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Our achievements at the half-year stage
Media centre > Publications > EEDA mid-year report 2008/09 > Our achievements at the half-year stage
Our achievements at the half-year stage
EEDA’s Corporate Plan has seven programmes. Here are some of the highlights so far this year:
Business Support
Enabling and encouraging businesses to access publicly-funded business support services. The highlights...
- supporting thousands of businesses through Business Link - Business Link has built on its strong first year to deliver another solid half year - with over 89,000 enterprises helped to find their way to the advice they need. In response to the credit crunch, Business Link are now offering a "Health Check" that helps business owners identify negative trends that, with quick treatment, can improve performance. This includes enhanced access to finance advice
- new funding for growing businesses and entrepreneurs - revised funding packages available for research and development, capital investment grants and market analysis
- helping businesses transform their information technology - in the first half of this year our takeITon campaign has provided funding of £464,483 for 163 businesses to help them improve their IT performance
- The Business Map - http://www.bizmapeast.co.uk/ - in September we launched this new initiative to help businesses in the region access support quickly, easily and effectively
- encouraging businesses to make the most of London 2012 - over 5,000 businesses are signed up to the EEDA supported CompeteFor, an online brokerage service between buyers throughout the London 2012 Olympics supply chain and potential suppliers. The East of England is the second region overall in terms of value of contracts won from the ODA and CompeteFor
- new £6.2 million investment in Beyond 2010 - an EEDA and European Social Fund programme to support SMEs with advice and funding to develop the skills of their workforce. Beyond 2010 also includes the response to redundancy programme which helps to re-train individuals facing redundancy
- a new suite of women's enterprise products - this includes Inspiring Women, which received £389,000 from EEDA and is also supported by the European Social Fund. The project is aimed at women who are unemployed but looking to come back to employment or starting their own business. EEDA is also supporting the Enterprising Women project with funding of £1 million over the next three years. 5,000 women entrepreneurs are already subscribed and the project is in the process of setting up a bursaries fund which will enable women to attend training courses
- supporting international business - in the first six months of this year, East of England International, funded by EEDA, supported 470 businesses and safeguarded 1096 jobs. They supported 11 new business investments in the region and assisted 96 businesses to access export markets
- supporting the tourism industry - EEDA's new strategic framework for tourism through its partnership with East of England Tourism is now providing one of the region’s biggest industries, with 8,000 SMEs, the marketing support it needs to realise its potential as a visitor destination.
Science, Innovation and High-Level Skills
Building on the region’s science base and increasing the commercial exploitation of ideas. The highlights...
- a new university campus in Ipswich - University Campus Suffolk (UCS) is open for business in an impressive new building on the Ipswich waterfront - with an eight per cent increase in local people studying for a higher education qualification. There are currently around 4,950 students learning through UCS, which also engages directly with over 500 businesses
- a new international research facility - the Royal Veterinary College completed a new international Zoonotics research facility at its Hawkshead Campus in Hatfield - following a £2.5 million EEDA investment. This is a truly global initiative with involvement from a number of partners across the world and will ensure that the Royal Veterinary College maintains its position in leading the world in research into the control of infectious diseases and zoonoses with this world-class facility based in the region
- a lasting Olympics legacy for the region - completion of construction of sports facilities at Hertford Regional College, Broxbourne. This ambitious redevelopment is transforming the College’s estate to provide learning resources and facilities that are amongst the best in the country. Three buildings have already been completed - the Sports Centre, which will provide a lasting legacy, the Motor Vehicle and Engineering building and the Construction Trades building. Funding for the buildings was provided by the Learning and Skills Council and the East of England Development Agency (EEDA)
- progress with new open innovation science parks - at Colworth in Bedfordshire, Martlesham in Suffolk and Stevenage in Hertfordshire. EEDA has commited £4.2 million to the building of a Knowledge Hub and Innovation Centre at Colworth, with building due to commence early in 2009. There is a dedicated EEDA funded project director in place to drive through the masterplan for the Innovation Martlesham site. Outline planning permission has been agreed for the GlaxoSmithKline site at Stevenage, with road access plans drawn up and a concept paper being developed to seek EEDA funding for an Incubation Centre, which will be a key component of the science park
- a new world class medical research centre - providing joint funding of £1.85 million with BBSRC partners to bring a non-human genome sequencing facility to Norwich Research Park. A facilitated workshop was hosted by EEDA for all key Norwich Research Park stakeholders to discuss the best ways to collaborate on the economic development of the Park within the wider Greater Norwich jobs creation context. A Norwich Research Park Vision Working Group has been formed. £2 million has also potentially been leveraged from three local authorities and a local partnership for Phase 2 of the centre, for the creation of a data centre, equipment and recruiting a team of researchers
- developing major new research, development and business centres in the region - OrbisEnergy at Lowestoft, the Cranfield Integrated Vehicle Health Management programme in Bedfordshire and the Luton Innovation and Business Base - three major developments opening this year.
