23 January 2014 14:00
Briefings & Tools
The Peninsula City Deal Growth Hub – an overview
The Peninsula City Deal Growth Hub was developed as a key strand of the Plymouth and South West Peninsula City Deal (covering both the Heart of the SW LEP and Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly LEP areas).
**UPDATE 2015**
Funding for this service through the City Deal has now come to an end. Growth Hub activities in this region are being taken care of by our two Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs).
Heart of the South West LEP
HotSW LEP advertised a Growth Hub Interim service contract however there were no successful applicants.
Therefore HotSW LEP is progressing towards the full service which will be in place in 2016. In the meantime businesses are being signposted to use the national helpline for business support and advice:
Telephone: 0300 456 3565
Textphone: 0208 742 8620 Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm.
Regularly updated information about the Growth Hub is available from their website at: www.heartofswlep.co.uk/heart-south-west-hotsw-growth-hub
Cornwall and Isles of Scilly LEP
Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership are providing an interim growth hub service for this area in the form of a new website - www.ciosgrowthhub.com. There is a page of information on the site which gives more details about their plans for a full service, which they anticipate will start in January 2016.
It is an ambitious approach to co-ordinating business support activities and providing a customer focused network of support that is simple to navigate.
Central to the City Deal Growth Hub is the role of the Growth Acceleration and Investment Network (GAIN) in delivering coordination and business engagement.
GAIN was founded by Plymouth University as a mechanism for driving business
growth through partnership, based on the creation of an ecosystem of support,
with the knowledge base as its anchor.
Key activities that were identified to improve business support co-ordination included:
> awareness raising and assisting access to existing business support
> development of the GAIN digital exchange - www.gaininbusiness.com
> a new team of three business advisers - the GAIN Business Enquiry Service.
The aims of these coordination and signposting / referral elements relate to all business support activities, whether provided by national programmes, regional or local publicly supported projects, or the private sector.
What are the Growth Hub objectives?
The over-arching objective is to increase the number of enterprises seeking, and receiving, appropriate support, reversing recent declines.
In addition to the coordination and engagement function, a range of specific business support projects that fill gaps or add value to existing provision have received investment through the Regional Growth Fund, as part of the City Deal.
Growth Hub Objectives
> To ensure effective coordination of business support services.
> To lead to measurably increased take up of business support by SMEs.
> To simplify the customer journey, reducing the number of touch points for business.
> To provide a route to market for support providers (public and private, including national assets).
> To explore innovative approaches to business engagement and support.
> To be recognised as a national exemplar by Government.
> To be sustainable.
The main components of the Growth Hub
The Digital Exchange – www.gaininbusiness.com
This is an online resource for businesses that has been
designed specifically to meet the needs of all growing enterprises. It is
content-rich, engaging, and dynamic with personalised content filtering, full
mobile optimisation, and includes:
> video based learning
> advice from experts and those that have done it
> a platform in which business people can interact and share expertise – the Connect forum.
> greater connectivity with business support providers
> a knowledge bank of “how to” guides.
The Business Engagement Service - 0800 073 2020
This is a new impartial, free telephone and e-mail based
advice service, providing business advice, referral and signposting to simplify
the customer journey and increase take up of business support.
Three business
advisors with knowledge of the complex and bewildering array of support
available can respond to a wide range of business enquiries.
Coordination and engagement
Key to increasing the uptake of business support is wide business engagement and raising awareness of the support available.
This aspect of Growth Hub activities is led by the Chambers of Commerce across the peninsula, with a target to raise awareness of Growth Hub activities with 10,000 businesses.
GAIN Growth Fund Plus
This is a business grant programme delivering grants of up to £1million to businesses with transformational job creation projects. 160 EOIs were received for the £3million fund, and awards have been made to 29, creating over 450 jobs.
Gap filling activities
The following activities are being delivered across the peninsula:
|
Activity |
Delivery Partner |
|
Help for businesses to engage in international trade and / or access new markets |
Chambers of Commerce / UKTI |
|
A business support package to help businesses trade internationally online |
|
|
Innovation Vouchers programme |
Universities South West |
|
A marine focused manufacturing support programme |
SW Manufacturing Advisory Service |
|
The South West business creation programme; |
|
|
A new offshore renewables delivery programme, focused solely on Cornwall |
Cornwall Development Council |
What Makes our Growth Hub different?
Our Growth Hub model uses the existing GAIN ecosystem, led by Plymouth University, and which levers the assets and expertise of the knowledge base to support business growth.
This means it is also underpinned by academic research and evidence of what works in fostering growth, as well as analysis of business data to inform activities going forward. It also links the physical assets of partners (Innovation and Incubation spaces and Science Parks) with a wide range of growth support.
comments powered by Disqus
