January 2007

News

“Whilst we are proud of our economic record, we know we have to do more to tackle regional disparities in economic performance. These funds will help us to bring the performance of our poorest regions up to the performance of the best,” said Margaret Hodge, Minister for Industry and the Regions.


Focus on tax avoidance in Brown’s Pre-Budget Report
Chancellor Gordon Brown unveiled his latest Pre-Budget Report (PBR) in early December, addressing issues in transport, education and planning, but springing few surprises for business. One major new initiative was the setting up of a new central body to oversee health research in hospitals and universities. The new Office for Strategic Coordination of Health Research (OSCHR) will be headed by John Bell, Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford University, and will have an annual budget of more than $1.9 billion. The OSCHR was the central recommendation of a review of health research carried out for the Treasury by Sir David Cooksey, which Mr Brown has accepted in full. The government plans shortly to appoint an independent advisor to carry out another key recommendation of the Cooksey report, to reform the drug development pathway.

Mr Brown, who is widely expected to take over as Prime Minister from Tony Blair sometime during the course of this year, acknowledged environmental concerns by raising fuel duty, with immediate effect, in line with inflation and by doubling air passenger duty (APD), effective from 1 February. Airlines and tour operators were unhappy about the move, but Mr Brown said that the lowest rate of $19.50 per trip would apply to 75 per cent of all journeys and that the extra $1.9 billion raised would be used to fund “priorities such as public transport and the environment”.

There was better news for copyright owners. Penalties for copying and piracy are to be tightened and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is to introduce fast-track protection for small companies that want to safeguard their trademarks – both measures recommended in the recent Gowers report on intellectual property. Property developers and house-builders were also likely to be satisfied, as the PBR revealed that a proposed planning gain supplement, a new levy on development gains, would be subject to further consultation and would not be introduced until 2009 at the earliest.

Mr Brown said little about corporate taxation, an area in which business groups have been lobbying for lower rates and less complexity, but new anti-tax avoidance measures are expected to bring in substantial amounts of extra revenue. More than $1.9 billion will be raised by 2009-10 through a clampdown on ‘managed service company’ schemes, which are used by some workers to reduce their tax bills and avoid National Insurance contributions. New powers are being considered to allow the government to investigate tax planning schemes in cases where it suspects tax consultants have not complied with their obligations to disclose tax plans. Tougher measures will be introduced to deal with rogue employers who illegally pay their workers less than the minimum wage.

However, the Treasury announced a modest relaxation of the rules allowing companies to take advantage of low tax rates in other EU countries, following a ruling in September by the European court in a case involving Cadbury Schweppes. The limited reforms to the ‘controlled foreign company’ rules, designed to stop firms shifting their profits to low-tax countries, will cost the government an estimated $950,000 in lost revenue by 2009-10, although some tax specialists believed that the changes did not go far enough to comply with European law.

In a separate development less than a week after Mr Brown’s PBR statement, the European Court of Justice, Europe’s highest court, ruled that the UK had unfairly taxed British American Tobacco and other multinational companies on their dividend income. The Court ruled that the UK’s treatment of dividend income under the advance corporation tax (ACT) rules in the period 1973-99 discriminated against companies in other EU member states – although Mr Brown abolished ACT in his first Budget. This opened up the prospect of the UK facing a record tax refund bill, amounting to some $760 million split between 20 companies.

However, the Court ruled that the UK tax regime did not necessarily contravene European law – a cautious (and somewhat surprising) conclusion that some observers took to be a sign that the ECJ is less eager than it used to be to bring the tax systems of sovereign states into line with the single market. The Treasury commented: “The Government welcomes the fact that the ECJ has endorsed the current legislation in force as essentially compatible with the Treaty. This means that it is acceptable to apply an exemption system for dividends domestically and a credit system cross-border.”


DTI unveils plans to cut burden of red tape
The DTI has published an ambitious simplification plan aimed at saving businesses up to $1.3 billion a year, as part of a cross-government drive to cut red tape. Building on wide consultation and on an earlier draft published a year previously, the plan sets out specific cuts in administrative burdens and marks a major step towards the target to cut 25 per cent of all DTI red tape by 2010. Trade and Industry Secretary Alistair Darling said: “Britain is already one of the best places to do business but we must do more to ease burdens. By cutting unnecessary red tape and making essential regulation simpler we can help sustain a strong economy. The plan published today is the product of listening to business. By continuing to work closely every step of the way we can make simplification a reality.”