Regional Infrastructure
Prioritising and enabling increased investment in the region’s infrastructure. The highlights...
- groundbreaking Integrated Development Programmes (IDPs) - bringing together partners at sub-regional level to plan, manage and develop new and growing communities
- a major step forward in regional transport planning - our Transport Economic Evidence Study (TEES) kick-started the debate on the economic impact of congestion on the region’s economy to help shape future strategy
- regenerating communities - using IDPs to prioritise 'quick win' investment in public infrastructure in Luton, Peterborough and Haven Gateway. Also announced major new investment in the Thetford Enterprise Park and in Lowestoft in the Waveney Campus
- major approvals issued - including the Thetford Enterprise Park. EEDA's commitment of £1.5 million towards road and site infrastructure will open up this 44 acre key employment site on the A11 and Waveney Campus. EEDA commitment of £2.73 million strengthened the resolve to complete this flagship scheme creating space for up to 1,000 employees and providing a major boost to the regeneration of Lowestoft
- major progress on flagship schemes - including Peterborough Southbank which appointed P-pod as preferred developer to develop this 7 hectare site in the city centre as an innovative zero-carbon neighbourhood, which will enable the construction industry to be better prepared to meet the government's goal that all new homes will be zero carbon by 2016. Eastport, the outer Harbour in Great Yarmouth, made substantial progress and is nearing completion of the breakwaters which will create a major new employment opportunity
- Thames Gateway - the joint EEDA, SEEDA and LDA Thames Gateway Economic Development Investment Plan was published in September, an early success being the establishment of ‘Invest Thames Gateway’ a new inward investment agency, supported with £3 million from CLG. Significant progress is also being made to shape plans for an Innovation and Learning centre at the London Gateway port development, and in Southend on land assembly to support higher education and further education expansion and the regeneration of the town centre.
Economic Participation
Improving the employability and increasing opportunities for individuals to help them participate in the region’s economy. The highlights...
- sub-regional investment - six new contracts with local authorities, creating a more effective model for delivering £17.3 million of EEDA investment to increase economic participation rates in the region. By the end of the year this investment will have created 230 jobs, supported over 5,500 people into employment and assisted 8,500 people with their skills development
- English language training - launch of a three year £590,000 programme, with joint funding from the European Social Fund, launched to equip migrant workers with better language skills so they can make a greater contribution to the economy. By the end of the year 170 people will have started the programme and be progressing towards level 3 English for Speakers of Other Languages qualifications
- social enterprise business support - £100,000 of government funding distributed to provide tailored high-quality business support for social enterprises through Business Link, which to date has supported approximately 100 social enterprises to improve their productivity
- building communities - £750,000 capital investments for developing social enterprises awarded to Theatre Resource in Chipping Ongar and to Citylife in Cambridge to create a Social Enterprise Centre. By 2011 these will have enabled 20 new businesses to start and created 50 new jobs
- ending ethnic inequality - a new report published on the importance of black and minority ethnic (BME) communities for the region's economy and priorities for increasing economic opportunities. A summit of key public, private and third sector leaders will convene in December to take forward activity that will aim to close the gap between the regional average employment rate and employment rates of some BME groups (eg the regional average is 77 per cent, while the employment rate of Bangladeshi and Pakistani ethnic groups is 48 per cent).
Sustainable Economy
Leading the move towards a low carbon, resource efficient economy. The highlights...
