The Centre for Applied Economic Geography

Forthcoming reports

January 2008 reports

Graduates Yorkshire will be publishing Geoconomics report Graduate Economies in Britain, a unique analysis of talent attraction and retention in the knowledge economy. The same month will also see the publication of The Economic Contribution of BAE Systems to the UK, a joint study for BAE Systems carried out by Oxford Economics and Geoeconomics.

If you are interested in either of these reports, please contact Mark Hepworth at mark@geoeconomics.co.uk .

Geoeconomics website

The partner site to CAEG is now online : www.geoeconomics.com .

Geoeconomics is a research and strategy consultancy which works on innovative approaches to economic development with and for governments, businesses and third sector organisations.

'Graduates Economies in Britain' Seminars January 2008

Mark Hepworth and Martin Frost will be busy in Yorkshire and the Humber through January 2008 promoting their new report "Graduates Economies in Britain" sponsored by Graduates Yorkshire. They will be speaking at Bradford, Sheffield, Hull and York in a series of evening seminars organised by Yorkshire Universities. In the same month they will be presenting their new work on sub-regional economic development for Humber Economic Partnership at the EC Anticipating Change conference in Hull.

Launch of innovative product for assessing economic performance

Following a successful pilot for the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA), Geoeconomics has launched its Economic Performance Review product. This innovative toolkit is designed for clients who wish to improve their understanding, analytical capacity and evidence in the field of local and regional economic development.

The product's launch is timely because it coincides with the July 2007 publication of the Review of Sub-National Economic Development and Regeneration. The Review calls for local authorities to make a step change in all aspects of economic development − from analysis through strategy to performance management. It encourages councils to work across jurisdictional boundaries through sub-regional partnerships and Multi Area Agreements. Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) are required to produce single strategies that frame and mirror local and sub-regional priorities.

The Geoeconomics Economic Performance Review will help local authorities, sub-regional partnerships and RDAs achieve the 'step change' in economic analysis and strategy required by the Government's proposals for devolution.

Geoeconomics' pilot project for SEEDA focused on Milton Keynes and Aylesbury Vale, two of the 12 local authorities that make up the Milton Keynes / South Midlands Growth Area. In this complex test bed, Geoeconomics evolved a performance framework that relates structural change in the local economy to economic well-being outcomes. The knowledge economy is a core theme. The new framework was used to benchmark the pilot authorities against the rest of the Growth Area and the South East, and to identify patterns of economic interdependence as potential for multi area collaboration.

According to SEEDA Area Director Deborah Wharton, "The Geoeconomics Economic Performance Review casts a new light on how economies in the Growth Area are performing and the linkages between them. We are already using it to implement multi area approaches toward inward investment in the Growth Area."

"Subsequent projects in the South East, Yorkshire and Humber and London regions have highlighted the originality and explanatory power of the Economic Performance Review tool for clients", says Mark Hepworth, "Our Review tool and other Geoeconomics analyses are designed to catalyse and promote innovative approaches to economic development."

To find out more about the Economic Performance Review tool, please contact Mark Hepworth at mark@geoeconomics.co.uk .