Among key measures is a new International Trade Window that will allow traders to lodge information with a single body to fulfil all import and export regulatory requirements. The one-stop shop has already gone live through the award-winning Business Link website; it is estimated that this measure alone will save companies some $114 million a year. The implementation of the Companies Act 2006 will introduce additional savings, by allowing larger firms to communicate with their shareholders electronically rather than in writing. Form-filling and access to Companies House registration and database services is also to be improved through the introduction of automated systems. Already over 50 per cent of annual returns are being filed electronically.

In another development, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are being offered extra practical support and guidance from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) and the DTI to advance their research and development activities. HMRC is opening a network of seven new specialist R&D tax credit units across the country to make it easier for innovative SMEs to take advantage of R&D tax credits. SMEs in all sectors can now benefit from a wider range of customer services and business-oriented support. R&D tax credits are designed to promote investment in innovation; between April 2000 and April 2006 some 22,000 companies took advantage of the scheme.

In the West Midlands, a pioneering new incubator centre for food and drink companies at the Shropshire Food Enterprise Park will be the first in a network of similar centres across the region. Advantage West Midlands is providing $9 million to Shropshire County Council to establish the centre, which will offer workspace for around 12 start-up companies. Construction work will start in the spring, with the development being the first to get under way at the 26-acre Food Enterprise Park. On-site infrastructure, including roads and services, will be completed early this year and the marketing of plots, which start at one acre in size, is already under way.

“We are looking to roll out a network of centres right across the West Midlands region over the next few months, at locations including Leominster, Stafford and Birmingham. Ultimately our intention is to have such facilities accessible throughout the region,” said Paul Hebblethwaite, food and drink cluster chairman at Advantage West Midlands.

SMEs across North Yorkshire are being offered advanced IT training by York University’s IT Academy. Businesses in the tourism, food and drink, construction, engineering and manufacturing industries are eligible to train with the academy, which is accredited by Microsoft. The IT academy already offers advanced training courses in IT infrastructure, 3D design, web development and database integration, and new courses are being developed to cover a range of bespoke training and office skills.


UK companies among WEF Technology Pioneers 2007
The World Economic Forum (WEF) has underlined the importance of innovation as a global phenomenon by announcing 47 visionary companies around the world as Technology Pioneers 2007. Technology Pioneers are nominated in three main categories – Energy, Biotechnology/Health and Information Technology – though the products of the current crop span a huge range of inventiveness, from a microscopic pill camera and implantable medical devices to video headsets and solar-powered air-conditioners. Of the 47 companies, 27 are from the US, with 13 located in California. The UK boasts six Pioneers, the Netherlands, India, Israel and Singapore two each and Canada, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Sweden and Switzerland one apiece.

The UK has two Technology Pioneers in each of the three categories. In the Biotech/Health category are Oxford Medical Diagnostics, which is developing laser-based techniques for the analysis of gases, and Renovo, a world leader in research into scar prevention and reduction. UK representatives in the IT sector are Alfresco Software, which develops systems for open source enterprise content management (ECM), and Truphone, a company that has developed a software infrastructure that allows mobile phones to make calls and send SMS messages using Wi-Fi and the internet. Taking the accolades in the Energy sector are DeepStream Technologies, which designs and manufactures digital sensors for 3D imaging, and UltraMotor Company (UMC), which has developed an entirely new concept for electric motors.

To be chosen as a Technology Pioneer, companies must be involved in the development of life-changing technology innovation and have the potential for long-term impact on business and society. The Technology Pioneers 2007 were nominated by the world’s leading venture capital and technology companies, and the final selection from a list of 225 nominees was made by a panel of technology experts appointed by the WEF. The successful companies have been invited to take part in the WEF’s annual meeting at Davos in Switzerland, which is being held from 24-28 January 2007.

“The competition to become a Technology Pioneer has become more intense than ever. It is evident that technology and innovation are playing a key role in the shifting power equation at the global level. Driving this shift is the tremendous amount of innovation taking place outside of traditional hubs,” said Peter Torreele, managing director of the Geneva-based World Economic Forum.


