We’ve published the State of the Region dialogue Challenge or opportunity? How to plan for Climate Change (PDF, 1.3mb).

This report aims to help decision makers understand how climate change will impact on their areas and also give practical ways of adapting to, and taking advantage of, the opportunities and challenges presented by climate change.

The report covers six policy themes:

• Built environment
• Natural resources (water, land use and food)
• Transport
• Health
• Energy and waste
• Business, skills and education

By viewing climate change from a range of policy perspectives we aim to demonstrate that climate change will impact on all areas of life but that these areas can all contribute to minimising the impact, help adapt to the changing climate and take advantage of the opportunities that arise.

We identified the following consistent messages across all the policy themes:

• Climate change will bring some very serious challenges but there are already a whole range of opportunities for mitigating against, adapting to and benefiting from climate change.
• We need to use fewer resources and use those resources more efficiently.
• By factoring climate change into our planning and investment decisions now, we can minimise the costs of adapting to that change in the future.
• On a consumer level, the use of demand management is an important signal towards the more efficient use of resources.
• There are opportunities ahead: a growing market for those businesses that operate in the environmental technologies sector; new drivers for innovation; the opportunity to become self-sufficient in energy supply and reduce costs.
• The West Midlands tourist industry should benefit from warmer weather and the escalating cost of foreign travel, but this needs to be planned sustainably so we do not damage our environment.
• There are two strands to the infrastructure challenge. One is the need for new infrastructure to facilitate adaptation and mitigation of climate change. The second is the ability of large scale infrastructure procurement to drive low carbon development.

We would like to thank the West Midlands Climate Change Panel, the West Midlands Climate Change Office and the Environment Topic Group for their contributions, assistance and guidance in producing the report.

We’re also grateful to the authors of the chapters and those that helped us develop the themes.

Related links

• Download the full report: Challenge or opportunity? How to plan for Climate Change (PDF, 1.3mb)
• State of the Region Report 2009
• State of the Region dialogues
• West Midlands: Fit for the Future?
• Bill Heslegrave on green infrastructure (PDF, 928kb)

They said it would happen and according to research published this week by the West Midlands Cultural Observatory it is happening: the recession has caused consumers to be more selective about what cultural products and services they spend their cash on.

Evidence cited in the latest recession paper suggests that over the Spring and Summer months, people have been saving money on accommodation, but continuing to spend on visits to cultural attractions such as museums, historic houses and visitor attractions when visiting in the region.

According to data from the UK Tourism Survey for example, the decrease in ‘average length of stay’ in the West Midlands was the most marked of any region (although most regions did see a reduction), suggesting that the trend for people to save money on accommodation is happening nationally, but may be affecting the West Midlands accommodation sector disproportionately.

Meanwhile, evidence presented in the snapshot suggests many local cultural venues and attractions have seen an increase in footfall and sales compared to the previous year over the summer months. Respondents of the latest Cultural Research & Intelligence Group (CRAIG) recession survey reported visitor volume and revenue to have increased by an average of 6% during July-September 2009. This follows an initial dip in performance compared to the previous year between October 2008 and March 2009.

Similarly, evidence cited in the snapshot suggests that nationally, consumers are choosing to save money on cultural retail products. Household expenditure on cultural products decreased at a rate that exceeded the average, suggesting ongoing issues for commercial product manufacturers (despite a more positive outlook for manufacturers generally).

The potential for cultural customers to become ‘choosier’ during the recession was reported in the first cultural sector recession snapshot (covering the October-December 2008 quarter) based on a combination of formal and anecdotal evidence. Since that time, three further snapshots have been produced by the West Midlands Cultural Observatory, all of which collate evidence about the impact of the recession on the West Midlands cultural sector. With 12 months worth of data and intelligence now in the bag, this exercise is really beginning to pay dividends: a detailed and complex narrative has begun to emerge about the experience of local cultural organisations over the past year. Part of this experience is demonstrated by the line graph below, which shows how the average (median) change in levels of revenue and visitors (compared to the previous year’s figures) has improved over time for the cultural venues that have responded to the CRAIG recession survey:

Click here to download the latest economic snapshot for the cultural sector.

If you would like to receive the economic snapshot for the cultural sector directly please do get in touch with Lauren (lauren.amery@wmro.org / 0121 202 3249). Also, please feel free to comment on this research in the comment box below.

Most of the time we compare the relative performance of the West Midlands to that of other English regions, but how do we compare with other regions in the wider EU?

