The Government has announced that all Regional Development Agencies (RDAs), including SEEDA, will close by 31 March 2012.
Responsibility for economic development and regeneration in England is being passed onto successor bodies, including Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) and central Government departments
Our objective is to ensure a professional and cost effective closure by this date. We have pledged to work closely with our partners, contractors and stakeholders to ensure that the past and future economic benefits of key programmes and assets continue to deliver the greatest economic value for the South East and value for money for the taxpayer.
Please click here for more details about our closure plan, transition arrangements and successor organisations.
Professor Julian M Crampton
Professor Julian Crampton has been the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Brighton since 2005. He was educated at the University of Sussex and holds a doctorate from the University of Warwick, and held research appointments in London and in Boston, USA.
He was the founding Head of the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Liverpool, before becoming Pro-Vice-Chancellor (in 2000) and Senior Pro-Vice-Chancellor (in 2003).
Professor Crampton’s own research is in the area of molecular biology and biotechnology with a particular interest in tropical diseases and human genetic diseases. He was a co-founder of Insecta Ltd, and was a founder of the Liverpool Science Park, the National Biomanufacturing Centre at Speke, the Liverpool Biotechnology Incubator (MerseyBIO), and Liverpool Ventures – a £25M proof of concept fund to support new businesses. He was the first Chair of N8, the group of eight research intensive universities in the three northern regions of England which was created to work with business as part of the Deputy Prime Minister’s Northern Way initiative.
More recently, Professor Crampton is Chairman of HBRL (trading as SeaSpace), the company established by SEEDA to deliver regeneration to Hastings and Bexhill. Professor Crampton is also the Chairman of Higher Education South East (the body which brings together all Universities/Higher Education Institutions in the SE of England), a member of SESETAC (SEEDAs Science and Industry advisory committee), a member of the CBI’s Innovation, Science and Technology Committee and Chairman of MDHub (a ‘Club’ which brings together the 100 highest growth SMEs in Brighton).
Finally, Professor Crampton is Treasurer of Universities UK, and Vice-Chair of the Universities UK committee on Employer, Business and Innovation which develops strategy for UK higher education on university business interaction, employability and exploitation/innovation.