Airbus’s Integrated Wing project gets off the ground
Trade and Industry Secretary Alistair Darling has launched the first phase of the Integrated Wing Aerospace Programme at Airbus UK’s factory at Broughton in North Wales. This pioneering $68 million programme, which is 50 per cent funded by the government, brings together the country’s best researchers and know-how with the aim of developing a greener and more cost-effective aircraft wing concept fit for 2020 and beyond. The programme, led by Airbus UK, has a particular focus on sustainable air travel with reduced fuel burn, emissions and noise and, it is hoped, will maintain the UK’s reputation as a world leader in aerospace design and manufacture.

The first phase of the programme lasts for three years and will integrate the most promising combination of technologies related to the development of wings, wing systems, landing gear and fuel systems, all traditional strengths of the UK aerospace sector. The second phase will see the development of a large-scale physical demonstrator, with the best solutions put forward for design from 2020 onwards.

The programme brings together 17 organisations, supported by the DTI and Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) in the South East and South West, together with Invest Northern Ireland and the Welsh Assembly. Consortium members in the South West include Gloucester-based Messier-Dowty (landing gear materials), BAE Systems Advanced Technology Centre at Filton in Bristol (aerodynamic flow control and fuel systems) and Smiths Aerospace in Cheltenham (systems integration), with support from the universities of Bath, Bristol and Exeter.

US aerospace company Goodrich meanwhile is to more than double the size of its facilities at the Aerostructures Prestwick Service Centre at Prestwick in Scotland, from 120,000 sq ft to 250,000 sq ft, and will create almost 300 new jobs, as it seeks to offer a complete support service to its airline customers. The expansion will give the Fortune 500 company a platform to grow its maintenance, repair and overhaul business across the EMEA and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) markets. A key element in its decision to expand was the high skill levels of the Prestwick workforce. The company’s engineers provide 24/7 on-call support to over 60 major customers, with an ever-expanding range of services, including maintenance of engine housing and thrust reversers, flight controls and engine components.

A new aviation academy in Yorkshire and Humber is set for completion by spring of this year. Planning permission has been granted for the new Airport and Aviation Employment and Training Academy at Robin Hood Doncaster Sheffield International Airport in South Yorkshire. The academy, sited in a 55,000 sq ft hangar close to the airport’s runway and terminal building, will house specialised engineering and aviation equipment, including working aircraft, and will complement the well-established Directions Finningley training operation. The facility will provide training courses in engineering, aviation maintenance and cabin crew training, and will be the first in the country to offer training and employee support in a working airport environment.


Jaguar and Toyota to build new models in the UK
In the automotive sector Jaguar, Ford’s UK performance car subsidiary, plans to build the new Jaguar XF at its Advanced Manufacturing Centre at Castle Bromwich in Birmingham in the West Midlands. The new sports saloon model was designed at Jaguar’s Product Development Centre at Whitley in Coventry, and customer deliveries are due to begin in spring 2008. Toyota meanwhile is to build the three-door version of its new Auris model at its Burnaston plant in Derbyshire in the East Midlands. The Auris hatchback is a slightly upmarket replacement for the best-selling Toyota Corolla, and comes in both three- and five-door models. It will go on sale in the spring, and forms an important element in Toyota’s plans to sell 1.2 million cars in Europe by 2008.

The skills and training expertise of the successful Automotive Academy are to be used as a blueprint for training across the whole of manufacturing industry, according to Trade and Industry Sector Alistair Darling. The Academy, set up by the DTI and the automotive industry, has pioneered ways to develop the skills needed to shorten product cycles, satisfy customers and manage supply chains, and has already benefited some 170 companies. It will become part of the government’s new National Skills Manufacturing Academy, one of the first four skills academies to be announced towards the end of last year.


Port traffic volumes still on the increase
The Department for Transport (DfT) has published National Statistics on port traffic for 2005, and UK and world fleet statistics in its Maritime Statistics 2005 publication. Freight traffic at UK ports rose by 2 per cent in 2005 to 586 million tonnes (Mt) compared with the previous year. Inwards traffic rose by 3 per cent to 354 Mt but outwards traffic was up by less than one half per cent to 231 Mt. Bulk traffic, in terms of tonnage, was up by 7 Mt, or 2 per cent, while roll on roll off (ro-ro) traffic increased by 5 Mt, up 3 per cent. Container traffic increased by 150,000 units (teu), up 3 per cent, and the number of road goods vehicles and unaccompanied trailers rose by 155,000 units, a rise of 2 per cent.

