Insider Media Limited

Regional organisation Communicate East Midlands is looking to create international link-ups with cities across Europe as its membership nears the 500 mark. Speaking to Insider, founder Tony Bates said the organisation also wanted more representatives from local universities to get involved.

Communicate East Midlands was established in January this year in response to the demise of the East Midlands Development Agency (EMDA). Although a host of replacements in the form of LEPs have sprung up across the region, Bates said they do not promote the East Midlands as a whole and lack communication.

Bates said the difference between Communicate East Midlands and the LEPs was his group's desire to promote the East Midlands as a region, rather than separate towns and cities.

"Unfortunately, we've found that the LEPs just aren't communicating as well as they should be doing," he said. "But aside from that, we have very different priorities – they want to encourage inward investment into the towns and cities, where as we want to advertise and promote the region and its tourism potential.

"We are hoping to get more university representatives on board. They're very active in the region and could have a lot of clout if they were part of the organisation. We have somebody from De Montfort University, but would definitely like them to have more representation."

Bates' organisation has a selective membership policy, and numbers are currently hovering about the 500 mark. It has held three meetings and is planning its first event, a torchlight march for the victims of the Japanese tsunami, on the anniversary of the disaster next year.

Bates, managing director of Nottingham-based Fast Graphics, said he hoped the event would put the organisation on the map and revealed his ambitions to evolve the organisation overseas.

"We've dicussed plans to link up with cities and towns across Europe with the same name as the corresponding East Midlands locations, which could really raise the profile of the region," he said.

"We're also hoping our Tsunami remembrance event will also secure some better links with Japan."

Bates has previous told Insider about his hopes to create an online portal for the region's tourism industry through the fledgling organisation, which are progressing "slowly but surely".

So far, the organisation has succeeded without any external funding. Bates said he believed there was a case for securing investment, but only when necessary.

"So far, we haven't needed to ask for funding," he said. "We've managed to get everything for free, from our web designers and hosters to the venues we meet in. Many of our members say they don't want to bid for funding if there are any strings attached – but we'll have to see how long we can continue without any cash reserves."