INNO Metric’s 2006 Regional Innovation Scoreboard (RIS) (PDF, 644kb) made such comparisons, assessing data from over two hundred regions across twenty-five states of the EU to assess their relative performance in innovation. In a few weeks’ time, they will release an updated 2009 edition of the RIS using the latest available data to compare and contrast innovation performance across the EU.

Last Friday, we attended INNO Metric’s validation workshop in London to gain an understanding of the new RIS.

Hugo Hollanders (MERIT, Maastricht University) and Stefano Tarantola (Institute for the Protection and Security of the Citizen, Joint Research Centre) gave a detailed presentation on the data and methods behind the development of the 2009 RIS.

There are some data availability issues this time round—for example, it has not been possible to include regional data for some larger nations—but the team has applied open and robust imputation measures to generate data for an analysis of regional performance. The data suggest that although the West Midlands may not be the leading region for innovation in Europe, we’re still a much more innovative region in international terms than would be revealed by a mere national comparison.

The RIS results could potentially help us to identify other regions in Europe which are working as the West Midlands’ natural peers, facing the same policy challenges as we do when it comes to encouraging innovation in our businesses and public organisations.

The new RIS will break innovation down into several themes, much as the overarching European Innovation Scoreboard does, which should provide a more detailed basis for regional comparisons which will be more useful to policy-makers.

Other speakers at the event included Robert Tijssen (Centre for Science and Technology Studies, Leiden University), who reported on the use of bibliographic data to measure collaborative research between universities and private-sector firms.

Stephen Flowers (CENTRIM, University of Brighton) also reviewed his findings about user-led innovation, arguing that firms which actively engage their user groups in the innovation process are, on average, much more innovative than those which don’t, and that user-led innovation is not merely a ‘substitute’ for traditional research and development as some have previously suggested.

The event’s delegates included a wide range of experts from across the EU, and the wide-ranging conversations on how best to measure innovation will inform our future work at the Observatory on assessing innovation in the West Midlands.

A couple of weeks ago I attended ‘Voices from the future 2020: how are we housed?’, an event organised by Sustainability West Midlands.

This is the first event in their ‘Voices from the future 2020′ series which develop themes from the report A low carbon vision for the West Midlands in 2020. The aim of this series is to stimulate thinking amongst decision makers in the West Midlands of the positive future we can have, and how to get there.

The main presentation, delivered by Stellan Fryxell, partner of Tenborn Architects in Stockholm, showed a great example of what a sustainable city looks like.

Hammarby Sjöstad in Stockholm, Sweden has been recognised as a success story all over the world.

Hammarby Sjöstad, Stockholm, Sweden. Photo by Victoria Henriksson, Dec 2003.

Hammarby Sjöstad, Stockholm, Sweden. Photo by Victoria Henriksson, Aug 2003.

Hammarby Sjöstad, Stockholm, Sweden. Photo by Victoria Henriksson, Aug 2003.

Symbiocity, the trademark that reflects all knowledge and experience in regard to the Swedish approach to sustainability, highlights:

In the 90’s, plans were made to build Hammarby Sjöstad in a former brownfield area of wharves and docks. The first construction phases were finalised in 2000. There will be 11,000 apartments, 25,000 inhabitants and 10,000 workplaces by 2015. The district is now famous for its integrated planning approach, where every aspect has been developed with the whole in mind.

Infrastructure investments delivered include:

• Automatic underground waste collection systems
• District heating and cooling fuelled partly by local waste collection and by heat exchangers in water treatment
• Solar-powered hot water and electricity
• Biogas from household sewage water and waste
• Collection and filtration of runoff water
• Super-efficient buildings, triple-glass windows, green roofs, and so on

I was particularly impressed with the holistic approach involved in shaping the city. Land use, transport, building materials, energy, waste, accessibility, services, leisure and culture were different aspects considered at the planning stage. Now, all of them are working together to make sustainability a reality.

If you want to know more about this project visit the Hammarby Sjöstad website or read the report Hammarby Sjöstad – a unique environmental project in Stockholm (PDF, 3.91mb).

No increase in volunteering

New Citizenship Survey data published last week by CLG show volunteering levels have remained almost static over the past year in England.

Levels of formal volunteering at least once a month are unchanged since 2001.

This lack of increase in volunteering despite the rising levels of unemployment seems to confirm what many in the voluntary and community sector have been saying about a lack of funding and capacity to meet increased demand for volunteering opportunities.

