Employability and enterprise - the keys to rescuing Hull’s lost generation

The statistics make grim reading - 5,000 18-24-year-olds in Hull claiming Job Seekers Allowance; 2,000 classified as long-term unemployed; 700 16-18-year-olds not in education, employment or training (so-called NEETs).

Hull has a deep-seated youth unemployment problem which has grown as young people have been hit disproportionately by the economic downturn. So what can be done to prevent a “lost generation” of young people without the focus, discipline, confidence and opportunity that employment provides?

Of course, there’s no simple solution to an issue with causes much more complex than simply fewer employment opportunities in a fragile economy. However, increasingly, two words feature prominently as organisations across Hull strive to rescue that lost generation - employability and enterprise.

Those words were recurring themes at a Hull and East Yorkshire Bondholders breakfast meeting focused on initiatives to help young people into work. They are also at the heart of an encouraging wave of ventures in Hull, such as the Future Hull initiative, Employability Charter and Studio School, aimed at making the city’s young people ready for the world of work.

The concept of employability recognises that many young people simply don’t have the basic skills and qualities employers require. It’s a key reason for the disconnect of so many young people unable to get a job when there are substantial numbers of unfilled vacancies.

JobCentre Plus District Manager Stuart Griffiths told the Bondholders meeting that, while the economic situation had made getting a job much tougher, it was a myth that there were no jobs available. Despite high unemployment in Hull, there were 2,000 unfilled vacancies in September.

Unfortunately, he said, too many young people aren’t suitable for those jobs. Lack of work ethic, confidence and motivation; untidy appearance and dress standards; and poor literacy - these are among a patchwork of issues that mean so many of them are not “employable”. Many companies will rather not hire anyone than take on a young person without the basics to be a positive, professional and productive employee.



Talented Hull Studio School student
Harry Kemp

It’s a major problem now being addressed by a series of initiatives that recognise the need for a sea change away from an obsessive focus on academic achievement to producing young people who have the practical skills, attitude and aptitude to be ready for work.

It’s a change warmly welcomed by business. While no-one wishes to denigrate academic achievement, it’s clear that the only thing that really matters in today’s jobs market is how employable a person is.

The Bondholders meeting showcased the Future Hull initiative which has employability at its heart. Its purpose is to provide a “one-stop shop” for both employers and young people looking for work. It will cut through the complexities that deter employers from hiring young people, offering apprenticeships or making work placements available.

Mr Griffiths said it would “hide the wires” to be a single, simple point of contact for businesses to access support and funding for recruitment, training and apprenticeships. Crucially, it will match employable young people with recruiting companies.

Reinforcing the employability theme, Hull Future’s key objective turns the unemployment issue on its head to focus on the numbers of young people in employment. It aims to raise the percentage employed from a desperately-low 42% to 50%, in line with comparable Northern cities.

The aims of Future Hull and the focus on employability were endorsed and reinforced by other speakers at the Bondholders event.

Sam Whitaker, Chief Executive of the Hull Esteem Consortium which is transforming the physical landscape of education in Hull through the Building Schools for the Future programme, said 33 companies had committed their support to Hull’s Employability Charter. Under the scheme, businesses are asked to sign up to the Charter to recognise the work that is being done alongside education providers to embed employability skills.

Former Apprentice star Claire Young brought together employability and enterprise in talking about Hull’s ground-breaking Studio School, for which she is the Enterprise Ambassador. Her presentation was timely, coming the day before the official opening of the school at an event that showcased how it is developing young people with all the right employability skills.

One of the first of its kind, the Studio School has been founded by Hull College and enables young people to “learn in the real world”. The entire culture and ethos is business-like. Office hours apply as students study core GCSE subjects, including English, maths and science, alongside vocational topics. Their work is focused on business and enterprise through projects for partner companies.

As a guest at the official opening, I and many others were deeply impressed by how mature, articulate and professional the school’s young people are. They engaged confidently with business leaders, using various creative ways to showcase their achievements, attributes and projects.

Principal Paul Styles told guests the school was focused on instilling “motivation, confidence, drive and ambition” in young people. It’s early days, but it seems to be working. Many of the students have ambitions to launch their own businesses - not only are they employable, they want to be employers. They have certainly embraced the enterprise spirit at the heart of the Studio School concept.

The Studio School official opening was performed by Education Minister Lord Hill. He talked about how studio schools “bring education and the world of work completely together” and said the combination of educational qualifications and vocational skills was “an idea whose time has come”. He applauded Hull College for pioneering the concept and congratulated Hull parents for choosing to send their children to the Studio School.

Those parents have recognised that their children - indeed Hull’s young people - need something different. In the “real world”, employability and enterprise are the keys to employment and career success. Hull may have a huge youth unemployment problem, but it also has the big ideas and innovative approaches to tackle it.

Find out more about Hull’s employability initiatives via these links:

Future Hullhttp://www.futurehull.org

Employability Charterhttp://www.employabilitycharter.co.uk

Hull Studio Schoolhttp://www.hullstudioschool.co.uk

As HDLive proves, connected Hull is making it happen

Is Hull connected? Is it a buzzing place? Can it counter the increasing concentration of economic activity in and around London?

