State of the Region dialogue on climate change published

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

Consumers choose to spend their cash on cultural attractions when the going gets tough according to West Midlands Cultural Observatory

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.

Regional innovation scoreboard imminent

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.

What does a sustainable city look like?

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.

Volunteer work in the recession – a lost opportunity?

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.

Roundup of Census 2011 outputs event in Leicester

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.

West Midlands ‘output gap’ has risen to £15bn

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.

Innovating out of recession workshop summary

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.

Engaging communities in the new economy – Observatory conference debate

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?’

Roundup of workshop on skills for the emerging economy

‘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.

Environment and economy: Fit for the Future?

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.

What will be the key drivers for the West Midlands’ future? Notes from ‘Regional Drivers for the Future’ workshop at the Observatory’s 2009 conference

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?’

Presentations and speeches from Annual Conference

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:

Live blogging the Observatory’s Annual Conference

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.

Challenge or opportunity? How to plan for climate change

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.