Rates of volunteering from the Place Survey which provides evidence for a number of the national indicators, including NI6 (volunteering), found that rates of volunteering are lower in the West Midlands than average. Also, within the region, the areas with the highest rates of worklessness have the lowest rates of volunteering.

While the rate of regular volunteering in Malvern Hills is 33%, in Stoke-on-Trent and Sandwell it is half that at just 16%.

Volunteering as a crucial tool in engaging the workless

With rising unemployment comes the risk of people becoming long-term unemployed. It is crucial to keep individuals engaged in meaningful activities in order to preserve their mental health, and keep them work-ready for when jobs become available.

Evidence from the Institute for Volunteering Research points to the benefits of volunteering in terms of the development of both ‘hard’ and ’soft’ skills — both of which have been identified as seriously lacking in the West Midlands.

Volunteering is also known to help to maintain good mental health and combat social isolation.

Not a quick fix

Many volunteer centres have struggled to cope with increased demand for voluntary work during the recession.

Placing the unemployed into volunteering is not an easy option. The long-term aims of the host organisation may be centred on their service delivery rather than the provision of skills and employability to volunteers, and volunteers with specific needs require extra support.

Furthermore, volunteering infrastructure is locally based and often tends to be under-resourced, with limited strategic direction.

Does this represent a lost opportunity for the region?

The Observatory is linking with partners across the region to highlight the issue of volunteering as part of our work on the impact of the recession.

If you have any views on this issue, please get in touch or comment below.

Last Thursday, I attended a Census 2011 outputs event.  It was hosted by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in Leicester, and covered a range of Census-related topics.

I’ve highlighted key points from the event in this post.

The biggest proposed change to the Census in 2011, compared to 2001, is to open up access to the data. ONS want to move away from static tables towards dynamic tables, such as data cubes, that allow researchers to interrogate data more.

ONS propose to set up a Census databank that will allow users to manipulate data themselves. The databank will be accessed by ONS websites, such as Nomis and Neighbourhood Statistics, but ONS are also keen to let partners access it.

Partners would need to set up web-based user portals on their own websites to do this. However, it would enable Census data to be shared more widely – people could access Census data from a range of websites, outside of the ONS.

Disclosure and accuracy

However, giving users more control over data will create disclosure issues and affect the accuracy of data.

ONS said that some data entries would need to be swapped with comparable ones in other areas to prevent people being identified from the datasets.

They highlighted that data would be less accurate at lower levels of geography because, as disclosure risk increases, data unit swapping is needed more. Despite this, ONS plan to make data swapping smarter than in 2001.

Funding

The proposals made are dependent on funding, which is to be decided by HM Treasury by summer 2010. The ONS are currently putting together a bid to secure funding for their proposals, and welcome any funding partners can offer to deliver outputs.

ONS encouraged partners to send evidence on how Census 2001 data has informed a decision they’ve made or created an economic benefit. If you have any evidence to share, please email the Census team directly at census.customerservices@ons.gsi.gov.uk.

Census geography

Census geography was another interesting topic.

ONS hope to keep most of the 2011 Lower Super Output Area (LSOA) boundaries the same as 2001, to allow comparisons.

However, the population in some LSOAs has grown and the population threshold for LSOAs is between 1,000 and 3,000 people.

Therefore, some LSOA boundaries will need to change as they have exceeded the maximum population – ONS only expect this to apply to 0.4% of LSOAs, based on 2005 mid-year estimates.

ONS also said that some of the Output Areas in the 2001 Census were not ‘fit for purpose’, and invited partners to suggest any changes they felt should be made to Output Areas. Please email the Census team directly at census.customerservices@ons.gsi.gov.uk.

ONS also indicated that the Census 2011 will include new questions on national identity and language. The migration question has changed from 2001, and will draw out information on how long migrants intend to stay in England for.

Finally, a Census Rehearsal is currently taking place in Birmingham and three other cities to pilot the survey. The ONS hope to share findings from the pilot on their website, but did not give a release date for this.

The West Midlands’ economy is less productive than the national average, and the gap is growing, according to new research released by the West Midlands Regional Observatory.

In the 2009 ‘State of the Region’ report, the Observatory has revealed that compared to the UK average, the economic output gap of the West Midlands – caused by the region’s lower economic output per head of population – has risen from a figure of £10 billion in 2005 to a current estimate of £15 billion.

Speaking at the launch of the report, Rosie Paskins – Chief Executive of the Regional Observatory – challenged the region’s decision makers to work more closely with the research community, in order to stop the gap growing further.