These were some of the questions posed by BBC Radio 4 and Dragons’ Den presenter Evan Davis as he brought his analysis of the UK’s economic challenges home to an audience in Hull. 

Speaking at the Hull Digital (HDLive) conference, he closed in from a helicopter view of the world economy and the UK’s place in an increasingly global marketplace to the prospects of Hull finding a prosperous future.

The key, he said, was “connectivity”. Successful places would be those with “physical, virtual and cultural connectivity” - places where businesses and business networks link to and learn from others.

A vibrant cultural life was vital, said Davis, to “sow the seeds of economic renaissance”. Cities had to make themselves attractive for entrepreneurs and employers to live in, as well as work, so that they say: “This is a buzzing place. I’ll set up a business here”.

Evan Davis: Connectivity will be the key
characteristic of prosperous cities

Davis had words of encouragement for Hull. From what he had learned, the city had a chance. It had a “great broadband network and a growing cultural sector”. It had a thriving university and a student population that adds vibrancy to life in the city.

After those fundamentals, it was about the “mindset and view of the world” of the city’s business community, he said. “That’s where you come in”, Davis told his audience.

So, if it’s about connectivity, culture and attitude, the event that brought Davis to Hull augurs well. HDLive is an extraordinary home-grown success, bringing world-class technology experts to a city said to have the fastest-growing digital community outside London.

HDLive is the epitome of connectivity. It has grown out of Hull Digital, a connected community of digital start-ups and SMEs.  HDLive saw 250 people gather to link and learn. The event was a tweetfest as, throughout the day, members of the audience took to Twitter and blogging platforms to share their views and observations with connections inside and outside the lecture theatre at the University of Hull Business School.

During breaks, the air was buzzing with excited conversations as businesses forged and reinforced mutually beneficial connections. Many of those conversations set HD Live in the context of a city determined to challenge false perceptions of its cultural life and economic prospects.

Davis talked about the UK’s economy being at a crossroads. Manufacturing had been transferred abroad, as the UK focused on financial and commercial services. But, in the wake of the global crash, Britain was left with an economy that was “not broad enough to pay the bills”, said Davis. It was too dependent on service industries and too “clustered” in London and the South East.

So, he was asked, what would be the impact on Hull of Siemens investing in manufacturing - a wind turbine factory - in the city? Davis said it partly depended on the degree of commitment by Siemens to local employment and skills, but it would certainly raise the city’s game and build momentum “in a world of spin-off benefits”. However, Davis cautioned against relying totally on inward investment. “You have to make it happen,” he said.

So is Hull making it happen? It’s easy to say ‘no’ when news of Comet going into administration brought the toll of local jobs placed under threat to almost 1,000 in just two weeks. However, the mood at HDLive was far from downbeat.

Event organiser Jon Moss, founder of Hull Digital, said the digital sector was a source of opportunity and optimism for the region. His vision was for Hull to become “a hub for digital innovation, enterprise and technology” and HDLive showed what could be achieved.

Moss pointed to plans by developer Wykeland, a HDLive sponsor, for a Centre for Digital Innovation (C4Di) near Hull’s Fruit Market, which would act as a focus and catalyst for digital entrepreneurship. He also highlighted the Digital Estuary website which profiles scores of digital and technology businesses around the Humber and said telecommunications provider KC was rolling out the fastest broadband network in the country, which would act as a magnet for investment, encourage start-ups and enable existing businesses to grow.

Kevin Walsh, Chief Executive of KC, another HDLive sponsor, highlighted the digital sector, which is growing at 4% per cent annually despite the weak UK economy, as a major opportunity for the region.

He said KC’s rollout of its Lightstream super-fast fibre network was providing local businesses with the UK’s best broadband and it had established a £600,000 loans fund, KC Invest, to support digital start-ups. Both were stimulating enterprise and providing a platform for business growth.

Walsh read from a recent press report in which Manchester boasted about having 50 miles of super-fast fibre broadband and said this paled in comparison with Hull: “We’ve laid 300 miles and we’re still going”. He said HDLive was about inspiring ideas that became businesses and told delegates: “We’re betting KC’s future on your big ideas”.

Of course, many of those big ideas will start as small businesses, but a theme of the conference was how the power of digital technology had transformed the rules of business. “Today, the smallest amount of capital can help to create a global brand,” said Walsh.

HDLive certainly provided plenty of food for thought and prompts for action, from a series of inspiring speakers. They included the world’s leading mobile digital analyst, Horace Dediu; Roan Lavery, founder of Free Agent, one of the world’s most popular online accounting apps; and Simon Mottram, who has employed the power of digital platforms and communications to build a successful luxury cycling wear brand. On another grim day for Hull’s economy, it was so heartening and motivating.

As Evan Davis explained so expertly, the economy is changing rapidly, in part because of the seismic impact of technology. Britain is in need of new economic models, he said. It’s clear that the same applies to Hull. As traditional industries and employers, such as Seven Seas, disappear, new sources of employment have to be found.

The silver lining is that Hull is becoming ever more connected - the key requirement for economic prosperity identified by Davis - and has opportunities that are about the future rather than the past.

It is becoming better connected to its neighbouring communities across the Humber, assisted by the creation of the Humber Local Enterprise Partnership, improved cross-estuary local authority and business collaboration, and the slashing of the Humber Bridge tolls.

