coming. Latest figures published by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders show that electric car sales in the UK are rising at a dramatic rate. There are now on average around 2,400 electric cars registered each month which represents just over 1% of the total new car market.

However, I would argue that we’re nowhere near there yet. The driving range of the current electric vehicles on the market is currently good but not good enough. I have driven 20,000 miles in my Nissan LEAF so I can speak from experience when I say that we need more powerful batteries and faster charging. What I really want is to be able to drive 150 miles on one charge and for a charge to take around 10 minutes. That will be the game changer for electric vehicle sales.

It was therefore a significant announcement made by Nissan at the start of this year that they would be investing in the production of the future generation of electric vehicle batteries at its Sunderland plant. This commitment signals Nissan’s vision for zero-emission motoring and is also great news for the region – safeguarding 300 highly-skilled jobs in manufacturing, maintenance and engineering.

It’s also good for the electric vehicle industry in the region. At the same time, Nissan also announced a new project, supported by the UK’s Advanced Propulsion Centre, which will team the company with partners including Zero Carbon Futures, Hyperdrive Innovation and Newcastle University to work on battery development projects. This project will keep help our expertise to grow.

Of course with more powerful batteries comes the need for increased charging capacity. Charge points are going to need to get better and faster. So this announcement links with another coup for the region. In January, it was announced that the North East Combined Authority has been awarded £1.5 million from the Government’s ‘Go Ultra Low’ programme. The funding will help the region develop the next generation of charging facilities in the shape of new electric vehicle filling stations. The stations, which will be situated on the Science Central development in Newcastle and on the A19 on the outskirts of Sunderland, will echo a conventional fuel station in image incorporating 6 – 8 rapid charge points and perhaps even café facilities making filling up with electricity an acceptable norm. This filling station model will be a first for the UK and it will be something that other cities will be watching with interest.

Having worked in the automotive sector for the last 40 years, there’s never been a more exciting time than now. It’s great that the North East has proven itself to be a forerunner in electric vehicles and these announcements will make sure that we stay ahead of the game when it comes to future developments.

Dr Colin Herron is a member of the North East LEP Innovation Board and managing director of electric vehicle consultancy Zero Carbon Futures

A major new research project has been launched to explore how the Creative, Digital and IT (CDIT) sector in the North East can be developed in order to play a leading role in the region’s economy.

The new £3m ‘Creative Fuse North East’ project will involve all five of the North East’s universities – Newcastle, Northumbria, Durham, Sunderland and Teesside – and is funded jointly by the universities and the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Working with the region’s 12 local authorities, businesses, artists, cultural organisations and other partners, they will research how the CDIT sector can ensure it has the right skills for a sustainable future.

The 30 month project will look at how the skills within the region’s CDIT sector can benefit the wider regional economy, for example by exploring opportunities for placing creative practitioners in businesses in other sectors as a way to increase innovation. It will begin by mapping the creative, digital and commercial landscape of the North East in terms of the mix of skills, knowledge and support available, and how the region’s universities can support the sector more effectively.

The project is led by Newcastle University and will draw on expertise from more than 40 academic and business support staff from across the five institutions, from creative arts, cultural heritage and digital humanities to business schools and cloud computing.

Professor Eric Cross, Dean of Cultural Affairs at Newcastle University, said: “To ensure that the North East’s CDIT sector can realise its full potential, businesses and creative practitioners need to be able to connect with, and benefit from, the best that our universities have to offer in terms of research, training and talent.

“Creative Fuse North East will work hand-in-hand with the CDIT sector to discover and promote best practice, join up support, and drive creativity and innovation across the North East’s economy.

“By bringing businesses, artists and academics together, this project will create value – both in economic and cultural terms – regionally and nationally.”

For more information about Creative Fuse, email [email protected]

Paul Woolston, who has led the North East LEP since its formation nearly five years ago, is to leave his post together with several colleagues in a number of changes to the board.

Paul, a former senior partner at Price Waterhouse Coopers, has led the LEP board as chair since the organisation was created in 2011. He will formally leave his post as chair at the next LEP board meeting on January 28 when his replacement will be announced.

Under his successful leadership, the North East LEP has:

• Delivered the North East Independent Economic Review led by Lord Adonis. This allowed the LEP to formulate the Strategic Economic Plan setting out how to achieve the economic growth needed to deliver 100,000 new and better jobs over the next decade

• Secured £1.5bn in central Government and European funding to finance new economic growth

• Retained the crucial £120m JEREMIE 2 business support fund in the North East, to be invested exclusively into scores of new and growing North East companies

• Successfully bid for two Enterprise Zones covering a total of 20 sites across the region. The first zone has created more than 1,200 new jobs to date, with a lot more to come, and the second zone is anticipated to deliver a further 14,000 jobs.

• Appointed the North East’s first innovation director – acclaimed entrepreneur and business leader Hans Moller – to oversee the investment of £125m to support creativity and dynamism in the region’s growing business base

• Established effective public-private sector advisory boards to stimulate innovation, business growth and skills development

• Created the North East Growth Hub – the comprehensive online resource for business advice, funding information, networking, news and events.

Paul said now was the time to stand down from his post and make way for a new chair.

