Business News - January 2017
These business newsletters
are produced by a member of the Growth & Enterprise team at Exeter City
Council. They cover different subject areas such as local business
initiatives, new developments and topical business issues.
This month - being the first month of a new year - I have included a few more statistics. The quote popularised by Mark Twain (among others) warned against 'Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics' when applied to weak arguments. However, having some solid facts and figures can help to focus attention and support future plans. The state of the economy in the Exeter area generally is looking good so some of the stats below are a cause for congratulation.
Source: Nomis
Exeter’s economy continues to
perform well and is increasingly being recognised as the economic hub working with the
surrounding area. With a total of 103,000 jobs located in the city, Exeter
boasts a job density of 1.17. This means that, for every one person of working
age, Exeter has 1.17 jobs to fill. Because of this, the city is reliant
on the wider area to meet its labour requirements. Travel to work data suggests
that over 37,000 people commute into the Exeter for work. This compares with 26,300 people commuting into Bristol daily: a city
with a population three and half times greater than Exeter’s.
Exeter currently has 3,345
businesses with 83.7% of these employing fewer than 9 people and
only 1% employing more than 250. Small businesses are important to our prosperity and have been the source of much of the city's growth. In 2015, 530
new businesses started in the city some of which will have benefitted from the
City Council’s business support.
The Greater Exeter area is a growing location for
financial, scientific, professional service and knowledge-based
employment. Partnership working and collaboration with neighbouring Local
Authorities and others is creating an exciting and credible region-wide
offer which should appeal to relocating businesses in these professional sectors.
Source of statistics: Nomis
Website
Professor Andrew Hattersley, winner of the 2016 EASD-Novo Nordisk Foundation Diabetes Prize for Excellence
As a Russell Group University, the University of Exeter's research makes a difference across the world. They are leaders in cutting-edge science, engineering, mathematics, and medicine research, and have a world-class reputation in the humanities and social sciences.
The University is constantly seeking new ways to engage with government, industry, and the community in order to build productive, sustainable partnerships and tackle some of the fundamental issues facing humankind.
In recent years the University has seen:
In the Research Excellence Framework 2014 98 per cent of the University of Exeter's research was rated as of international quality. This resulted in the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) awarding them an extra £3.8million for research, the third highest gain amongst English universities.
The University's Strategy 2016 - 2021 seeks to secure £55 million per year of operating profitability, a growth of 38 per cent on 2014/15 levels; invest more than £200 million in infrastructure during this plan; and reduce carbon emissions by 43 per cent by 2020 and 80 per cent by 2050.
More information: http://www.exeter.ac.uk/
Crown copyright
A partnership between Bath, Bristol, Cardiff and Exeter universities, together with Cray Inc and the Met Office, has received £3m from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) to develop a new high-performance computing (HPC) service for UK-based scientists.
The new 'Isambard' service will provide multiple advanced architectures within the same system in order to enable evaluation and comparison across a diverse range of hardware platforms. It has been developed by the GW4 Alliance with Cray Inc and the Met Office.
The system was unveiled on 17 January 2017 at the Mont-Blanc HPC conference in Barcelona.
Professor Nick Talbot, chair of the board for the GW4 Alliance and deputy vice-chancellor for research and impact at the University of Exeter, said: "We are delighted to collaborate with respected industry partners Cray and the Met Office on this multi-million pound project, which will benefit scientists across the UK.
"This is a clear example of how GW4 can harness the strengths of its universities and industrial partners across the region to produce pioneering solutions to some of our greatest global challenges."
Puerto Lounge, Exeter is due to open on 8 February at Exeter Quayside and will look a little like this!
Starting up or relocating to any place can be difficult in the early days. But Exeter has a good reputation for welcoming such businesses. Exeter City Council can provide advice on potential commercial property premises, signpost certain companies to potential support providers, supply information on local networking and answer specific enquiries.
With a large number of networking opportunities - see http://bit.ly/2iFgmjS - newcomers do not tend to stay strangers for long!