Hull also has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to replace declining industries of the past with a vital industry of the future, renewable energy, in all in its forms - offshore wind, tidal power, biomass and biofuels. Everything possible is being done locally to seal the Siemens deal, which will be the catalyst for a wave of green energy investments in the Humber.

Now the Government must provide the necessary long-term policy certainty and financial arrangements to encourage global businesses to commit to long-term investments totalling billions of pounds. Hull and the Humber are crying out for ministers to enable a new growth industry for UK Plc to emerge, flourish and create long-term jobs for thousands of local people.

Finally, as HD Live demonstrated, Hull has a vibrant and ambitious community of digital and technology businesses eager to seize opportunities for collaboration and growth, building on rapidly-developing infrastructure and connected networks. They’re certainly responding to Evan Davis’ challenge to make it happen.

Critical business decisions: Are you looking through the wrong lens?

Every business leader makes decisions on a daily basis, but what criteria are used to influence those judgements? And what are the factors that make the difference between success and failure of the actions that follow?

Clearly these are critical issues for any business and they were addressed at an excellent seminar staged jointly by the Hull University Business School and the Institute of Directors on “decision-making capabilities for competitive advantage” - the latest in a series of “Business Bites” events held at the business school.

The event featured two viewpoints - from the worlds of business and academia. The speakers had not consulted each other in advance, but their presentations dovetailed. The linking theme was that, in order to make successful, critical decisions, organisations had to be able to look at themselves from external and alternative perspectives.

Kevin Walsh, Chief Executive of Hull-based telecommunications provider KC, talked about how KC had reinvented its brand and culture after looking at itself from the viewpoint of its customers, while Prof Alberto Franco of the business school observed that corporate decisions were too often “framed” by fixed perspectives.


KC Chief Executive Kevin Walsh

Mr Walsh said KC underwent a fundamental culture change after conducting extensive customer research in 2009. The results were a wake-up call - it was evident that KC did not have a “winning brand” and needed a new mission and purpose, “a new flag to rally around,” he said. It changed “from an engineering-led business to a brand and marketing-led one”.

The brand reinvention was one of two examples Mr Walsh gave of critical business decisions - the other being KC’s investment of millions of pounds rolling out an industry-leading fibre broadband network. For both, he used his own “RICE” - Reputation, Implementation, Cash and Energy - decision-making checklist to evaluate the likely positive or negative consequences of the decision in terms of reputational impact, implementation challenges, cash implications and the “corporate energy” within the business.

The latter factor was vital, said Mr Walsh. KC identified 35 “brand trustees” to overcome internal objections to the culture change, with each challenged to “enrol” a further 10 colleagues to rally behind the new brand. Because of this, it became “not a dictat from on-high, but co-invented within the business” and achieved “emotional buy-in”. Giving spectacles to staff across the company reinforced the need to “see the business through the customer’s lens,” he said.

The brand transformation succeeded because of it generated “corporate energy” within the business, with colleagues embracing the “proud to be part of local life” brand statement and a major focus on communication sustaining the culture change. It convinced Mr Walsh that businesses with the greatest corporate energy will be those that prevail in an ever more competitive and rapidly-changing business environment.

The decision to invest in KC’s Lightstream fibre network was another example of what Mr Walsh described as the 5% of decisions that really do matter, because they leave a legacy and have an impact beyond the business and upon all stakeholders.

The decision was about “anticipating customer need, for competitive advantage”, recognising the rocketing usage of digital devices and demand by residential and business Internet users for ever-faster content and data transfer.

In terms of cash it was expensive because of the substantial capital costs of laying new fibre connections. It was also commercially and technically difficult to implement. But Mr Walsh was sure it would be hugely positive for KC’s reputation and would once again generate positive energy within the business. Despite the challenges, it had proven to be “the most successful product or service launch in the history of the business,” he said.

Those decisions illustrated that KC is one business that has avoided what Prof Franco described as “strategic inertia”, when traditional ways of operating - which may once have been successful - become embedded in an organisation and prevent it responding to changing market conditions, or delay that response.

He described how decisions are often made within “frames” - “limited perspectives that influence our perceptions of what we see or expect to see”. To avoid this, he said, it was important that businesses stayed close to their customers and found ways to take on board their perspectives, as well as being open to outside views from consultants and other third parties.

Both speakers acknowledged that critical decision-making was a complex process. Indeed, Mr Walsh said that “gut instinct”, based on experience and intuition, was also important. But the key question for any business leader must be: Do you make decisions based only on what you and your senior colleagues see? If so, could it be that you’re looking at the issue through the wrong lens?

10 'big picture' reflections on Humber Business Week 2012

So Humber Business Week is over for another year. But what have we learned? What does it say about our region’s business community? And what do we need to act upon?

This year I made a commitment to attend as many of the events as possible, to really experience Business Week. It was a pleasure to feel a real sense of collective purpose and to participate in a week-long celebration of enterprise, innovation and achievement by the business community on both banks of the Humber.

The week was billed as the world’s biggest festival of business. Just think about that for a moment: Here in the Humber we have the most extensive celebration of business anywhere on the planet! Reason for celebration in itself.

