JLGC was delighted to be invited to support this year’s MJ Growth Agenda conference in central London, following the support given to our own events recently with the MJ’s Michael Burton and Heather Jameson both chairing our last two seminars in the capital.
Though aimed at UK local authorities and Local Enterprise Partnerships, the event enabled Japanese staff and researchers to gain insights into the thinking around the new UK government’s devolution agenda and the emerging landscape of economic development, such as the ‘Northern Powerhouse’.
Tom Walker (Director of the UK Government’s Cities and Local Growth Unit) outlined the government’s approach to the ‘regeneration of regeneration’ such as applying new thinking and more flexible approaches on the ground when considering how best to direct central subsidies towards local growth projects, while MJ Editorial Director Michael Burton said that the “rebirth of big cities” was a UK success story which deserved greater recognition.
LEP leader Alex Pratt further detailed the direction of travel for economic development and ‘teambuilding around place’ in England, warning against ‘internecine’ competition between places (as ‘custodians of prosperity’) in a national system forced to compete with the likes of Germany and Japan.
Finally, as well as sessions on ‘Boosting growth in non-metropolitan areas’ and place analytics, in ‘Relationships, reality, results’ Steve Crane of Business Link Japan was on hand to set out his recent work in market development between the UK and Japan and to discuss practical examples of not only tie-ups between Anglo-Japanese companies, but also the role of UK Trade and Investment and the LEPs in developing places’ unique points to further their competitive advantage in overseas markets.
