How do places reinvent themselves successfully?
University of Essex Essex Business School Centre for Coastal Communities took part in the inaugural i-PLACE 25 conference, organised by the @Key Cities Innovation Network, which gathered university leaders, councils, industry partners and innovation specialists over two days to explore how partnership and collaboration between civic institutions, academia and private industry can unlock growth, resilience and opportunity for our communities.
This included:
Day 1 – Two dynamic panels in partnership with @beyond conference, a reception hosted by @Salford City Council and a speakers dinner hosted by @Arup, and
Day 2 – (i) A breakfast briefing on funding for place-based innovation with Audra Gill, Head of Creative Industries at AHRC-UKRI, and (ii) the Innovation in Action Conference, a showcase of pioneering local innovation projects from nine universities, detailing the successful case studies that have already generated tangible economic and social impact.
Here’s Tony doing CERG’s Imaginarium/mezzo-level pitch – set against Simon Poulter’s (simonpoulter.co.uk) watercolour of the Tendring Coast. Later this year, we’ll be going to the launch event in Parliament to do it all again – as part of the next Key Cities policy-agenda setting publication.
The i-PLACE 25 conference made one thing clear: cities, universities and industries are strongest when they are working alongside one another.
We are proud to have been part of the conversation shaping the UK’s next generation of sustainable and creative places, and we look forward to continuing the collaboration to turn these ideas into real impact.
@Key Cities Innovation Network | @Key Cities | @Key Cities APPG |@Arts Council England | @Arts and Humanities Research Council (ahrc)| @Arup | @Bath & North East Somerset Council | @Bath Spa University | @beyond conference | @Coventry University | @Connected Places Catapult |@GMColleges | @ GM Business Growth Hub | @Lancaster University | @MediaCityUK | @Medway Council | @Plymouth City Council | @Plymouth Sound National Marine Park | @Salford City Council | @University of Bradford | @University of Essex | @University of Plymouth | @University of Salford | @University of Southampton | @We Made That | @Wrexham University
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