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.
The Cluster Mark Awards
South East manufacturers were invited to enter The Cluster Mark Awards. The closing date for receiving applications for the South East region competition of the Awards was 30 November. The region competition winner will be announced shortly.
The Cluster Mark Awards, set out this summer in the BIS Manufacturing Strategy, is intended to "raise the profile of manufacturers involved in the best clusters and support international marketing of local strengths."
The Cluster Mark is being introduced nationally to support the Manufacturing Strategy and as such is primarily aimed at recognising manufacturing excellence and sending a strong message to the rest of World. A Cluster will contain a range of companies quite possibly from different sectors but the overarching factor is that they should be recognised as part of the Cluster and contributing to a wider agenda than just their own development. The Cluster Mark will enable groups of companies to benefit from broad recognition and attract new investment and open new markets.
Clusters are defined in the Manufacturing Strategy as “geographic concentrations of inter-connected companies, specialised suppliers and service providers and institutions such as universities”. This mutual cooperation across a broad front results in the whole being greater than the sum of its parts.
Examples of internationally recognised Clusters in the UK are the Chemical Industry and Motor Sport. Other world renowned Clusters are the automotive industry around Detroit and the IT industry in Silicon Valley California.
The competition will focus on the primary rationale for competing businesses to locate and/or cooperate within a Cluster and that is that there is some form of competitive advantage in doing so.
It is the cooperation within the Cluster and the resultant benefits that applicants for the Cluster Mark Award will need to demonstrate.
Further information about clusters and details of the competition can be found on the BIS (BERR) website.
For further information, please contact:
Norman Hambleton, Sector Relationship Manager
Cluster Mark Co-ordinator, SEEDA
Email: normanhambleton@seeda.co.uk