Rosie said,

In simple terms, closing the output gap would equate to the West Midlands’ economy being £15 billion richer, but to close the gap the region needs to face some very tough challenges.

For instance, even before the recession, the number of people not working, and hence not contributing to the region’s economy, was increasing. The recession has exacerbated this, and currently almost a third of the region’s working age population are not in employment.

If we are going to deal with this and other issues successfully, then we need to understand them very thoroughly. The Observatory can shed some clear light on what’s happening, and give vital insight to the region’s decision makers in order that they can make the right interventions and investments, based on real lives and real issues.

Also speaking at the launch of the report, Richard Woolhouse from Centre for Cities said,

There has been a lot of talk about a ‘white collar’ recession focussed on financial services in London and the South East, following the cardiac arrest of the financial system that occurred last autumn. But by mapping the rise in Jobseekers’ allowance claimant count across the UK, Centre for Cities has shown that it’s actually the old industrial areas like the West Midlands that have been hit hardest. London and the South East have done much better, demonstrating that this is not a ‘white collar’ recession at all.

Recovery from recession in the West Midlands is likely to be a long slog, and there will need to be a significant period of adjustment. Projections show that it will take until at least 2020-2021 until Birmingham once again reaches the peak levels of employment seen in 2008.

The Observatory is working closely with the region’s leaders and decision makers in the region, to ensure that the research and information needed to inform the region’s recovery from recession is in place.

Much of the evidence produced by the Observatory so far has been about understanding the challenges we face. It has been backward looking, identifying the current ‘State of the Region’.

As the West Midlands prepares for a slow and difficult recovery from recession, the Observatory will focus more and more on finding better evidence to inform the future state of the region. Through shining some clear lights on what’s ahead, the Observatory can help the region’s decision makers to make better decisions – better evidence leading to better policy.

With innovation seen as a key way for businesses to navigate the recession, the Innovating out of Recession workshop at our Annual Conference brought together an interesting mix of speakers and delegates to discuss innovative practices, measuring innovation and how innovation may change the industrial structure of the West Midlands.

Cliff Dennett from thoughtengine, co-author of Innovation in a recession (chapter 7 in the Fit for the Future book ), kicked off a series of presentations covering a range of innovation related topics. Cliff’s presentation focussed on ways in which we can explore cost-cutting but value adding activities.

Brian MacAulay, Director of the Innovation Index at NESTA, presented on Innovation Matters and so does how you measure it… outlining the work that NESTA has been doing in measuring innovation:

Andrew Hermann, who leads the Enterprise and Innovation Team at the Observatory, gave a brief overview of some of the work that the Observatory is doing in measuring innovation in the West Midlands and benchmarking performance against the other regions. Here are Andrew’s slides:

Professor David Bailey from Coventry University Business School gave an overview of Towards a knowledge-intensive, green manufacturing future (Chapter 8 in the Fit for the Future? book co-authored with Lisa De Propris from Birmingham Business School).

He discussed how the region’s manufacturing businesses can build upon their expertise, adopting a more knowledge-intensive approach.

He spoke of how knowledge-intensive manufacturing could help the region out of recession and rebalance the regional economy, which currently relies too much on the service sector.

He also described ways of integrating services with manufacturing as a growing trend with great potential.

Simon Topman, Chair of the West Midlands Chambers of Commerce, gave an entertaining and enlightening talk about how his whistle manufacturing company drives forward innovation. He also provided an excellent insight into how they work closely with some of the region’s universities to continue to develop innovative products.

Surfacing comments

The presentations raised a number of comments:

What are the future drivers for change? Will enforced carbon reduction be seen as an opportunity to drive innovation?

Why is innovation in some organisations (particularly public sector bodies) seen simply as cost cutting?

Does auditing and monitoring in the public sector promote a culture less receptive to innovation?

Can we teach innovation?

How can we stop businesses in the West Midlands innovating?

In an innovative fashion, delegates were asked to consider the question: “How can we stop businesses in the West Midlands innovating?”

Following a short brainstorming session, delegates were then asked to come up with solutions to ensure these scenarios do not happen.

Points raised during this exercise largely focussed around the themes of leadership, funding, infrastructure and skills. We are currently collating and reviewing the responses and will be continuing the debate very soon.

As well as the scenarios raised during the brainstorming, this interesting question was raised:

Is innovation good if it drives business growth but comes at the cost of employment?

