Date: Tue 30th March, 2010
Venue: Phoenix Square, 4 Midland Street, LE1 1TG
Number of Guests Attended: 120
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More than 120 people packed into Phoenix Square in Leicester to attend Insider’s Leicestershire Economic Forum. The audience heard views on the local economy from a panel that included Mike Carr from Emda, Richard Brucciani from Pal International, Nick Carter from Prospect Leicestershire and Peter Hogarth from UKTI.
Speaking about anticipated cuts in the public sector, Brucciani said: “I believe what is happening now is that central government is going back to the idea of doing more things locally. This could affect the entire region. I believe that things could be done a lot better at a sub-regional level.”
The panel also discussed the closure of the Astra Zeneca plant in Loughborough.
Nick Carter said: “I don’t think the closure has hit confidence at all. The decision is all to do with global markets, and it shouldn’t be taken as criticism about the region. Of course it was a grim day when the news broke, but Emda is heading up a task force to try and harness the talent that worked at Astra Zeneca and help those being made redundant. We need to identify a range of uses for the plant, and we don’t want it to become a political football.”
Mike Carr added: “What we have to remember about Astra Zeneca is that it’s a phased closure over 21 months, so we do have some time, and the redundancies will be made next year. We’re looking at a number of scenarios. We could take on the site and find someone to move onto it, but it’s a big ask.”
For Brucciani, the big theme was innovation. He said: “I think the main issue is innovation. If Leicestershire businesses consider innovation then they’ll have to work in a global market. Part of that means that businesses and universities will have to work together more – and that is happening more rapidly, but it’s all about working hard with universities to encourage innovation.”
Peter Hogarth added: “Peter Hogarth: That’s very much to the point. The UK is home to six of the top ten universities in the world, but you wouldn’t know it. The US and German universities are so much more commercially-minded.”