- helping businesses improve resource efficiency - following a pilot scheme with over 1,000 businesses, business resource efficiency has been successfully imbedded within the Business Link IDB model. We have been working with Defra to build on the opportunities of mainstreaming resource efficiency IDB into Business Link, the Business Support Simplification Programme and the Defra delivery review which will inform national context and frameworks. EEDA has funded a Resource Efficiency programme manager (within Renewables East) and committed £2.1 million investment into Resource Efficiency East to coordinate access to, and deliver, business resource efficiency advice guidance and support
- stimulating knowledge transfer in sustainable development - linking businesses with Research and Development across the region in the establishment of the Incrops Enterprise Hub and Innovation of Crops for Alternative and Non-Food uses for crops and part crops. Within the last six months the project has secured single pot and ERDF funding totalling over £2.2 million. EEDA will continue to work closely with Incrops through a steering group which will be represented by EEDA's rural and enterprise and innovation teams
- supporting entrepreneurship and behavioural change in local communities - the first round of our Cut your Carbon campaign delivered funding to six local (rural in this case) communities for carbon reduction projects as part of our three year £2.5 million programme
- championing renewable energy - utilising Rural Development Programme for England 2007-13 to invest £8 million in regional projects and allocate £21 million to local partnerships, for example, in the development of Woodfuels East, a regional project developing the wood fuel supply chain in the region. Woodfuels East will bring 15,000 hectares of undermanaged woodland into management, provide up to 120,000 tonnes of renewable material for the production of combined heat and power and reduce carbon emissions by around 90,000 tonnes per annum. The Camgrain project, which was awarded £3.9 million from EEDA under the Rural Development Programme for England, was able to provide storage for an additional 60,000 tonnes of grain, which was invaluable to its 350 plus SME farmer members in this wet harvest. The project has also won the first ever UK single supply-chain contract for Sainsburys’ in-store bakery owing to the quality, consistency and volume of its product. Membership has already grown by 30 per cent this year and,based on the additional storage alone, farmer member business will see increased profits of £700,000 this autumn. These achievements would not have been possible for the individual businesses outside of the collaborative approach taken by Camgrain
- driving collaboration and efficiency in rural areas - utilising Rural Development Programme for England 2007-13 to invest £8 million in regional projects and allocate £21 million to local partnerships, for example, in the development of Woodfuels East, a regional project developing the wood fuel supply chain in the region
- developing organisational excellence - EEDA achieved accreditation to both ISO14001 and EMAS in the first half of this year. Over the first half of the year 92 per cent of staff have expressed an increased understanding of waste, recycling and energy efficiency. Recycling amounts have increased by 62.8 per cent compared to the previous year (from 4,400 litres to 11,820 litres) and we are now recycling everything that we possibly can. Through setting targets and promotion of the Green Travel Plan we have reduced our business mileage by 18 per cent compared to the first six months of the base line year 2006/07. The number of shared journeys made by staff has increased with a saving of approximately 11,000 miles to date; an increase of 38.5 per cent on the baseline.
Strategy and Intelligence
Delivering high quality evidence-based policy making, evaluation and investment planning in the region. The highlights...
- a new economic blueprint for the region - following input from stakeholders across the East of England, and endorsement from the regional assembly, the regional economic strategy (RES) was launched - mapping out the region’s economic future through to 2031. The RES commits the region to ambitious targets that if achieved would mean that by 2031:
- real GVA per head would be over 70 per cent higher than today
- there would be over 424,000 more residents with jobs than today
- there will be 643,000 more adults qualified to at least level 4, 1.1 million more adults qualified to at least level 3 and 1.2 million more adults in the region qualified to at least level 2 than today
- aligning economic and spatial planning - working with stakeholders from across the region, the new RES and regional spatial strategy implementation plan will focus on regionally significant interventions in terms of major infrastructure projects and broader programmes of activity
- improving evaluation - EEDA has now dramatically increased the coverage of Impact Evaluation Framework compliant evaluations and has evaluation evidence covering 60 per cent of project/programme spend between 2002/03 to 2006/07. The findings from these evaluations will inform the BERR RDA National Impact report and are being used to assist EEDA to make more informed investment decisions in the future
- improving economic intelligence - the Regional Intelligence Centre was created in 2008 with the appointment of a Director and three new staff. Work is underway on a website, two major studies and a new quarterly economic briefing for launch of the service in February 2009. An Advisory Board consisting of seven regional partners has been appointed which will guide the priorities and work of the Regional Intelligence Centre
- getting the best deal for the region - work is underway on the Regional Funding Advice (RFA) with working groups formed to take forward each of the RFA themes of transport, housing and regeneration, economic development and skills before submission to government in February 2009.
Partnerships, Advocacy and Communications
Undertaking a programme of partnership working to implement national policy and act as advocates for the region nationally and internationally. The highlights...
- working with partners to deliver change - continuing to delegate roles and responsibilities to local authorities to meet sub national review recommendations
- speaking for the region - working with stakeholders to ensure the East of England is promoted regionally, nationally and internationally - with a clear focus on political engagement to secure the best deal for the region. EEDA has been working closely with the Regional Minister, Barbara Follett MP, to ensure that key priorities for the East of England are raised regionally and nationally. EEDA has also held meetings with regional MPs and national Ministers from all parties to ensure that we are effecitvely communicating our role and activity as well as addressing issues regionally and nationally. EEDA has taken a more proactive role in engaging stakeholders in policy surrounding future economic development through events such as the Innovation Nation Roadshow, East of England Response to Economic Circumstances and policy discussions at the political party conferences
- major campaigns to help businesses and communities - from funding information technology updates in businesses - via takeITon - to clear concise information on publicly available business funding through The Business Map
- delivering better customer service - following an internal review we have developed a series of actions to make us more responsive to customers and stakeholders
- improving project management - ensuring that the way we work to deliver the many and varied projects and programmes is closely aligned with our stakeholder and partner needs.
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