Support the community organisations who are working on the ground, was a strong theme in both workshops on ‘engaging communities in the new economy’ at the Observatory’s 2009 Annual Conference.

The workshop heard from voices working with communities in the region who articulated their frustrations in having to fit their work around funders’ requirements, rather than funders coming to them and saying ‘how can we support you to do what you do?’

Third sector organisations perhaps need to also be stronger in articulating the impact and benefits of their work.

While there is understanding of the need of funders to see quantifiable outcomes, there is a risk that this can incentivise providers to work with those with fewer barriers, thereby hitting more targets but not working with the most excluded.

There is a need to be able to put a quantifiable cost benefit on the diversion of people from other services.

For example, compare the cost of keeping someone in prison or on benefits with the cost of funding high quality organisations to work with them in the long-term and help them stay in work. The social return on investment needs to be easier to illustrate.

The workshop was chaired by Sharon Palmer of Regional Action West Midlands who emphasised the importance of the third sector in providing a voice for communities.

The workshop heard from Tim Warner from the Jericho Foundation, a social enterprise which has been working for 20 years with some of the most excluded individuals.

Tim emphasised the need to work with people for a period of around 2 years to make them work-ready, and was able to give examples of short-term funding having little impact. No more pilots! Here are Tim’s slides:

John Lee, Economic Inclusion Panel co-ordinator, spoke of work in the region to embed a new procurement framework within the leading public sector organisations which make up the Economic Inclusion Panel, committing them to employment and skills outcomes from the money they spend through procurement of goods and services.

John mentioned a positive announcement from the government earlier this year saying they would like to see 30% of public sector procurement going through the third sector. Here are John’s slides:

Both Tim and John spoke of opportunities for employment in environmental industries, with the work of the Jericho Foundation providing a fine example of how the two agendas of environment and local employment can be addressed together – linking these policy areas together could mean increased efficiency from the public sector spend.  Is the West Midlands ready for a Green New Deal?

Helena Duignan, Senior Research Analyst in the Observatory’s Economic Inclusion team, spoke about the impact of the recession on the region’s population, and illustrated how long-term problems have been exacerbated.

Evidence that rates of volunteering are lowest in the areas of high worklessness prompted some discussion of the role of the third sector in providing volunteering opportunities.

Much of the volunteer work that is done in the third sector is central to the business of the organisation, and involves long-term commitment from the volunteers. These organisations are often poorly funded and struggle to meet increased demand for volunteering opportunities for the workless. If we wish to harness the potential of volunteering to help excluded people enter the workforce, major cross-sector investment is needed.

Here are Helen’s slides:

Some other issues raised:

• There was also discussion of skills needs – there is much talk of the need for upskilling and new highly-skilled employment opportunities, but it is important to provide access to low-skilled and entry level jobs too. Delegates felt they needed more information on what skills are going to be needed in future, and in what sectors. This was discussed at the skills workshop.
• Is economic growth sustainable? In planning for our future well-being we need to consider the values of society, not just growth in GDP.
• Competitive tendering can make it difficult for small, local organisations to gain public sector delivery contracts as they find themselves competing with much larger national or international organisations. Commissioners must realise that lowest cost does not necessarily equate to best value for money.

‘Skills for the emerging economy’ was a lively and well-attended workshop held at the Observatory’s Annual Conference on 20th October 2009.

Steve Sawbridge, from the Association of Colleges, chaired the workshop, which featured presentations from Mike Beasley, Pat Jackson and Andy Phillips.

Skills – how well placed are we for tomorrow?

Mike Beasley, Chair of the Regional Skills Partnership, opened the workshop.

Mike  stressed the importance of understanding the new shape the economy is taking as a consequence of the economic downturn and the related demand for labour and skills. While some of the skills needs and issues will remain the same, many new ones are expected to emerge.

What evidence do we have to inform future skills policy?

Pat Jackson, Director of the Regional Skills Partnership and Andy Phillips, Head of Skills Research at the Observatory gave this joint presentation:

Pat and Andy reviewed the range of research evidence available relating to historical trends along with present and future needs.

Pat highlighted the considerable level of funding that goes into skills from both the public and private sector, and the need for comprehensive and informative research in order to make the best possible use of the funds available. This will become even more important as the level of funding might be reduced in the future.