Here are my top 10 “big picture” observations and reflections on Humber Business Week 2012. I hope they help to focus thoughts, prompt debate and inspire action.

1. The power of ambassadors

The week began with a bang with the Hull and East Yorkshire Bondholders Breakfast - an event that reinforced the power of ambassadors for our region.

Bondholders Thomas Martin of Arco, Carolyn Burgess, of the World Trade Centre, Hull and Humber, and Paul Nixon, of the Hallmark Hotel at North Ferriby, all talked passionately about how they promote the region as part and parcel of doing business. They support the Bondholders’ work to promote pride and prosperity in the region and the Bondholders help them to tell a powerful, coherent and consistent story about what it means to do business here.

They and others now have new tools to help them to tell that story - a book and video, both launched at the Bondholders Breakfast, which summarise our unique economic strengths and potential. The story is summarised by “green growth, blue horizons” and it’s a banner we should all unite under, as it is just as relevant to the south bank as to Hull and East Yorkshire. If you haven’t seen the inspirational video, you can view it here.

The Bondholder Breakfast also highlighted the vital importance of engaging positively with important influencers, particularly in the media. The keynote speaker was Hugh Pym, the BBC’s Chief Economics Correspondent, who began his career in journalism in Hull at Viking Radio. He came briefed on the progress made by the region in recent years and its exciting potential; he spent a full day meeting key organisations and individuals; and he left hugely impressed by the business community and its efforts to drive the region forward.

Our region has forged an important connection with one of the most influential journalists in the country. I know the Bondholders plan to follow up on this, so that our story remains front of mind for Hugh and his colleagues. Having someone like him fully informed about the region and well disposed to it is simply invaluable.

2. The Humber is our economic entity

Hopefully, the turf wars of the past are just that - a thing of the past. Business Week reinforced that the economic entity is the Humber - the politicians and business community on both sides of the estuary simply have to recognise that fact and work together to maximise the potential for investment, jobs and prosperity, for the benefit of all.

The “Team Humber” message was a recurring theme of Business Week. Lord Haskins hammered it home at the Celebration Dinner at the University of Hull. He knows better than most ministers and potential investors see just one region, not four local authority areas, and the establishment of the Humber LEP is key to achieving that clarity of proposition. YIBC host Paul Sewell also stressed the need for businesses on both banks to speak with one voice.

3. Renewables is our economic opportunity

Business Week also underlined that we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for huge investment and job creation by establishing the Humber as a world-leading centre for renewable energy.

The region’s business community frequently talks up our renewables potential and we would, wouldn’t we. But others agree. Hugh Pym hailed it as the region’s “green growth strategy”, while Roy Evans, Director of Coastal and Rural Portfolio, for the Crown Estate, which owns the territorial waters on behalf of the State, told the Green City conference during Business Week that “the Humber has a clear geographical advantage to be the Aberdeen of the renewable energy future”.

That geographical advantage was a key factor in persuading Siemens to select the north bank as the location for its UK wind turbine manufacturing facility while, on the south bank, the giant Able Marine Energy Park will offer state-of-the-art facilities for turbine manufacture, assembly and installation.

Clearly, offshore wind will be a massive industry, for many, many years to come, bringing with it tens of thousands of jobs, and the Humber can be its UK home. The political and business communities simply have to move heaven and earth to seize this opportunity. It will transform the fortunes of the region, its businesses and the people who live here.

But, of course, it’s about more than offshore wind. Hugh Pym came away impressed by the Neptune tidal energy installation feeding power to The Deep, while Vivergo Fuels has made a £300m investment in a biofuels facility at Saltend. Spencer Group’s £100m-plus Energy Works development will offer a renewable energy solution to the region’s waste challenges. Green energy opportunities are all around us.

4. The home of great businesses, doing great business

Spend any significant time at Business Week events and you are struck by one impression above all others - how many great businesses we have here.

Most people know about the long-established family businesses that continue to grow and prosper, such as safety wear company Arco, William Jackson Food Group, and the Sewell Group, whose activities range from construction to retail. But who knew the story of food producer Cranswick Plc, which has seen amazing growth in turnover from £64m in 1990 to £800m in 2012?

The same goes for the Spencer Group, funded in Anlaby in 1989 with a £10,000 bank loan. The company recently returned to Hull, making the city the headquarters of a world-class specialist engineering business with a UK-wide workforce of more than 400.

We have so many great businesses in the Humber and, despite the fragile economic climate, they are doing great business.

5. A hotspot of enterprise and innovation

This region has an extraordinarily strong base of successful entrepreneurial businesses and the entrepreneurs at the head of those companies are passionate about helping others to follow the same path.

Many of them have come together in the For Entrepreneurs Only (FEO) group, which played a part in several Business Week events. Those events gave start-ups and small businesses the opportunity to learn from the experiences of such admired entrepreneurs as Jonathan Elvidge, founder of the Gadget Shop and now RED5.

Mr Elvidge talked about the power of marrying innovative ideas with action, describing how he founded the Gadget Shop empire when, while stuck in traffic, he made a phone call in response to a roadside advert for retail space in the soon-to-open Princes Quay shopping centre. At the same event, Sarah Longthorn, of Dragons Den winners Wedge Welly, talked about how to persuade angel investors to fund new enterprises - vital when bank funding is so scarce. What priceless advice for anyone considering starting a new business or running a fledgling venture.