The top three ports by tonnage were the same as in 2004: Grimsby and Immingham with 60.7 Mt, Tees and Hartlepool (55.8 Mt) and London (53.8 Mt). Southampton (39.9 Mt) overtook Milford Haven (37.5 Mt) to claim fourth place. Dover, the leading ro-ro port, handled 2 million road goods vehicles and unaccompanied trailer movements, 3 per cent more than in 2004. Felixstowe, the leading container port, handled 1.7 million containers, an increase of 1 per cent.

The UK’s registered trading fleet expanded by 11 ships to 608 in 2005, while tonnage increased from 10.5 million deadweight tonnes (dwt) to 11.6 million dwt, a 10 per cent rise from 2004. The fleet included 129 tankers, 137 ro-ro vessels, 144 container vessels and 38 passenger vessels. Container vessels accounted for half of all deadweight tonnage. Worldwide, the tonnage of trading vessels increased by 3 per cent in 2005 to 956 million dwt.

The DfT has also published statistics on waterborne freight traffic in the UK in 2005. That year, 49 Mt of cargo were carried on inland waterways, a rise of 9 per cent from 2004, while goods moved (defined as the tonnage lifted multiplied by the distance travelled) rose by 8 per cent to 1.6 billion tonne-kilometres. The River Thames was the busiest inland waterway, lifting 19 Mt and moving 0.7 billion tonne-kilometres. It was followed by the Forth in Scotland, which lifted 8.5 Mt and moved 0.18 billion tonne-kilometres. Overall, however, inland waterway traffic has declined significantly over the past decade, both in terms of goods lifted (by 20 per cent) and goods moved (by 14 per cent).

SEWS launches new industrial rail freight division
English Welsh and Scottish Railways (EWS) has restructured its organisation and launched a new division, EWS Industrial, which will specialise in the transport of heavy raw materials for British industry. EWS Industrial will focus initially on the metals and petroleum markets – which are projected to grow by up to 45 per cent by 2015 – but plans to quickly widen its range of services. Its business plan includes increasing its haulage capacity by running longer, heavier trains; offering improved door-to-door logistics services, including covered transit storage and just-in-time deliveries to strategically located terminals; and developing its capability for operating services through the Channel Tunnel and working with its European partner Euro Cargo Rail. “This is one of the most exciting developments in rail freight in years and we are passionate about the future prospects for growth in these important markets,” said Neil McDonald, managing director of EWS Industrial.

In London, the DfT has given planning approval for the 6km extension of the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) to Stratford International Station and the Olympic Park, providing an essential rail link for the 2012 Olympic Games. The Stratford International Extension, due to open in 2010, will be funded by Transport for London’s $19.5 billion investment programme and a contribution from the Olympic Delivery Authority. It involves the conversion of part of the existing North London Line between Royal Victoria and Stratford to DLR operation and the construction of a link (including four new stations) to the new Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL) station at Stratford. The DLR’s two most recent extensions, to Lewisham and London City Airport, were completed on budget and ahead of schedule, and a further extension under the Thames to Woolwich Arsenal is on target to open in early 2009.

Property squeeze likely to drive up office rents in 2007
Office rents grew by 10.7 per cent year-on-year in the third quarter of 2006, with the Central London market remaining the key driver, according to the November 2006 edition of Marketbeat UK, the property market survey by consultants Cushman & Wakefield. Office markets outside the capital recorded a more restrained level of rental growth, although almost all regions showed an acceleration from the second quarter to the third. The biggest increases were seen in the North West and in Scotland, at 7.8 per cent and 7.3 per cent respectively.

Activity in the industrial sector was quieter, with year-on-year growth for the UK as a whole easing to a 15-month low of 2.1 per cent. Although there were still pockets of strong growth – with Scotland, for example, recording an increase of 10.3 per cent – the report concluded that the relative buoyancy seen in the first six months of 2006 was coming to an end.

DTZ’s core report for November meanwhile, which focuses on the Central London market, revealed that availability in the capital’s main office markets fell to its lowest level since Q4 2001. There was a particular shortage of the best-quality space, with the ratio of Grade A availability to total stock standing at just 1.6 per cent in the City, 1.4 per cent in the West End and less than 1 per cent in Mid Town locations. There was also a shortage of new supply, with much of the 700,000 sq ft of speculative space completed in the City already spoken for. A further 1.3 million sq ft is scheduled to complete in the City in 2007, although almost half of this will not be ready until the fourth quarter.