Ensuing discussions were interactive and engaging. Key skills issues for the West Midlands raised by delegates include:

• How do we tie education to innovation and/or entrepreneurship in new industries?
• How can universities be more responsive to local needs and give leadership?
• What measures are being taken within the region to address the loss of skills that will result from an ageing workforce?
• Do skills drive the economy or does the economy drive skill levels?
• Given the expected cuts in public sector expenditure in the coming years, the question that arises is who will fund skills in the future?
• Where is the potential, what are the new industries and sectors that will drive growth?

Research priorities for the future

Delegates also highlighted a range of key research priorities for the future. In particular, there’s a need to improve the measurement of skills so that they are distinct from the measurement of qualifications.

More specifically:

• A better understanding of the demand for and supply of generic transferable skills such as leadership and management, communication, customer service, team working, problem solving, adaptability, flexibility, and so on, that young graduates are able to offer.
• A better understanding of the demand for and supply of basic employability skills such as literacy, numeracy and basic IT skills.
• The extent of likely replacement demand, as the workforce is ageing in many key sectors, and whether the skill sets and skills levels of new recruits will differ from those they replace.
• The bottom line business benefits of investment in skills – for both employers and individuals.
• The need to raise aspiration levels in young and unemployed people and  to increase their mobility and flexibility in searching for and choosing a job.

The difficulties in communication and in connecting the skills offered by providers (colleges, universities and other training institutions) with the demand from the employers was also on the agenda.

Next steps – how to best address gaps in knowledge

This last section considered the capabilities we need for the knowledge economy and how institutions could keep pace with new legislative and technological changes that are constantly emerging.

Overall, the need for cooperation and better communication at all levels and among all actors on the labour market (employers, individuals, skill providers and other stakeholders) was emphasised.

More research into future skills needs in existing and emerging sectors and, more specifically, drilling down to employers’ specific requirements will be vital, especially given the rapid pace of change within the economy.

Related links

• Workshop roundup: regional drivers for the future
• Workshop roundup: environment and economy
• Presentations and speeches by main speakers
• Photos from the conference on flickr
• Presentations from the conference on SlideShare
• Listen to speeches and Q & A sessions on SoundCloud

Notes

The ‘Skills for the emerging economy’ workshop was based on the content of the chapter 5 of the book West Midlands: Fit for the Future? (PDF, 5.7mb) published by the West Midland Regional Observatory, July 2009.

Chapter 5 was written by Mike Beasley, Chair of the West Midlands Regional Skills Partnership.

The 2009 Observatory conference, West Midlands: Fit for the Future?, provided a forum for debate on economic recovery in the West Midlands.

One element of the debate concentrated on how to link the environment and economy better, based on chapters 4 and 9 of the Fit for the Future? book.

Delegates at the Environment and Economy workshop discussed Green Infrastructure, leadership and the value of the environment, aiming to understand how to embed the environment into regional policy making more effectively. Discussions ranged from the best way of doing this to overcoming what’s currently standing in the way.

Bill Heslegrave (Forestry Commission) presented on Green Infrastructure, emphasising its economic benefits. This picked up on the key points raised by Bill in his 11th chapter (PDF, 928kb) of the book.

Discussions afterwards identified the following priorities for this area:

• Raise awareness of the benefits of Green Infrastructure, and share good practice.
• Identify opportunities to link green infrastructure to other policy areas, and solve problems.

Dr Simon Slater (Sustainability West Midlands) presented on Leadership – mind the gap?: the gaps that exist in the region and how to improve leadership on sustainability issues.

Discussions focused on the following priorities:

• One voice for the environment sector, and tailoring the message to the audience.
• More joint working – the forthcoming Strategy for the West Midlands should help this.
• Find smarter ways of selling the environment – we could learn from the cultural sector.

John Walker (West Midlands Regional Observatory) presented on What price the environment?

Discussions stemmed around the following points:

• The challenges of putting a price on the environment and who “owns” it?
• Developing a register of assets that could act as a balance sheet to review regularly. Should we develop an environmental “doomsday” book to list what actually exists?
• Scenarios of how people would like to live in the future could help to change behaviour.  A low carbon vision for the West Midlands in 2020 has started to do this.

Delegates debated whether sustainable development policy was sustainable, if based on technology, or just responding to increased consumer demand.  The need to compare the West Midlands to more realistic competitors across Europe, rather than just focusing on England was also covered.

These questions were put forward to the conference question panel:

• How do we ‘sell’ the environment and its benefits better?
• Can we identify a more future-proofed set of benchmarks? Look ‘further afield’ not worry about other English regions.
• How do the panel see green infrastructure being embedded in the new regional strategy?
• How sustainable is sustainable development?  What can we do to encourage more sustainable behaviour?
• Would working with the general public to produce a vision of a low carbon, environmentally friendly lifestyle help develop better policies?