FEO has now launched a Start-up Academy, offering invaluable advice and mentoring for budding entrepreneurs, thereby helping to launch and establish more wealth and employment creators.

The spirit of enterprise and innovation extends beyond the business community. Business Week delegates heard about Hull College’s new Studio School, one of the first in the UK, which focuses on producing young people ready for the world of work. It is already over-subscribed, ahead of opening its doors to the first students in September. The Studio School is truly ground-breaking - students will be regarded as employees; their teachers as coaches. Business practices and dress codes will apply. It’s a welcome move to “end the obsession with academic achievement”, referred to by Lord Haskins at the University of Hull dinner.

6. The challenge of technology and the data tsunami

We experience it all the time - the relentless, ever-hastening pace of technological change. It's a challenge for every business, the full scale of which was set out by KC Chief Executive Kevin Walsh in his presentation at YIBC.

He talked about the “tsunami of data” that has been unleashed by rapidly-growing usage of smartphones and tablets and multiple devices in “super-connected” homes.

His point was that this had huge implications for how we all work and do business. It also means businesses can no longer leave issues around connectivity and communications with their IT teams - the issues are too business critical for that. But are the senior executives in many businesses technologically literate enough to find the right ways forward? Food for thought indeed.

7. The Green City - a vision we must all embrace

Beyond all the potential offered by green energy industries, there is an even bigger opportunity - to make the investments in renewables a catalyst to create a community with sustainability at its heart.

To its credit, Hull City Council has identified this opportunity and is working with partners, including key businesses, on the Green City initiative. It has lofty ambitions - to make Hull the UK’s greenest city. That means it would be not just the UK capital of renewable energy, but also a leader in green learning and skills, low-carbon living and sustainable infrastructure.

It’s a long-term ambition, but it begins now, and the call went out for businesses to play their full part. Many already are. Charlie Spencer of the Spencer Group talked about how the company has implemented a wide range of green measures and said sustainability was at the heart of the business because it’s both the right thing to do and good for the bottom line.

Green City Chairman Councillor Martin Mancey paraphrased John F Kennedy in his appeal to businesses - “it’s not what your city can do for you, it’s what you can do for your city” - and it’s a message that deserves to be heeded. A city and region that is prosperous from green industries and puts a premium on sustainability in every aspect of local life is a powerful proposition to investors and visitors. It would also be a place in which people would share an immense feeling of local pride.

Cllr Mancey and others made the point that this was a long-term vision, delivering a better, greener future for generations ahead. It was a message reinforced by others - Mr Spencer called on businesses to seize the opportunity from renewable energy and the Green City vision to give the city’s young people the future they deserve.

It’s a future those young people are clearly beginning to embrace. Another Business Week event, the Green Jobs Experience, at the Sewell Group Skills Academy, saw more than 100 students from Hull and East Riding schools learn about a wide range of renewables career opportunities in a practical environment. Their enthusiasm was obvious to everyone present. A year ago the Skills Academy was just an idea. Now more than 500 young people have experienced it.

8. Cherish our sense of belonging

Local pride was also a key theme explored by Mary Portas, the “Queen of Shops”, who talked at YIBC about her vision of the high street of the future.

Ms Portas lamented the impact of out-of-town superstores on the retail heart of towns and cities, but said there was no point in trying to turn the clock back. Instead she talked about diverse uses for town and city centres, driven by the local community, and restoring a sense of local belonging. City centres should be places for community activities, learning and doing business, not just shopping, she said. She also urged a long-overdue re-evaluation of dated rules and restrictions on opening hours, parking and change of use of premises.

All of this is so relevant to towns and cities across the Humber but, unlike many other localities, here we have an advantage - we have never lost the sense of belonging. Community identity and spirit still burns strong. That sense of local community can be powerful indeed if it can be harnessed to help to remodel our city and town centres so that they are relevant and vibrant, now and in the future.

9. Let’s focus on the positives

Amid the overwhelmingly upbeat mood, there were reminders of the perilous economic situation which hangs like a black cloud over every business.

Michael Portillo placed that in stark relief at YIBC with his assessment of the Eurozone crisis and his conclusion that the Euro is on the “road to disintegration”, with serious negative consequences for the UK economy.

But all of that is beyond the ability of the business community to influence. Instead, we should focus on the positives. Lord Haskins talked about confidence being the vital missing ingredient in the economy, but said there was “a tangible sense of confidence in the Humber political and business community”.

Similarly, Brigg and Goole MP Andrew Percy, speaking at the Hull and Humber Chamber of Commerce lunch, said there was plenty to be positive about - reeling off renewables, the Humber LEP and enterprise zones, the slashing of the Humber Bridge tolls, and the go-ahead for improvements to resolve the bottleneck at Castle Street in Hull.

10. Business Week proves great things are possible - even without a budget

And, finally, Business Week itself is a reason for optimism and belief that this region can achieve truly great things. Incredibly, the week is brought together by a team of volunteers, without a single penny of public funding.

Businesses and business networks across the region help to make it happen - committing their time, resources and expertise to support the staging of events of the highest quality.

