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:

Richard Woolhouse, Centre for Cities

Richard Woolhouse is currently leading a major project on surviving recession for the Centre for Cities. Richard delivered the keynote speech. Here are his slides, audio and video:

Rosie Paskins, West Midlands Regional Observatory

Rosie Paskins, the Observatory‘s Chief Executive, highlighted the Observatory’s work over the last year and launched the State of the Region Report 2009. Here are Rosie’s slides, audio and video:

Daniel Gidney, Ricoh Arena

Daniel Gidney is the Chief Executive of the Ricoh Arena in Coventry. Daniel gave a more local perspective to the economic recovery based on his experiences in Coventry. One of the region’s business leaders, Daniel’s speech covered skills, culture, tourism as well as business.

Listen to Daniel’s speech:

Sir Roy McNulty, Shadow West Midlands Joint Strategy & Investment Board

Sir Roy McNulty is Joint Chair of the Shadow West Midlands Joint Strategy & Investment Board. Sir Roy made links to the forthcoming regional strategy and how the evidence base will be developed.

Listen to Sir Roy’s speech:

Question and answer session

Question and answers with Richard Woolhouse and Rosie Paskins

Question and answers with Daniel Gidney and Sir Roy McNulty

Question and answers with the panel

The panel consisted of:

• Dr Chris Upton (Newman University College)
• Prof. David Bailey (Coventry Business School)
• Revd. Colin Marsh (Regional Action West Midlands Board member and West Midlands Region Churches Forum)
• Zahid Nawaz (Equality & Human Rights Commission)
• Julie Robson (Learning & Skills Council)
• Mike Grace (Natural England)

Related links

• All audio from Annual Conference 2009
• Roundup of workshop on skills for the emerging economy
• Roundup of workshop on environment and economy
• Roundup of workshop on regional drivers for the future
• Roundup of workshop on engaging communities in the new economy
• Roundup of workshop on innovating out of a recession
• Subscribe to podcasts using iTunes
• Subscribe to podcasts using RSS
• Replay the conference liveblog

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