We welcome your thoughts on any of these issues. Add your comments below.

There was little disagreement from workshop participants with Gill Bentley’s opening suggestion that ‘this recession is almost tantamount to war’ in terms of its impact on the region’s prosperity.

Dr Chris Upton’s account, in chapter 1 of West Midlands: Fit for the Future? (PDF, 5.7mb), of the devastating impact that the 1790s war with France had on the region’s manufacturing industry served as a fitting backdrop for the workshop debate, which asked participants to address the question:

‘What will be the key drivers for the region’s future?’

Equally relevant to the debate was Dr Upton’s description of the region’s ‘traditional resilience’ and capacity for entrepreneurship, something which Norman Gascoigne hints at in chapter 2 of West Midlands: Fit for the Future? (PDF, 5.7mb) when recalling how the positive, collective stance made by Birmingham’s business and professional service sector in the late 1980s led to growth.

Drawing on Gascoigne’s example, Trevor Cornfoot from Advantage West Midlands emphasised the importance of an increased ‘unanimity of purpose’ amongst the region’s leaders during his workshop address, following which, participants began the challenging process of identifying further, complementary solutions.

Key questions raised and debated during the day included:

• Can we devise dual interventions which involve investment in growth industries and regeneration?
• Given that local government can not ‘go it alone’ in the same way as it could in the past, can we work more smartly with other regions when bidding for Whitehall resources?
• Beyond the jargon, can we pin down what activities generate high GVA with a view to understanding our chances of achieving economic growth?
• Given the socio-economic disparities across different localities in the region (or the ‘north-south fault line’ referred to by Prof. Nevin and Prof. Harding in chapter 3 of West Midlands: Fit for the Future? (PDF, 5.7mb), what would success look like for our region?

Underpinning the debate was a consensus amongst participants and speakers alike that whichever approach is taken by the region, a new kind of partnership working will be required where the ‘personal agendas’ Gascoigne refers to are put aside. Put simply, we will all need to demand more of ourselves if we are to achieve success for the region.

In line with this refreshed vision for partnership working, the Observatory’s own Stephen Howarth spoke of how regional research will need to adapt to better meet the needs of the region’s leaders.

A ‘shared pool’ of research will be needed which cuts across different policy areas.

Also, researchers will increasingly need to facilitate what workshop Chair Tim Gebbels described as ‘hypothesis led’ leadership. Distinct from more traditional leadership approaches, hypothesis led decision making will require innovative research practices that enable theories and scenarios to be thoroughly tested.

Overall, a strong determination to pull together and succeed was evident amongst workshop participants which, if translated into action, can only be of benefit to a region that has been sorely affected by the recession.

Notes

The ‘Regional Drivers for the Future’ workshop was based on the content of the first three chapters of the book West Midlands: Fit for the Future? (PDF, 5.7mb) published by the West Midland Regional Observatory, July 2009.

The authors of these chapters are:

Chapter 1: Dr Chris Upton (Newman University College)

Chapter 2: Norman Gascoigne (Regional Finance Forum)

Chapter 3: Prof. Brendan Nevin (Nevin-Leather Associates) and Prof. Alan Harding (Institute for Political and Economic Governance, University of Manchester).

Workshop speakers included:

Tim Gebbels (Advantage West Midlands)

Gill Bentley (University of Birmingham)

Dr Chris Upton (Newman University College)

Trevor Cornfoot (Sub-National Review Transition Team, Advantage West Midlands)

Stephen Howarth (West Midlands Regional Observatory)

Left to right: Rosie Paskins, Richard Hyde, Richard Woolhouse

We held our Annual Conference, titled ‘West Midlands: Fit for the Future?’, yesterday in Sutton Coldfield.

The focus of the conference was on the economic recovery of the West Midlands, rather than the recession, and how we best position the West Midlands for the economic recovery.

The conference followed on from the book West Midlands: Fit for the Future? we launched back in July 2009.

The speeches and workshop discussions generated a great deal of debate, challenges and ideas on steps for the region’s policy makers, and those supporting policy with evidence, to now take forward.

The workshops generated a lot of content, which we’ll share on this blog over the next few days (slides, questions, and ways forward).

