If recessions serve any purpose at all, it is to give businesses a chance to focus on what is important, profitable and sustainable.
So too with the economic priorities of the region and the country.
Since the dramatic intervention last year to bail out the banking sector, there has been an understandable rise in the special pleas to government to bail out blighted sectors.
But there seems to be an acceptance, certainly by business minister Peter Mandelson, that good ideas need that time and space to gestate. If we had to make a special plea for anyone it would be for looser regulation on venture capital for early stage inventions. As usual, the actions announced in the Budget seem to give with one hand and take away with the other.
There is a wealth of opportunity in the early-stage sector and it would certainly help if the government could cornerstone a fund-of-funds to invest in the best venture managers to take advantage of these opportunities and ensure Britain does not bear witness to a lost generation of innovation. That would, of course, require a leap of faith by venture capital investors more used to gorging on bank debt and bonuses from leveraged deals.
We have focused on this subject this month. Insider’s assistant editor Neil Tague and his trusty wing man Edward Devlin, on loan from the University of Central Lancashire, have unearthed a crop of quality businesses around the region.
As well as the steady stream of bright sparks you meet at most Insider events, Neil and Edward took to hanging out with eccentrics such as Manoj Ranaweera, founder of interactive business documents provider edocr, and a2e’s Amin Amiri – a couple of characters whose passion for inventions and innovation knows no bounds.
At a time when every other investment class is in the doldrums, it has to be worth investing in something that could be truly transformational. There are ideas aplenty, where entrepreneurs have sweated blood to make a success of ideas in security, product design, clean technology and battery power. Embrace the spirit.
We have also spruced up the magazine this month. The typefaces are more modern, the layouts clearer and the pictures better. Let me know what you think.
Michael Taylor, editor
Also in: May 2009
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Insider Interview: Rob Cotton
He has driven NCC Group hard. He’s led two buyouts, floated the business and delivered steady growth. But does he really get the credit he deserves? Michael Taylor tries to work him out.
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Search for the heroes
With shares and property on the floor, investors could do worse than take a look at the innovators and inventors pointing the way out of recession, say Edward Devlin and Neil Tague.