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.
What we do: Helping Business: Sectors, Clusters and Diamonds
Sectors and Clusters
SEEDA focused on the needs of key industrial sectors across all its activities. They developed strong links with the educational sector (particularly universities), industry groups, trade associations and local industry networks. This allows closer collaboration and partnership than was possible nationally and the opportunity to exploit mutual interests not available at a local authority level.
To this end, SEEDA established seven sector consortia, independent companies governed by senior business people to pursue a business–led approach to winning market share.
SEEDA identified the following sectors as being instrumental in the sustainable future of the South East:
- advanced engineering and marine
- aerospace and defence
- environmental technologies
- financial services
- information and communication technology (including digital media)
- life sciences and health technologies.
These sectors were selected for the following reasons:
- high potential to innovate and grow
- clustered within the South East
- importance in delivering a sustainable future for the region, and
- evidence that a sectoral focus (on supply chains or other business-to-business links) has particular potential to deliver benefits in these cases.
Businesses, especially SMEs in similar markets, often cluster together naturally in places like Silicon Valley because rubbing shoulders with older and more established firms makes it easier to learn, collaborate and grow. SEEDA Cluster Managers work with each cluster on projects that bolster competitiveness, for example, in the areas of supply chain improvement and group purchasing incentives.
South East Diamonds for Investment and Growth
In seeking to build upon the South East’s position as a powerhouse of the UK economy, the Regional Economic Strategy (RES) adopted a place-based focus. The South East Diamonds for Investment and Growth have the concentrations of people, employment, built assets, knowledge, transport, creativity, culture and diversity necessary to act as economic catalysts for the region as a whole.
The eight diamonds are:
- Basingstoke
- Brighton & Hove
- Gatwick Diamond
- Milton Keynes & Aylesbury Vale
- Oxford / Central Oxfordshire
- Reading
- Thames Gateway Kent
- Urban South Hampshire.
Related documents:
South East Diamonds for Investment and Growth: A Prospectus for Prosperity