Here are the presentations and audio from the four speakers in the main conference room:

Richard Woolhouse, Centre for Cities

Richard Woolhouse is currently leading a major project on surviving recession for the Centre for Cities. Richard delivered the keynote speech. Here are his slides, audio and video:

Rosie Paskins, West Midlands Regional Observatory

Rosie Paskins, the Observatory’s Chief Executive, highlighted the Observatory’s work over the last year and launched the State of the Region Report 2009. Here are Rosie’s slides, audio and video:

Daniel Gidney, Ricoh Arena

Daniel Gidney is the Chief Executive of the Ricoh Arena in Coventry. Daniel gave a more local perspective to the economic recovery based on his experiences in Coventry. One of the region’s business leaders, Daniel’s speech covered skills, culture, tourism as well as business.

Listen to Daniel’s speech:

Sir Roy McNulty, Shadow West Midlands Joint Strategy & Investment Board

Sir Roy McNulty is Joint Chair of the Shadow West Midlands Joint Strategy & Investment Board. Sir Roy made links to the forthcoming regional strategy and how the evidence base will be developed.

Listen to Sir Roy’s speech:

Question and answer session

Question and answers with Richard Woolhouse and Rosie Paskins

Question and answers with Daniel Gidney and Sir Roy McNulty

Question and answers with the panel

The panel consisted of:

• Dr Chris Upton (Newman University College)
• Prof. David Bailey (Coventry Business School)
• Revd. Colin Marsh (Regional Action West Midlands Board member and West Midlands Region Churches Forum)
• Zahid Nawaz (Equality & Human Rights Commission)
• Julie Robson (Learning & Skills Council)
• Mike Grace (Natural England)

Related links

• All audio from Annual Conference 2009
• Roundup of workshop on skills for the emerging economy
• Roundup of workshop on environment and economy
• Roundup of workshop on regional drivers for the future
• Roundup of workshop on engaging communities in the new economy
• Roundup of workshop on innovating out of a recession
• Subscribe to podcasts using iTunes
• Subscribe to podcasts using RSS
• Replay the conference liveblog

Our 2009 Annual Conference, titled West Midlands: Fit for the Future?, takes place tomorrow in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham.

You can keep up-to-date with comments and tweets about the conference as it unfolds on the day using this CoverItLive liveblog.

You can add comments directly in the liveblog itself or by sending a tweet containing the hashtag #wmroconf09.

All the content surrounding the conference—slides, photos, useful links, videos, blog posts, tweets, and so on—is being aggregated on this Pageflakes. Again, tag any content you want to share with wmroconf09.

The conference is on Tuesday, 20th October. The liveblog will open at 10am.

Today is Blog Action Day 2009, when more than 8,000 blogs from 146 countries are discussing issues around climate change.

Here’s our contribution to this global initiative.

In a few weeks’ time, we’ll publish the findings from our State of the Region dialogue on climate change titled Challenge or Opportunity? How to plan for climate change.

This dialogue started in April 2009 with a workshop that helped us identify potential ways to approach climate change. The idea was to provide a space for a dialogue between those producing the evidence and those making policy, in order to deliver better evidence-based policy for the West Midlands.

The workshop identified that lack of evidence certainly isn’t the issue around climate change.

The key challenge ahead is what to do and how to communicate that evidence so that we can prevent, revert and even take advantage of its consequences.

We were asked to present the evidence in a way that’s more accessible to a non-environmental audience. It will be set out to explain the challenges faced by different policy areas and also to identify opportunities that from the climate change agenda.

The six policy areas included are:

• Built environment
• Natural resources
• Transport
• Health
• Energy and waste
• Business, skills and education

By reviewing climate change from these policy perspectives, we aim to demonstrate that while climate change will impact on all areas of life, these areas can all contribute to minimising the impact, help us adapt to the changing climate and take advantage of the opportunities that arise.

Parallel to this work, we’re holding a workshop titled Environment and Economy next Tuesday (20th October), as part of the Observatory’s Annual Conference. This is a perfect opportunity to discuss the environmental issues raised in our book West Midlands: Fit for the Future?, published in July 2009.

You can book your place via our website or using this booking form (DOC, 53kb). Here’s the programme (PDF, 71kb) for the day.

Related links

• Blog Action Day 2009
• West Midlands: Fit for the Future? (weblink)
• West Midlands: Fit for the Future? (book, PDF, 5.7mb)
• Bill Heslegrave on green infrastructure (PDF, 928kb)
• Book on the Observatory’s Annual Conference, 20th October 2009