Dave Axam told attendees at the LEP’s AGM, that change was being directed by the Government through the national Industrial Strategy and its Grand Challenges, including Clean Growth and Artificial Intelligence.
These opportunities will be tackled by Enterprise M3 in its forthcoming Local Industrial Strategy (LIS) which will set down a blueprint for the region’s growth.
Stacey King, Enterprise M3 Board Member overseeing the Local Industrial Strategy, told the audience that views on the UK climate emergency had been heard ‘loud and clear’ and while Clean Growth initiatives were already a fundamental part of the emerging Local Industrial Strategy, the LEP would be focusing on this area even more.
“Clean Growth and Digital Connectivity fundamentally underpin everything we do,” said Stacey. “The purpose of the LIS is to understand what we really want for our region, for our people and for ourselves and the LIS is our plan and strategy to deliver.”
Talent from the Enterprise M3 region also has a ‘significant’ role to play in the development of AI and the future of the internet, according to Professor Dame Wendy Hall, executive director of the Web Science Institute, at the University of Southampton.
Dame Wendy said that AI represented a major opportunity for the region.
“We have had industrial revolutions before and AI will generate the next. There will be winners and losers and jobs will be affected. The key players in AI are US, China….and us. So it is important we capture that opportunity or we will become more of a service island.
“We already have a leading edge because of the legacy of AI research in our universities and a strong Tech Start-Up culture – almost twice as many tech start-ups are in the UK as the rest of Europe together and a lot are AI start-ups. There is huge potential to develop the industrial sector here in EM3 if we can build on that.”
Enterprise M3’s chief executive, Kathy Slack, then turned the spotlight on the LEP’s wide and varied successes.
She said: “This is a strong economy and we need to keep it that way. We contribute £55bn GVA to the national economy (3% of the UK). We have a high employment rate.
“However, when you’re measuring the success of a LEP, you’re not just talking about housing and jobs, it’s about the impact on the environment, impact on people, it’s about health and well-being.”
The LEP’s achievements included:
• Smart funding, which included £36.9m to deliver 37 high impact projects. A total of 925 new homes and 1,603 jobs were also delivered, exceeding their respective targets by 70% and 130%.
• Focus on high growth, high potential innovators which supported 1,200 scale ups and the launch of the £10m Funding Escalator to support high growth SMEs.
• The Growth Hub, aimed at businesses looking to succeed in the Enterprise M3 area, has had an “absolutely stupendous year” with 10,300 businesses accessing expert information, 220 growing, high-potential enterprises supported and groups such as the Silicon Drinkabout attracting 400 members.
• Business support preparing for Brexit. Kathy highlighted how the Brexit online toolkit portal was available for advice, and 14 highly-successful, business clinics had been planned across the area.
• Enterprise Zones – £8m was invested in Basing View. Kathy said “The place is buzzing, it is turning a huge corner. Investment has been made in office space and the Village Hotel will open by next February.”
White Label continues to support EM3 with all of its PR and communications.
For more information on the LEP’s achievements, read the Annual Report.
