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Welcome to the April 2024 Newsletter
2024 IED Annual Conference open for booking, as Annual Awards also return
Early Bird registrations are now open for the 2024 Institute of Economic Development Annual Conference and Awards Dinner, the UK’s premier in-person event for economic development and regeneration professionals working for local and regional communities.
The IED Annual Conference, which this year will return to BMA House in London on Wednesday 6th November, is titled Economic Transition – How do we deliver long-lasting change in our towns, cities and regions?
Baroness Sharon Taylor of Stevenage OBE, Shadow Spokesperson for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, is the confirmed opening keynote speaker. Other guest speakers include:
- Adam Hawksbee, Deputy Director, Onward
- Dame Irene Hays, Director, Hays Travel
- Danyal Satter, CEO, Big Issue Invest
- James Smith, Research Director, Resolution Foundation
- Mel Barrett, Chief Executive, Nottingham City Council
- Rachel Rowney, Chief Operating Officer, Local Trust
Tom Stannard, IED Chair, and Chief Executive, Salford City Council; and Bev Hurley CBE, IED Director and Chief Executive, YTKO Group, also feature in the conference programme with further speakers, breakout sessions and panels to be announced in the coming weeks.
Following the one-day conference, the IED Awards Dinner will take place in the Lutyens Suite at BMA House. The awards will once again recognise achievers in the public and private sector through a series of individual, team, and organisational categories. Eight categories are now open for entry and a ninth, Outstanding Contribution to Economic Development, will be selected by the IED Board and expert judging panel. To find out more about the award categories and how to enter, please click here.
Early Bird rates are only running for a limited period of time, so don't delay!
Join us at the House of Lords this summer
We are delighted to be holding an Afternoon Tea Reception at The House of Lords on Thursday 27th June. This event is kindly sponsored by our Patron, Baroness Blake of Leeds and hosted by Tom Stannard, Chair of the IED and Chief Executive of Salford City Council. Also attending is Baroness Sharon Taylor of Stevenage OBE, Shadow Spokesperson for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. Over a seated afternoon tea, we will hold an informal discussion, reflecting on economic development under an upcoming new government, and share more about the IED Manifesto Grow Local, Grow National. There will be an opportunity for some Q&A as well.
IED members - please look out for an email on this shortly. If you are not a member but are interested in attending, drop us a line at admin@ied.co.uk.
Growing Local Economies: the role of social impact and economic development in place and community wealth-building
We are delighted to be supporting our friends and IED members, at the Social Value Engine in a webinar they are hosting on 14 May 10-11am.
The Social Value Engine, the only UK accredited software tool for assessing social value jointly owned and developed by East Riding of Yorkshire Council and Rose Regeneration, has a strong conviction about the merits of localisation in community wealth-building. Inspired by the Institute of Economic Development’s timely Grow Local, Grow National manifesto, Social Value Engine is hosting a free webinar exploring the importance of social impact on localities and place at the very heart of economic development in driving change. The session will provide a UK-wide perspective and draw on voices across the devolved nations.
To book onto this webinar, being held online on 14 May 10-11am, please click on the link below.
A vision for the economy, a vision for the nation
In a recent blog by IED Director Lawrence Conway, he reflects on recent policy pledges, and his hopes and aspirations for an "achievable strategy".
Focus on Lightcast
IED members Lightcast have a number of resources that fellow members may find useful. These include:
Digital Skills Outlook 2024 - The Lightcast Digital Skills Outlook 2024 delves into their job postings data and skills insights to highlight key trends in the digital skills revolution across 15 global labour markets. Request a free report for your city here.
The Lightcast Digital Skills Outlook 2024 Webinar
The Complete Growth Toolkit for Local Authorities Webinar - With the cutting of support for LEPs coming in April 2024, Local Authorities have been tasked with providing many of their core functions. Regional economic plans are a major part of this, with the objective being to support local decision-making around economic opportunities, labour market challenges, and investment priorities over the next 10 years. The Data City and Lightcast are partnering to support Local Authorities in these vital functions by providing a Complete Growth Toolkit.
Case Study: Staffordshire County Council - Putting Data at the Heart of Strategic Planning
IED in the News
Do take a look at our IED in the news section of our website, where we are appearing in national and regional press.
IED Jobs Board
Don't forget to take a look at the IED Job Board. Current vacancies include openings at Hardisty Jones, a local authority in Ormskirk, WSP and Lambeth Council.
IED CPD 2024 - courses on regeneration and community development coming up soon
Thank you very much to our recent course deliverers including Will Cookson from Lightcast (skills analysis) and Bev Hurley (past IED Chair and CEO of YTKO) who delivered a course on driving economic growth through better business support.
Coming up next we have:
- An Introduction to Regeneration (Nigel Wilcock, IED and Mickledore)
- Role of community led development in economic regeneration (Dr Jo Leek, Senior Investment Manager at Liverpool City Region, Combined Authority and Lorna Young, Marketing and Economic Development Consultant - both IED Board members)
- An introduction to housing - Ivan Tennant, housing expert at LSH
- Business Case Development including Green Book, Nigel Wilcock
- Stakeholder consultation - Copper Consultancy
Find out more about all of our courses in our events calendar.
And read our newly developed case studies from those who have completed the Certificate and Advanced Certificate in Economic Development.
IED Early Career Network Updates
The Early Career Network has undergone some exciting developments over the last couple of months that we would like to share with you.
Firstly, we officially launched our LinkedIn group, which currently has a headcount of 57 members. Alongside this , we ran a poll asking our members where they are based, to help us plan for any future gatherings and to get to know one another better.
Secondly, we hosted our first ‘Talk with Experts’, welcoming Nigel Wilcock in an interview-style session. The IED ECN's very own James Corden steered the conversation by asking insightful questions about Nigel's extensive career within the economic development industry. Attendees also took the opportunity to engage in conversation and debate with Nigel, which was great.
Finally, the group continues to grow. We expect to welcome several new members to our upcoming meeting in May - featuring James Corden’s spotlight session. In the meeting, James will provide an overview of his day-to-day duties as Economic Development Planning Manager for National Highways. As usual, members will also have the opportunity to share industry insights and events.
Feel free to join our LinkedIn group (here) if you are in the early stages of your career in economic development and are interested in connecting with others, learning and sharing your knowledge.
*Please note that whilst the LinkedIn group is open to any economic development professional in the early stages of their career, you must be an IED member to join our online sessions.
For more information or if you wish to join the network, please contact mbenvenuto@regionaldevelopmet.co.uk
To read the press release on the Early Career Network launch, click on the red button below.
Welcome to all of our new members
Membership of the IED continues to grow - so far this calendar year, we have welcomed over 260 new members, which is fantastic! Thank you to everyone for helping to spread the word of the value membership brings.
As well as welcoming our new individual members, we welcome new organisational members Amion Consulting Ltd, Arcadis, Greater London Authority (GLA) and Tamworth Borough Council.
Member Insights
We sent out our latest Member Insights Survey a couple of weeks ago. Please do complete this if you can spare some time in the next week or so, as it really helps us to best understand the views of the profession and plan our activity and focus.
A note about our recent EGM Notice
In the last bulletin we gave notice for an EGM to be held on a couple of proposed changes to our constitution. Unfortunately this EGM had to be postponed so there is nothing to report. We will keep you updated, once we have a new date confirmed.