Congratulations to the steering group, chaired by Kath Lavery, for bringing together a magnificent programme. They have done the Humber, the region’s business community and all the participating businesses proud. Roll on Business Week 2013!

Great advice to businesses at Humber renewables conference

Very good advice from Sam Pick of the Renewables Network to companies looking to do business in the renewable energy sectors at the Renewing the Humber conference at the KC Stadium. Sam described doing business in renewables as like bricklaying. Companies should start small and build their business steadily, brick by brick. He also stressed how vital it is that businesses do their preparation and planning before leaping in. Companies should ask where is the contract they can win to get a foothold. Also, I couldn't agree more with Sam's call for the Humber to work together and stay together. Turf wars will only undermine our potential to become the UK's renewable energy capital.

I've launched my new website - please take a look

I’m delighted to announce the launch of my new website, built by those clever people at Bluestorm, and invite you to take a look at it.

As well as being a shop window for my media and communications services, the site will carry my blogs on the business scene in Hull, East Riding and the Humber region. It will also showcase business-related stories from across the region and informed opinions on business issues.

There is also a channel of news, views, reports and trends from social media - the fastest growing area of communications.

I hope connections will find it a useful information source.

Meehan Media & Comms

Humber estuary can be 'Silicon Valley of green energy'

It’s a startling future vision for the Humber estuary - the Silicon Valley of green energy, leading the world in sustainable power generation.

It may seem far-fetched now, with the much-vaunted plans by Siemens for a plant building offshore wind turbines still to pass through planning and be finally confirmed, but one industry leader is in no doubt about the Humber’s place in what he calls a “CO2-free economy”.

Dr Eddie O’Connor (pictured) is Chief Executive and Founder of Mainstream Renewable Power, a company working in partnership with Siemens in the SMart Wind consortium developing the Hornsea offshore wind field, one of three huge North Sea turbine clusters within a few hours “steaming time” of the Humber.

He’s also Secretary of the European Wind Energy Association and a leading voice in the renewables field. Last week he was in Hull to talk about his vision of how offshore wind will “change the world” as “the fossil fuels era comes to an end”.

I’ve heard many speakers hail the economic potential of renewable energy for the Humber. Typically, the impact of offshore wind is predicted to be similar to that of the discovery of North Sea oil to Aberdeen. But Dr O’Connor’s assessment went much further. He described an economic powerhouse spanning both banks of the Humber, leading the transformation to sustainable energy for Britain, Europe and then the world.

His vision is based on the commitment of the UK and other nations to develop green power sources for environmental and energy security reasons. That, he says, presents a huge opportunity for the UK as an island nation with the natural resource of wind in “super-abundance”.

In a presentation to a conference at the University of Hull, Dr O’Connor predicted huge investment across Europe during “two generations of transformation to a sustainable future” in which offshore wind will be the “backbone and centrepiece” of European energy generation. He sees the Humber at the heart of that investment because of its proximity to three of the largest offshore wind fields.

The Humber ports are already Britain’s busiest docks complex, but Dr O’Connor described even more activity along the estuary, with two new ports focused on the offshore wind industry - Green Port Hull at Alexandra Dock in Hull, where Siemens will operate, and the Able Humber Port site on the south bank. He says six different types of vessels will operate out of the estuary in construction, operation and maintenance of the turbines.

He also foresees makers of turbines, towers, blades, foundations and cables all congregating around the Humber. “All of this will probably happen around the super-cluster that is being constructed as we speak on the Humber estuary,” Dr O’Connor told the New Energy Workforce conference.

The drive for a low-carbon future is underway across the continent, but the focus will be on the UK, he says. He estimates that up to 20 offshore turbines a day will need to be built over 40 years to meet Europe’s renewable energy needs - a significant proportion of them in UK waters. “That is good for the environment and very good for this country,” says Dr O’Connor. He predicts the UK will export excess electricity from wind power to the continent. “We will be supplying electricity for export many times the demand in the UK,” he says.

Until now Germany and Denmark have been the leaders in offshore wind, but Dr O’Connor believes Britain will soon take the mantle, with a resultant jobs bonanza. Based on the German experience, he predicts up to 150,000 jobs from offshore wind developments around the UK by 2020.

It will take decades for the UK and Europe to move to predominantly low-carbon energy generation and, even beyond then, Dr O’Connor says the UK can use its expertise to help the new economic super-powers such as China and India to adopt renewable energy.

Offshore wind has its critics - some say it is too expensive and the turbines don’t work when the wind doesn’t blow - but Dr O’Connor’s case is made more persuasive by the announcement the day after the conference that two of the “big six” energy companies have pulled out of plans to develop nuclear power plants in Britain.

E.ON and RWE npower scrapped their plans in the wake of concerns over nuclear safety following last year’s Japanese tsunami. The decision threw the British Government’s energy policy into disarray, but made it even more certain that wind power would be required to make a huge contribution to the country’s renewable energy needs.

Dr O’Connor says the issue of inactive turbines will be resolved by the development of a “super grid” connecting the wind fields and ensuring continuity of energy generation across a giant network of thousands of turbines. “The wind is always blowing somewhere,” he says. “It may be locally variable but it is globally plentiful”.

