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Reported by Bekki Parrish NERC-funded Policy Intern (May - July 2019) and Kate McNeil, CSAP Communications Coordinator.
Place-Based Policy: Exploring Economic Development and Resilience
In July, policymakers, practitioners and academics gathered in Cambridge for an industrial policy workshop focused on strategic and operational aspects of place, local government, and industrial policy. Sessions explored how to boost innovation and manage growth at the local level, with presentations from leading academics including Tomas Ulrichsen, Dr Jostein Hauge from the Institute for Manufacturing, and Dr Penny Mealy from the Bennett Institute for Public Policy.
Highlights from the day included discussion led by John Holden from the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, who presented the recently launched Greater Manchester Local Industrial Strategy, emphasised the importance interdisciplinary approaches for bolstering long-term, sustainable and inclusive economic growth. Here, barriers to achieving economic growth included migration, ‘brain drain’, and the indirect nature of the links between academic strength in a community and the level of local industrial capability. Meanwhile, Dame Kate Barker led a conversation on the rising importance of place in government policy in the context of the United Kingdom’s huge geographical diversity and disparities in productivity, which necessitate nuanced, locally-driven strategies and cross-sectoral partnerships. Challenges around connectivity and the need for knowledge-sharing and inclusive growth were major themes throughout the day, highlighted in presentations by Dr. Dan Durrant, former CSaP Policy Fellow Michael Soper, Cambridge Professor Rebecca Tunstall, and the Newcastle Centre for Urban and Regional Development’s Louise Kempton.
Professor Diane Coyle ended the day with optimism, emphasizing the United Kingdom’s past successes in national industrial strategy, which have been been successful in supporting industrial growth across the country in the last several decades, culminating in internationally competitive financial, pharmaceuticals and creative industries.
This workshop was developed in conjunction with CSAP Policy Fellow Joe Manning (Deputy Director, Cities and Local Growth Unit), and was designed for the Cties and Local Growth Unit, a joint unit between the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) by CSaP and the Bennett Institute for Public Policy. CSaP utilises its network of academics and policy makers to gather diverse ranges of experts from across academia, local and national government in both strategy and operational roles to foster conversations on policy challenges facing our society.
Photo credit: Little_Salkeld-Flour_Mill-0252