“The timing is right for a new chair to lead the North East LEP forward at an exciting time in its development and for the region,” said Paul.

“We are entering a new year with a devolution deal for the North East agreed with Government and the combined authority, which will mean a new role for the LEP.”

Three further business board members will also step down as part of the LEP’s plan to stagger its board member leaving and replacement process, keeping experienced members in place to support newcomers.

Businesswoman Gill Southern stepped down from the LEP board just before Christmas, while Michael Bellamy and Arnab Basu will also leave the board as soon as replacement members are recruited.

As part of a rotation of duties, Northumbria University Vice-Chancellor Andrew Wathey and Jon Vincent, Principal and Chief Executive of TyneMet College, have both recently been appointed to the board to replace Anne Isherwood and Peter Fidler.

Paul added: “I would like to thank our business board members who have all really made a difference to what the LEP does, as well as Edward Twiddy and Helen Golightly for their executive leadership.

“Their intellect, innovation and energy means we have been able to turn a great strategy into great decision-making for the North East economy.

“Strong business representation is crucial to the long-term success of the North East LEP and I would urge businesspeople to help shape the region’s future by applying for a place on the board.

“I am genuinely proud of what we have achieved. Initiating the Adonis Review enabled us to produce the Strategic Economic Plan for the region.

“It is absolutely transformational and it is being adopted and embedded in the region to drive future economic success.

“The North East LEP has attracted an enormous amount of funding, £1.5bn, which is being allocated now to implement the Strategic Economic Plan.

“Our challenge now as a region is to eliminate the persistent economic gap between ourselves and other regions of the UK.”

Andrew Hodgson, North East LEP Vice Chair, said: “Under Paul’s leadership, the North East LEP has secured significant funding from Europe and Government to underpin vital economic development.

“He has helped build and establish the LEP in a changing political landscape and worked hard with the most senior levels of Government to ensure the North East’s Strategic Economic Plan is understood and supported.”

Arnab Basu said “It has been a privilege to serve alongside Paul on the LEP board since its beginning. He has been a tireless champion of the north east and I wish him well in the future.

“After five years it is only right that we make way for others to carry the mantle forward. The North East has such a vibrant and thriving business community and I have no doubt the new members will have brighter, fresher ideas and contribute fully to the vital task carried out by the LEP. I will look forward to following their success with great interest.”

Gill said: “I will continue to be a strong advocate of the North East LEP’s activity and work hard to ensure North East business seizes the maximum benefits a new political landscape will present.”

Councillor Simon Henig, Chair of the North East Combined Authority and Leader of Durham County Council, said: “Paul has created a strong foundation for the North East to move into a new phase as we work towards proposed devolution and an elected Mayor.”

Businesspeople interested in applying for a board member post at the North East LEP should contact Jim Allcroft at NRG. Email: [email protected] or Tel: 0191 2604483.

Digital skill is at the heart of our region’s growth

The Bank of England still recognise the North East as one of the Fastest growing regions for business activity in the UK, yet we still seem to have one of the highest rates of unemployment and perception from other regions that we are still a small fish.

This excites me because we have an opportunity not only to upskill our workforce to create more and better jobs, but we have the prospect to show others what we can achieve.

As a region we are unique, we have a history steeped in adversity yet because of our passion and collective desire to not accept failure we have always managed to survive, adapt and still come out as world leaders in our fields. At the heart of this is innovation.

We now live in a Digital age; innovation more than ever comes through digital platforms. Businesses are now able to communicate, share ideas and provide services faster, cheaper and better than before yet 25% of our region’s population lack basic digital skills*, which is the highest percentage in the country.

To reach our economic potential we have to ensure that our region’s business and workforce take full advantage of our growing digital landscape.

I have been fortunate enough to be asked by the North East LEP to sit on the Business Support Board and the Apprentice Growth Partnership. During my time with the North East LEP I have been encouraged by the innovative approach to deliver the region’s Strategic Economic Plan and the fact that our business support will be delivered through a digital platform – www.northeastgrowthhub.co.uk.

This initiative is unique amongst the other UK LEPs, forward thinking and certainly the right way to deliver. However, if 25% of our population is lacking basic digital skills how do we ensure that this service is used to the full potential?

Earlier this year I attended a meeting in London with representatives from the different LEP areas held by Go ON UK. Go ON UK is the UK’s leading digital advocate with a mission to ensure everyone has basic digital skills.

Go ON UK would like a Local Enterprise Partnership to develop a National Digital Skills hub that would also offer regional content and signposting and could then be offered to other LEP regions. The idea behind this is to bring together all relevant digital skills content, digital assets, how to guides, training providers and corporate offers together under one hub. After a number of discussions with LEP, the North East LEP was selected to develop the platform and pilot it in the North East. Naturally I wanted this to be brought to the North East and the fact that we have already made the forward thinking decision to deliver our business support digitally made it a perfect match.

The North East LEP, Go ON UK and regional stakeholders are working together to help shape an innovative digital skills hub which will launch in the spring of next year. This is a small step of many in the right direction to ensure that we as businesses, individuals and as the North East LEP, work together to upskill our workforce and ensure that we achieve the great potential this region can offer.

If you would like to get in touch please email me at [email protected]

By Rob Earnshaw

*BBC learning 2014

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