26.05.04
Cornwall Invests to Attract New
Knowledge-Based Business
Inward investment campaign to boost Cornish economy by
£23.4 million over next four years
Cornwall Pure Business announced today the rebirth of Cornwall
as a business location through an inward investment campaign,
a £6.5 million broadband expansion programme from actnow
and the building of a £16m business quarter for Cornwall
from CPR Regeneration, to target and attract knowledge-based
businesses to Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.
Cornwall Pure Business, actnow and CPR Regeneration, three
major initiatives in Cornwall, are working together to implement
the key infrastructure components companies need for a successful
relocation to Cornwall and continuing business support (all
three projects have received investment from the Objective
One Programme).
The Cornwall Pure Business programme aims to attract 78 new
high-quality businesses to Cornwall, creating 780 new jobs
and injecting £23.4 million into the Cornish economy
over the next four years.
Designed as a first point of contact for businesses looking
to relocate, the Cornwall Pure Business initiative provides
support and tailored information on employment, recruitment,
housing, business premises, education, marketing, industry
networks, market intelligence and routes to financial support.
Specialist Cornwall Pure Business advisers, recruited from
industry, can offer guidance and create bespoke reports, enabling
informed decisions to be made on all aspects of relocation
and ensuring the business is equipped and prepared to relocate
successfully.
Companies that will make a positive economic and environmental
impact to the region will be encouraged to relocate, with
a particular focus on Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs)
in the creative, new media, biotech, medtech and IT sectors.
"There are already 19,000 registered businesses in Cornwall,
our goal is to grow this figure by encouraging innovative,
high quality companies into Cornwall. Businesses in Cornwall
are more profitable than the rest of the UK . We believe this
success is due to the environment that Cornwall offers,"
commented Danielle Atkins, inward investment manager, Cornwall
Pure Business.
Atkins continued, "Cornwall stimulates free-thinking,
innovation and creativity – all factors in developing
and sustaining competitive advantage. This, coupled with a
work/life balance second to none, is why Cornwall is a 21st
century location for knowledge-based business with massive
support and investment being made to nurture these companies."
actnow
actnow, Cornwall's public and private sector broadband partnership,
announces a £6.5 million expansion to bring the benefits
of high speed internet service to Cornwall's most remote and
rural areas, and aims to get 50% of Cornish businesses connected
to broadband within the next two years.
Since its launch two years ago, actnow has exceeded all of
its targets, enabling 3,600 Cornwall-based businesses to access
broadband technology. A further 1,000 Cornish SMEs, 100 farms
and up to 4,000 households are expected to benefit from the
latest expansion, which will include a major deployment of
broadband radio technology.
Take up of broadband in Cornwall is already estimated to
be the best of any rural area in the UK, with one in four
SMEs within reach of broadband already signed up for the service.
As a result of the actnow initiative, an additional 200 enterprises
are operating in Cornwall that consider the internet critical
to their business success. 1200 jobs have also been created
through actnow, boosting Cornwall's Gross Domestic Product
(GDP) by more than £20 million.
Nigel Ashcroft, actnow project director, said, "What
actnow has achieved in Cornwall is unique in the number of
businesses that are adopting the technology and seeing real
business benefits as a result. We're already way ahead of
other rural areas in terms of take-up. Knowledge-based businesses
rely on broadband for connectivity and communications, we
know we have the right infrastructure to support and nurture
existing Cornish companies and encourage new companies into
Cornwall."
Trish Jones, director of Regional Broadband Partnerships
for BT, said, "As the first, and most successful, public/private
partnership for broadband in the UK, actnow's success demonstrates
the crucial role that broadband plays for Cornish businesses.
BT's ongoing commitment to Cornwall, via the extension programme,
should allow even more business to benefit, prosper and grow."
CPR Regeneration
CPR Regeneration is building a new £16 million business
quarter for Cornwall in the heart of its regeneration area,
Pool. The quarter, spread across several adjacent sites, will
provide 21,500 sqm of high quality office space in the middle
of Cornwall, with easy access to Cornwall's main link road,
the A30, and a possible 700 new jobs.
The first phase of this project will be a new innovative
technology centre nurturing fledgling high technology businesses.
The centre will be designed as a technology 'micro-city' with
close physical and intellectual links to Cornwall College.
Flexible, broadband-enabled workspace will surround shared
support services provided in central pods in a partially covered
atrium on an internal 'street'. The 4,000 sqm of workspace
will be targeted at companies developing video streaming,
video gaming and media, where new businesses will establish
and work closely with each other.