Dr O’Connor’s vision helped to set the conference in the context of the economic opportunity for the Humber. Other speakers highlighted a number of challenges in fulfilling the potential of renewable energy, foremost among them a predicted shortfall in engineers. Martin Hottass, Head of Skills for Siemens UK, said Britain needed almost 100,000 new engineers by 2016 as one in three reach retirement age.

All the speakers agreed it was a major priority to help schools, colleges and universities to encourage young people into engineering. Mr Hottass talked of Siemens’ commitment to working with educational establishments and training providers to encourage young  people to choose a career “in a really exciting sector with loads of opportunity”.

It was a message heard loud and clear. University of Hull Vice Chancellor Professor Calie Pistorius said the university had a range of courses and programmes focused on renewables and the low-carbon economy.  It was committed to building “a workforce that is low-carbon aware and has the right specific skills,” he pledged.

Certainly there is now a concerted focus across the Humber to equip local workers with the skills to gain employment and build careers in the offshore wind and wider renewable energy industries.

But will Dr O’Connor’s vision of the Humber at the heart of an offshore wind bonanza become reality? He is clearly an evangelist for offshore wind and his forecasts may be at the most optimistic end of the range, but even if the impact is half of what he predicts, the effects will be truly transformational and be felt for decades.

“Why can’t the Humber become the Silicon Valley of the energy of the future?”, asked Dr O’Connor. Why not indeed. And what a thrilling, unprecedented opportunity to transform the fortunes and long-term prospects of a region where unemployment is stubbornly high.

• The New Energy Workforce conference at the University of Hull was staged by Humber Chemical Focus and the university’s Centre for Adaptive Science and Sustainability.

Humber Chemical Focus

Centre for Adaptive Science and Sustainability at the University of Hull

Dr Eddie O’Connor blogs on offshore wind and renewable energy issues at http://eddie.mainstreamrp.com/

'Lightning-fast' broadband and knowledge jobs bring Hull's digital city dream closer to reality

Hull - the digital city. It’s a concept that has been talked about for years without ever seeming to move significantly closer to reality, but maybe that is finally about to change.

Recently, I’ve detected some very exciting digital developments which could be profoundly important for the prosperity of the city and wider region, transforming employment opportunities and the economic landscape. All the talk at business meetings may be about Siemens and renewables, but something else is stirring which some have claimed may be just as significant.

The digital city concept had at its core the presence of a unique, local telecoms provider in KC and the availability of a network ripe for development to provide the infrastructure - or so-called plumbing - for major developments in education and business.

That concept gained credibility from the late 1990s as a result of the launch and development of Kingston Interactive Television (KIT), KC’s ground-breaking internet television service delivering video on demand and TV streaming via broadband. It was a truly pioneering service which was hugely ambitious in both its technology and objectives. In truth, it was way ahead of its time.

KIT was wound up in 2006 because KC could no longer justify a huge investment, which had come too early for commercial viability. But it had some significant outcomes, including that it was a key reason why the BBC chose Hull as the base for a major regional centre and it was used by the corporation as the testbed for a number of innovative interactive services, which informed later developments such as Freeview.

Now KC is again leading the way in developing digital infrastructure. This time, the company has embarked upon on a programme to install “lightning-fast” broadband across its East Yorkshire network. It’s early days, but the new service, KC LIghtstream, is delivering remarkable results and winning customers fast.

After relatively small-scale trials in Woodmansey, near Beverley, and Hull’s Great Thornton Street Estate, KC has begun a major rollout, starting in Beverley, and now has more than 800 subscribers for a service that guarantees broadband download speeds of 100 megabits per second (mbps), which is four times faster than the Government’s definition of “super-fast” broadband.

Just last week Beverley was declared the broadband capital of the UK, with the fastest speeds in the country. Speed test site Netindex showed Beverley as the fastest UK broadband location, with an average download speed of 43 mbps – nearly six times the UK average - as a result of the KC Lightstream performance.

The remarkable speeds are delivered because the data travels down fibre-optic cables fed through to customers’ homes, replacing traditional copper connections. KC is stealing a march on other Internet Service Providers (ISPs), such as BT, by installing Fibre To The Home (FTTH), rather than Fibre To The Cabinet (FTTC) - a connection box in the street. Elsewhere in the UK, connections are slowed down by copper cables for the last part of the data journey. In Lightstream premises, speeds are not constrained and the technology is future-proof, enabling acceleration of download speeds as demand for digital data and content grows.

The results seen already are impressive - users of the new service can download music albums in just two seconds, hour-long television programmes in 31 seconds and high-definition films within two minutes. It’s truly a revolution in accessing information and entertainment in homes which now frequently have multiple digital devices  being used at the same time.

But this new network is potentially even more significant in terms of its power to enable the development of East Yorkshire’s emerging digital sector. It has been interesting to note Hull’s growing credentials in this sector - in website and app development, gaming, social media and other disciplines. Indeed, that capability and credibility will be showcased this weekend (17th & 18th March) at Platform 2012, an event at the University of Hull focused on the huge gaming industry.