In the West End, 820,000 sq ft of new build is scheduled for completion this year, most of it in the sub-market north of Oxford Street, although this compares with a ten-year average uptake of 1 million sq ft in this market. Although the level of completions is expected to rise markedly in 2008, DTZ expects that the current situation will mean further strong growth for prime rents in 2007.

In the North East, a joint venture between RDA One NorthEast and UK Land Estates has started work on 14 buildings on four separate brownfield sites. These include nine hybrid office/factory units at Boldon in South Tyneside; 7,200 sq ft of offices at the Balliol Business Park in North Tyneside; two industrial units totalling 25,000 sq ft of space at Cramlington in Northumberland; and the largest development, two industrial units with a total of 40,000 sq ft of space at Teesside Industrial Estate at Thornaby.

In Liverpool in the North West, three derelict sites at Northshore are to be redeveloped to create Wellington Employment Park South and Connect Business Village. The 181,300 sq ft development, part of the Northshore regeneration initiative, will comprise office and industrial accommodation. At the Pioneer Business Park in Ellesmere Port, meanwhile, construction work is under way on a new Evans Easyspace serviced office development. The $7 million development will provide 23 offices and 18 workshops for small and growing businesses, on a 2.5-acre site. The company has recently added to its network in the region by opening new centres in Chester and Blackpool.

In Portsmouth in South East England, 125,000 sq ft of offices are planned on a 4.9-ace site formerly occupied by healthcare product company Johnson and Johnson. The development, the first major office scheme in the area for ten years, will be located at a prominent gateway to the city and will proceed in two phases, with a speculative start scheduled for the second quarter of 2007 and completion for summer 2008.

In Cornwall in the South West, a major new office development is set to get under way at the Beacon Technology Park in Bodmin. A derelict Victorian building on the former St Lawrence’s Hospital site will be converted into nine office suites offering around 25,000 sq ft of space. Meanwhile the $9 million Brunel Business Park has been completed at nearby St Austell. This office development offers 21,600 sq ft of space in seven units and features a variety of environmentally friendly technologies, including a ‘green’ heating system that taps into the earth’s natural underground energy.

A number of new developments are coming onto the market in Newport, South Wales. In the city centre Usk House, a 30,000 sq ft office development, has been opened in the George Street area of the city, the first of a number of planned projects here. Rombourne Serviced Business Centre is a new development at Langstone Business Park, just off Junction 24 of the M4 motorway. The first phase of the centre, Merlin House, has total space of 15,500 sq ft and will provide managed accommodation for up to 50 companies, while a second 5,500 sq ft phase will provide a further 12 units. The go-ahead has also been given for a speculative 35,000 sq ft office development at the Celtic Springs Business Park near Newport, while work has begun on a three-year enhancement scheme for the Queensway Meadows and Lee Way industrial estates in the east of the city.


Recognition for Scotland’s call centre sector
Clydesdale Bank’s contact centre in Glasgow, Scotland has been named worldwide ‘Best Contact Centre of the Year 2006’ in the Contact Centre World Awards held in Las Vegas. The centre had already beaten more than 400 entrants across Europe, the Middle East and Africa to win a regional award earlier in 2006 in the category for larger contact centres employing more than 250 agents. The Royal Bank of Scotland and Sage UK were runners-up in the awards, which are organised by ContactCenterWorld.com, a leading global support organisation for the call centre industry.

The latest company to set up a call or contact centre operation in Scotland is global e-commerce and payments processing firm First Data International, which plans to open a major call centre in Glasgow’s International Financial Services District (IFSD) early this year. The US-based firm is following the example of other financial services giants that have established administrative or service operations in either Glasgow or Edinburgh, among them Bank of New York, BNP Paribas, Citigroup, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley.

First Data expects the Glasgow office to grow into its largest customer contact centre in the UK in the next few years. Its operations will cover all aspects of customer service, including card activation, sales, lost and stolen cards and fraud. The new centre, which was set up with the help of a $4.5 million Regional Selective Assistance (RSA) grant from the Scottish Executive, is expected to create 430 jobs over the next five years.

Another major player in the sector, global consulting, technology and outsourcing company Capgemini, plans to double the size of its operation in Scotland over the next three years. The firm has moved into Glasgow’s IFSD and plans to increase its Scottish workforce to 750 by the end of 2007. It already services a number of high-level clients, including Lloyds TSB and Glasgow City Council, and it is targeting in particular the financial services, energy and utilities, and government and public sectors. Financial services continue to be the fastest-growing sector of the Scottish economy. In the past five years the sector has grown by 34.4 per cent, twice as fast as the UK financial services sector as a whole.