As there is enormous fibre optic capacity running the length
of Cornwall's A30 road, connecting the UK to the US and the
rest of the world, there is an opportunity to tap into this
capacity for a new data centre, which would be co-located
on the project site.
The design, by architects Barlow Stott Jones, will set a
new standard for the built environment in West Cornwall and
will celebrate and typify a work-life balance central to a
Cornish way of life.
Chief Executive of CPR Regeneration, Dr. Tim Williams said:
"Cornwall is no longer peripheral in the broadband era.
It is a great place to live and we are also now creating a
great place to do modern business. Come on down!"
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Editor's notes:
The presentations given at the launch event, together with
an audio broadcast, will be available for viewing on www.cornwallpurebusiness.co.uk
on Thursday 27 May 2004.
High resolution images are available for the media to view
and download free of charge from www.vismedia.co.uk.
About Cornwall Pure Business
Cornwall Pure Business, is managed by Cornwall Enterprise,
Cornwall County Council's economic development service and
is designed as a red carpet service to target and attract
inward investment in key sectors through a co-ordinated one
stop service for businesses. The service will bring together
all marketing and support activity for inward investment to
promote a clear and positive image of Cornwall as a place
to do business. Cornwall Pure Business has been developed
to work in close liaison with Business Link, the South West
of England Regional Development Agency, the Combined Universities
in Cornwall and the range of other business support initiatives
which are available in Cornwall.
www.cornwallpurebusiness.co.uk
Cornwall Enterprise
Cornwall Enterprise is the Economic Development Service for
Cornwall County Council, working to achieve sustainable prosperity
for all parts of Cornwall. It works in partnership with the
key economic development agencies including the South West
of England Regional Development Agency, Government Office
South West and the Objective One Partnership. Set up in 1999,
Cornwall Enterprise has a turnover of over £15 million.
www.cornwallenterprise.co.uk
About actnow
Offering a unique financial and support package for small
businesses, actnow gives guidance and financial subsidies
on getting connected to broadband, free impartial Information
and Communications Technology (ICT) business advice and up
to 40% subsidies on IT investment costs for PCs, servers,
networks and websites.
The actnow partnership, led by Cornwall Enterprise, was the
first broadband partnership to be set up between the public
and private sectors and comprises of the Objective One Partnership,
BT, the South West of England Regional Development Agency,
Cornwall County Council, Business Link, Cornwall College and
now as a result of the project extension, DEFRA and Cornwall
Broadband Partnership, a consortium of local technology companies.
The project has also attracted great interest from other
regions in the UK and Europe and in February 2004, it hosted
'The Broadband Edge Conference' at the Eden Project to share
knowledge and best practice to broadband partnerships across
the country. The event attracted leaders of public and private
sector organisations throughout the UK and included high profile
speakers such as Stephen Timms, Minister of State for Energy,
E-Commerce and Postal Services, and Pierre Danon, chief executive
officer for BT Retail.
www.actnowcornwall.co.uk
About CPR Regeneration
CPR Regeneration is Cornwall's Urban Regeneration Company
set up to bring prosperity back to Camborne Pool and Redruth.
It is one of nineteen urban regeneration companies in the
UK. The board of the CPR Regeneration is made up of unpaid
local leaders from the private and public sectors. The URC's
mission is to re-establish Camborne Pool and Redruth as a
place of innovation, quality and wealth that will be the engine
of change for Cornwall in the 21st Century.
The URC works as a big tent, bringing together funding partners,
stakeholders and the private sector to focus investment and
to deliver "joined up" regeneration projects. English
Partnerships, the South West of England Regional Development
Agency, Kerrier District Council, Cornwall County Council
and Government Office South West sit on the URC's Board. Internally
it is made up of a diverse team including architects, planners,
urban designers, land and property development specialists,
chartered surveyors, economists and project managers.
The URC is bringing forward a £150 million investment
plan for the area. It has already commissioned detailed masterplans
for several areas. In addition it has carried out strategic
studies into the nature of market failure in the area, retailing,
transport etc. From these studies and strategies the URC has
defined 15 key project headings which it will bring forward
to delivery in the next three to five years.
www.cprregeneration.co.uk
For further press information please contact
Bite Communications
Ruth Andrew/Antonia Christie
020 8834 3427/3450
ruth.andrew@bitepr.com
antonia.christie@bitepr.com
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Sue Wolstenholme
Objective One Communications
Objective One Partnership Office
Castle House
Pydar Street
Truro TR1 2UD
Mob: 07973 813647
Tel: 01579 370991
lmroberts@cornwall.gov.uk
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