Quietly, Hull is gaining ground as a centre of knowledge jobs, with technology a key element, supported by high-quality educational establishments, such as the university and Hull College. Also important in this picture is the Hull Digital community of entrepreneurs and developers, which plans its own significant event, HD LIve, at the university on 1st November this year.

Factors are coming together to accelerate this welcome development of technology-based and enabled jobs in the knowledge economy - jobs that will be vital to achieve a re-balancing from public to private sector and blue to white collar employment.

KC’s commercial and financial director Sean Royce talked about this change recently when setting out the benefits for businesses of the Lightstream rollout.  The huge boost to broadband capability will encourage start-ups and SMEs focused on activities such as online retailing, app development and gaming.

Mr Royce pointed out that digital industries already generate £130 billion for the UK economy - 10 per cent of gross added value - and employ six per cent of the workforce. The sector also continues to grow, despite the economic climate. It’s a trend the Government recognises and wants to encourage. It plans to commit £780 million to support the development of super-fast broadband and mobile provision across the UK  to help to deliver a world-class digital infrastructure. Estimates are that the investments by Government and the private sector could create 600,000 new jobs and pump £18 million into the UK economy.

One local digital entrepreneur, John Connolly, wrote in a recent blog on the Hull Digital site that the rapid development of the local broadband network will enable businesses to work and communicate in new, faster, more efficient and effective ways, including through home and remote working. His view was that the Lightstream network would be “the backbone of business and education in the city for years to come”, enabling the development of exciting new enterprises and ways of learning.

And, although large-scale employers, such as Smith & Nephew, Reckitt Benckiser and, indeed, KC,  are hugely important to the East Yorkshire economy, SMEs are the real backbone of UK Plc, providing 60 per cent of private sector jobs.

So, while the headline news is how Siemens, the burgeoning offshore wind industry and other forms of renewable energy will bring new prosperity to Hull and the Humber, it’s not the only story of economic potential and job creation. No doubt renewables will continue to hog the headlines, but the development of digital infrastructure, businesses and jobs may be just as vital over the long term.

Beverley has Britain's fastest broadband
Forget Silicon Valley - welcome to the Humber digital estuary

Hull and the Knowledge Economy

Gadget king's inspiring message to potential young entrepreneurs

I’ve witnessed a business masterclass by one of Britain’s most admired entrepreneurs. It’s far from the first time I’ve listened to a successful businessmen share the secrets of their success, but this was different.

The difference was the audience. It wasn’t a gathering of fellow businessmen and women - listening intently were 12 and 13-year-olds.

The speaker was Jonathan Elvidge, founder of the pioneering Gadget Shop and now owner of RED5, one of Britain’s fastest-growing private companies. His audience came from Hull’s Malet Lambert School - youngsters who have already expressed an interest in starting a business, despite their tender years, or who plan to take Business Studies at GCSE. They had been brought together by the school’s Business Champion Stephen Logan and the For Entrepreneurs Only (FEO) group.

FEO is made up of 70 entrepreneurs who have built successful businesses in Hull and the East Riding and are committed to sharing their experience and wisdom to help others to create wealth and jobs. A key focus is on education and inspiring a new generation of business owners, hence a series of FEO days for local schools featuring members of the group.

So to the Malet Lambert FEO day, hosted at The Exchange educational hub, created by the Hull Esteem consortium, which is transforming the city’s schools through the Building Schools for the Future programme.

I was familiar with some of Jonathan’s story but I hadn’t previously heard him talk, with such understated passion, about why he launched his own business, what he had learned and why others should follow his example.

Jonathan gave up a steady and secure job with telecoms company KC to fulfil his dream by launching The Gadget Shop in Hull’s Princes Quay Shopping Centre 20 years ago. The business grew so fast that, at one time, it was valued at £40 million, before Jonathan lost control, the business was sold and then, after he left, it collapsed.

Undeterred, Jonathan bounced back. With a business partner, he launched RED5 - billed as “the ultimate gadget shop”, with high street stores and concessions across the UK and a growing online business.

The highs and lows of Jonathan’s business career were fascinating. He admitted he just missed an opportunity to sell his Gadget Shop shares before the business began to tail down, but said he had no regrets: “I wouldn’t change a thing - the ups and downs are all learning experiences”.

But of even greater interest were his words of advice to his audience of potential entrepreneurs. He urged them to do what they are passionate about and to ignore the “energy vampires” who daren't take risks and hate to see others strive to fulfil their dreams. Success comes from having a great idea, the passion and belief to bring it to life, and the courage to act upon it. “What you conceive and believe you can achieve”, he says.

He told the youngsters he wasn’t suggesting they should all launch into business straight from education, although some might want to do just that. But he did want them to believe that they too could turn their idea into a business, at some time in their working lives.  “You can do it,” he urged. “Don't think it's for other people. Keep those ideas in your head and, when the time is right, go for it”.

His final pearl of wisdom was powerful. “Companies like Google, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft were all started by young people with an idea and a vision,” he said. “They changed the world. Who’s to say your ideas couldn’t, too”.

So true and what a thought-provoking message for young people in Hull to hear. I am sure that very few, if any, of the audience will forget Jonathan’s inspiring story and his words of advice. For some, it might just be the spur for them to strike out on their own and create their own business success story.

For Entrepreneurs Only

Malet Lambert School

The Exchange Hull