Regional news
UK medical equipment firm Huntleigh Technology has agreed to an $802 million takeover by Swedish company Getinge. Huntleigh is engaged in the design, manufacture and distribution of medical equipment worldwide, particularly products to prevent bedsores. It has representation in more than 120 countries and a team of more than 700 sales and service staff. The purchase will allow the Swedish firm to add Huntleigh’s expertise in hospital beds to its own technologies in patient lifting, creating what it describes as a “total bedside management system”. Huntleigh was founded by Rolf Schild, a German-born entrepreneur who worked on the design of heart and lung machines; Getinge was spun off from Electrolux in 1993.

Swindon in Wiltshire is one of the UK’s most productive towns, according to the South West Regional Development Agency (SWRDA). Research by the body shows that Swindon’s annual economic output was $8.5 billion (2003 figures), measured as gross value added (GVA). This represented 6 per cent of the region’s GVA, although the town accounts for only 3.6 per cent of its population. Swindon also has the highest levels of full-time working in South West England, with 78 per cent of its population in full-time employment, compared with a regional average of 72 per cent. Measured by output per head, the town is the fourth most productive area nationally, after inner London west, Berkshire and Edinburgh.

The largest community wireless broadband network in the UK has gone live in Norwich in Norfolk, Eastern England. Norfolk Open Link is the only network in the country that offers free mobile internet access for public sector employees, the business community and the general public. The $2 million project, operated by Norfolk County Council and the East of England Development Agency (EEDA), will run until April 2008 to evaluate the potential and impact of mobile technology. More than 200 aerials have been fixed to lampposts to create the network, which covers most of the city centre as well as business park, university and hospital sites on the outskirts. Later this year it will also be extended to cover 28 rural locations.

Leeds in Yorkshire and Humber is mounting a major campaign to promote itself as the UK’s leading financial and professional services centre outside London. The $190,000 campaign is being led by the Leeds Financial Services Initiative (LFSI), the city’s partnership body for the sector, and includes a six-month-long advertising campaign, the development of international links and skills projects to prepare the workforce for an estimated extra 27,000 jobs in the sector by 2016. LFSI has worked with RDA Yorkshire Forward, the city’s two universities and Park Lane Further Education College to set up a new regional skills academy in the city, backed by the Financial Services Sector Skills Council.

The new Innovation Technology Centre (ITC) at the Waverley Advanced Manufacturing Park in South Yorkshire has been officially opened. The $16 million environmentally efficient building provides office and workshop space for up to 20 start-up and growing companies in the advanced engineering technologies sector. Managed by Oxford Innovation, the UK’s leading operator of innovation centres, the ITC offers access to specialist technical advice and a business support programme. Six companies have already moved into the centre, including Bromley Ice and Snow Sport Technologies and LIFE-IC, Europe’s first business incubator for early-stage clean energy technology companies.

UK-wide statistics showed Northern Ireland making the biggest gain in competitiveness from 2005 to 2006, increasing by 4.4 per cent. It was followed by Yorkshire and Humber, with a gain of 4.2 per cent, with Wales in third place, followed by North East England and Scotland. London, the South East and Eastern England all recorded relative declines in their competitiveness. Yorkshire and Humber attributed its improved competitiveness to a big increase in public sector investment, with government R&D expenditure up 134 per cent over the year. The region has also seen a 2 per cent rise in the number of knowledge-based companies, and ranks highly on the university R&D spend and the number of patent applications submitted.

RDA Yorkshire Forward has announced plans to improve publicly funded business support in the Yorkshire and Humber region. Among other changes, a ‘Regional Gateway’ will now operate under the Business Link brand, with a single website and phone number providing access to all publicly funded business support in the region. UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) meanwhile has redesigned its regional website for Yorkshire and Humber businesses interested in trading overseas. The site, at www.tradeyorkshire.com, has been thoroughly revamped to provide a ‘one-stop shop’ for potential exporters. In 2005 there were 5,528 exporting companies in the region, an increase of 5.5 per cent from 2003. The region’s export value in 2005 was $23 billion, accounting for 5.6 per cent of the total value of UK exports.

To find out about business exhibitions and events happening around the United Kingdom click on the EVENTS button.