Creative Cambridgeshire?

Getting creative with the Cambridge economy; the GCP Annual Conference 2008

It's a personal view

It was with particular pleasure that I attended the Greater Cambridge Partnerships Annual Conference 2008, actively participating as one of the facilitators at the breakout sessions. 300 plus delegates from attended for an event focussing on “Greater Cambridge: The Cluster, Creativity and Towards an Economic Masterplan” in the now familiar surroundings of Hinxton Hall, one of the Biotech hubs of our region. Since accurately condensing a busy half day of fascinating and informative talks would be a book in itself, I’ll present you with a more personal impression of highlights and undercurrents that also emerged from the two networking sessions and simply list the all the speakers and titles at the end.

One big relief was as ever, the presence of Nigel Brown who not only gave a humorous introduction but then kept speakers on time with impeccable but firm chairmanship.

Be more creative

Set against the now familiar (and sometimes self-congratulatory) contextual backdrop of Greater Cambridge as being an Innovation and High Technology region, the talk by Danny Meaney of nmp on the launch of the Creative Industries Action Plan sharply introduced a fresh perspective on a new and vital area.

Cambridge’s cultural and creative landscape was variously and contrastingly described by those questioned as rich in culture, learnedly academic and a calm productive place for Hi-Tech. Our region’s strengths were in software, publishing and computer games and it would be easy to feel that Cambridge was “sorted”. 

When compared with other culturally vibrant cities such as London and Manchester, our weaknesses were highlighted in that we lacked edge and depth – our night time economy, festivals and events could be developed further to add the cultural bite. There was a need to identify that “creative” was not just linked to sculpture, modern art, theatre and dance. Indeed, whilst we were an innovation capital, the Greater Cambridge region was less adept at commercialisation – another area where the creative sector had a practical application.

Over 1600 companies are active in the creative sector, scattered throughout the region and the Creative Industries Action Plan was launched to bring the same kind of development and support for this sector as for the Hi-Tech one. The emphasis will be to build a more diverse cultural offer under the slogan of
“Think – Inspire – Do!” that includes:

• commitment and positioning
• improving the creative environment
• fostering internationally recognised centres for digital content and delivery
• Support for business growth
• Skills development and talent retention

Overall there was a new challenge to get the technology and the content people to work together for the success of this region.

The talk had quite an impact on my session as facilitator at one of the white boards – with many picking up on the theme raised by Danny on supporting and developing this sector.

Know why Cambridge is good

Cambridge is continuously jostling for a place on the world stage as a desirable place to relocate to. René Buck of the Netherlands based Buck Consultants International gave a market report on research conducted to identify the most desirable locations in Europe, taking into account technology, talent, market size, connectivity and international business climate. In descending order these were

• Paris
• London
• Oxford
• Cambridge

Whilst we may be regionally proud of our position, the noteworthy fact is that the golden triangle of London, Oxford and Cambridge is a powerful attractant and we should be clearly marketing our benefits.

In the Keynote address by Andrew Gowers, global Co Head of Corporate Communications, Marketing and Brand Management, Lehman Brothers, Andrew complimented the GCP and the region on continuing to be positive and forward looking; it was a refreshing experience after the gloom and doom mongering so currently prevalent in finance heavy London.

However, my impression is that, whilst we are positive, there is an undercurrent of the impact on the current harsher economy pervading the general business community in this region.

What about the rest of us?

Perhaps this was triggered by the thought of my having to give a keynote speech to Linton Village College students the next day; on what they would need to ensure employment or business success in the future. I was seated purely by chance next to Lynn Ballard of the Essex Development and Regeneration Agency and asked her innocently what she thought were the key factors limiting businesses in her region, with an eye to the talk to the students. Literacy and punctuality (reliability) was her immediate response; so fundamental since even now, 5 million working Britons are functionally illiterate (BCC report on Barriers to Growth 2008).

The GCP is involved in supporting not only the able and Cambridge-attractant businesses but also the disadvantaged and the general business economy. Furthermore, whilst we have in excess of 3500 HiTech businesses in the region, this is against a backdrop of more than 25000 VAT registered companies (National Statistics) of which 90% or more were SMES and 60%+ had less than 5 employees.

Yes, there was a 5 minute talk by Mike Carter on investing in Communities with more detailed written information in our packs; SmartLIFE mentioned by David Arkell was an innovative way of making construction training greener and more future proof; Alex Plant of Cambridge Horizons did give us a synopsis of the regions successes in constructing and planning whole new communities. I was still left with a niggling feeling that perhaps this year the emphasis on the high end of Cambridge’s future lacked a sufficient counterpoint in the more fundamental and less flashy aspects - the other submerged nine tenths of the allegorical iceberg of our region’s economy that carries the visible shining peak above water.

The positive melting pot

In annual GCP conference still outshines many others in one key respect; whilst there are still significant spheres, functioning relatively independent of each other, such as university, hi-tech sector, Business 2 business, local government, education and the creative sector – the GCP provides a melting pot breaking down these barriers. Networking in the coffee and Lunch breaks, you are as likely to meet the Chief Constable, business leaders, academics, one-man companies and social agencies – to name but a few.  With this achievement alone, the GCP has justified its existence.

The Speakers and my personal impressions were;

Nigel Brown OBE – GCP Chairman – “humour and firm leadership”
Martin Garratt – GCP director – “The ever growing & successful Cambridge Egg”
Partick Farrant – Taylor Vinters – “Read the Sainsbury report”
Simon Anderson – GCP Founder – “We didn’t think you would achieve so much”
Danny Meaney – nmp – “Bring an edge to creativity”
René Buck – Buck Consultants International “Know why Cambridgeshire’s good and promote it”
Stephen Graves – Addenbrookes NHS Trust – “Doubling in size is good for our health”
Soraya Jones – Cambridge Wireless – “Olympic matchmaking”
David Arkell – SmartLIFE – “Building smarter and greener”
Mike Carter – Investing in Communities – “Working hard to get people into Work”
Alex Plant – Cambridgeshire Horizons – “Building successfully but we need roads to get there”
Andrew Gowers – Lehman Brothers – “From London to Cambridge; Out of darkness and into light”

Summary

The GCP Annual Conference 2008 in brief: Confidently hi-Tech, highly attractive region; looking to develop its creative sector; forward looking and positive. A melting pot that breaks down barriers between different sectors in our regional economy and government.

Dr Chris Thomas
Director, Milton Contact Limited

Enabling communication within a business, between businesses and internationally, using interpersonal skills, text and images.

Do you want help with your communication?

www.miltoncontact.co.uk, www.miltoncontact.com
tel 01223 440024
e-mail chris@miltoncontact.com