Welcome to companies that have arrived in the last 12 months! Here is a name check: http://bit.ly/2kk7Enr
If you have recently started a business here and would appreciate some advice, please contact us at invest@exeter.gov.uk
Owners of Berloni sought assistence from Business Boost prior to opening their Princesshay kitchen design shop
As well as providing one to one assistance for new businesses (up to three years old), Business Boost also provides FREE workshops. These include a wide range of practical topics including:
- Digital
marketing - blogging, email newsletters, content
- Starting
a business
- Bookkeeping
and completing self assessments
- Creating websites
- Sources
of finance and funding
- Financial
forecasting
Visit the Business Boost Website
for full event listings and
information about the support provided.
This service is funded by Exeter City Council, East Devon District Council, Teignbridge District Council and Mid Devon District Council and covers these Local Authority districts.
Winter is still with us but big important changes will herald the start of spring in Exeter.
Work is due to start on the Exeter Bus and Coach station site, IKEA has already cleared the land on their site near Sandy Park and will start building soon, Flood Defence work continues at Exeter Quayside, and road improvements are also planned.
Local residents and visitors will also be pleased to see that restoration work on the Royal Clarence Hotel is continuing.
On the outskirts of the city, future work at the Exeter Science Park in 2017 will include the building of a 17,000 sq ft building, half of which will be home to a leading veterinary clinical pathology firm, Torrance Diamond Diagnostic Services (TDDS).
More information:
St Sidwell's Point: http://bit.ly/2dGAPRa
Flood Defence Work: http://bit.ly/1kZFYxE
Road & Rail infrastructure: http://bit.ly/2jCZY2m
Exeter Science Park: http://bit.ly/2jBVk5p
It is not always easy to find appropriate sources of
funding.
Francis Clark LLP is the largest independent firm of
accountants in the South West. The award-winning accountancy practice has
offices across Devon, Cornwall, Somerset and Wiltshire.
Their latest Grants and Funding Update, January 2017, features a number of Calls for ESIF projects (of which there
were 16 in total on 16 December 2016 across the South West LEP areas) as well
as articles on other sources of funding and business support.
If you are looking for funding, this might be a good place
to start: http://bit.ly/2kjLF3Y
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Calling all start-ups, innovators and entrepreneurs |
Exeter
City Futures is pleased to announce the launch of its first set of challenges. The
objective is to connect with radical entrepreneurs that can help achieve Exeter
City Futures' goal of making Exeter congestion-free and energy-independent by
2025.
The
challenges are open for application from start-ups, innovators, university
students, entrepreneurs, educators, and SMEs. They will remain open until 26 February 2017.
To
find out more about Exeter City Futures and the challenges please visit: www.exetercityfutures.com/challenges
Who
should apply?
The
challenges are open to teams of two to four people who are looking to develop a
business, social enterprise or community interest company that aims to
deliver a solution or solutions that responds to Exeter City Futures' challenges.
Benefits
to businesses
-
Entry to Exeter City Futures' Urban Impact Accelerator Programme and a grant of
£15,000 to help you get started
- An
intensive 15-week programme that offers mentoring and support to help grow your
business (e.g. develop a product roadmap, forge a brand identity, create successful pitches etc.)
- An
opportunity to pitch to investors and customers for up to a further £200,000 in
return for an equity stake
-
A chance to develop products and services that address complex local challenges
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An opportunity to receive mentoring from experts and City leaders
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A chance to validate ideas with access to real data and assets
Contact: info@exetercityfutures.com
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A public consultation event on
the future of South Street and the surrounding area is being held in Exeter.
The event will take
place at the Corn Exchange, in Market Street, on Wednesday 25 January,
from 8am to 8pm.
To find out more click here
Outcomes of this consultation will feature in future editions of this bulletin.
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Brits spent a record-breaking £45.3bn on day trips in England in the first 11 months of 2016, setting a new record for the survey according to Visit England's latest Day Visits survey: ow.ly/4U2t307IlbN
It is easy to see the knock-on benefits for city retailers and hospitality businesses on rainy days in summer.
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