EEDA: Corporate Blog The East of England Development Agency (EEDA) is the driving force behind sustainable economic growth and regeneration in the East of England. This is our corporate weblog, where you will find comment, opinion and thoughts from our leaders and individuals within the organisation. 

I was delighted to announce today that Deborah Cadman would be taking over as EEDA's chief executive come July. Deborah will be a great asset to EEDA and comes from St Edmundsbury Borough Council where she led the organisation to an 'excellent' performance rating and a reputation as one of the country's top districts.

I'm very much looking forward to working with Deborah on tackling the big issues facing the region. I know that she is 'over the moon' to be joining us and I've no doubt that she will be warmly welcomed by all at EEDA and across the East of England.

But I must also take this opportunity to thank David Marlow for his hard work, energy, commitment and leadership during his time with us. I personally will miss working with him when he leaves us at the end of July, but I wish him well in developing his career in economic development and public policy consultancy, advice, research and problem-solving.

I'm excited to announce that today is the launch of EEDA's Cut your Carbon campaign. The three year campaign and competition aims to bring together communities in the East of England to tackle climate change. Groups that take part will be able to measure their carbon footprint, become more energy efficient and seek to win EEDA match funding of up to £200,000 for innovative projects that cut carbon emissions.

One exciting aspect of the campaign is the community carbon footprint calculator. Based on DEFRA's Act of CO2 calculator, it provides the first step in helping groups understand how much carbon dioxide they produce and what they can do to reduce their carbon impact.

We also have a high profile panel of judges on board who will help to decide which projects are inspiring and innovative enough to go forward to receive funding. The panel will be co-chaired by Richard Ellis, EEDA chair and Jonathon Porritt, head of the Sustainable Development Commission, and also includes Fay Mansell, chair, National Federation of Women's Institutes (NFWI) and Tim Pyke, head of climate change, E.ON UK, among others.

If you want to get involved or find out more, please visit www.cutyourcarbon.org.uk or email the team at cutyourcarbon@eeda.org.uk.

This month the government launched its new Enterprise Strategy for unlocking the nation's entrepreneurial talents. In the East of England, one of the ways EEDA is working toward that goal is through Enterprise Road - a new year-long project to find the best ways to break through the barriers to enterprise.

While the East of England has many business success stories, it still has a wealth of locked-up enterprising potential, particularly in certain places or amongst some demographic groups. Countless people who could be entrepreneurs never take the first step because they see too many obstacles - for some it could be a lack of skills or confidence, for others it might be access to affordable finance or workspace.

Yet there are many great projects across the region that are using innovative ways to enable would-be entrepreneurs to realise their potential. Enterprise Road is a way of allowing these support-providers and entrepreneurs to share their experiences and ideas, so we can ensure the best quality early-enterprise support throughout the East of England.

You can find out more about Enterprise Road at www.eeda.org.uk/enterpriseroad, where you can also join the debate on the Enterprise Road blog and register for the project's launch event on 16 May.