Since the start of 2011 we have been involved with a co-operative effort by Business Interests to secure the new Green Investment Bank for Edinburgh. There seems to be a default position at the Treasury that this should be just one more addition to the pantheon of services centred in London. We have been arguing that Edinburgh is actually the perfect place for this £3bn investment- bags of financial experience, great research facilities, close proximity to green energy opportunities and a wealth of exiting investments in state of the art renewable technologies. And who wouldn’t want to live and work in one of Europe’s finest capitals.
We broke this story big style on 30th March with presentations at the House of Commons and to Business Secretary Vince Cable. By the end of the day the Conservatives in Scotland were pumping out press releases vowing their undying ardour for the cause.
Find here the 147 pieces of coverage generated (in co-operation with City of Edinburgh Council and the offices of Mike Crockart MP and Mark Lazarowicz MP).
And here is the Scottish Secretary Michael Moore MP (who also happens to be our constituency MP!) explaining to the assembled worthies why Graham Bell Associates sits at the heart of the campaign (observe the logos).
Do you want ground breaking coverage for your business and policy endeavours? You could do worse than give us a call!
Edinburgh “Natural Home for the Green Investment Bank”.
Edinburgh business is rallying to persuade the government to locate the Green Investment Bank in the city.
The Bank is a government initiative to harness public and private risk capital to spur technological and industrial development in he renewable energy sector.
Ron Hewitt, Chief Executive of the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce has called on David Cameron to ensure that the new bank is headquartered in ‘the natural headquarters of the renewable sector in Britain’, saying that
Edinburgh has three key attributes.
1. Scotland is blessed with extraordinary forces of nature that give it a unique advantage in harnessing the powers of wind, wave and tidal stream. Already a third of new UK renewable energy plant is being developed in Scotland, and this is set to grow as the marine technologies mature.
2. Edinburgh has an established cluster of excellence in financial services, law and business services which is already adapting to provide specialist support to the renewable energy sector.
3. Third, the city hosts leading edge research capability in its universities, which almost daily is being augmented by commercial investment in new research facilities by the likes of Mitsubishi, Gamesa and Seimens.
“In Edinburgh we are witnessing something very exciting”, said Hewitt. “The birth of a new industrial sector that combines the economies of scale and specialist know-how to become a world leader”
“The Government has established a forward looking framework of policy that is allowing the sector to flourish. It latest initiative – the Green Investment Bank – is a welcome addition to that. This week I am part of a delegation seeking to persuade the government that Edinburgh must be the logical home for the bank.”
Edinburgh is the home for the new Green Investment Bank Article for Ron Hewitt
Industrial success often grows out of clusters of similar companies and their supply chains gathering together in the same region. There are famous historic and current examples of this phenomenon around the world – silicon valley in California for information technology, the Ruhr in Germany for manufacturing. In Britain we have the City of London for finance and the West Midlands for manufacturing.
Such clusters provide a critical mass to develop a pool of skilled labour that fuel corporate expansion and development. It also allows supply companies to specialise in the particular needs of that industry, whether it is in finance, law, research or marketing. The end result is a concentration of applied knowledge that generates high levels of productivity.
In Edinburgh we are witnessing something very exciting. The birth of a new industrial sector that combines the economies of scale and specialist know-how to become a world leader.
Renewable energy is one of a handful of sectors that is experiencing very rapid growth globally in terms of sales and technological development. The commercial potential for this industry is immense, and Britain has a great opportunity to become a world leader.
Edinburgh is the natural headquarters of the renewable sector in Britain for three reasons.
First, Scotland is blessed with extraordinary forces of nature that give it a unique advantage in harnessing the powers of wind, wave and tidal stream. Already a third of new UK renewable energy plant is being developed in Scotland, and this is set to grow as the marine technologies mature.
Second, Edinburgh has an established cluster of excellence in financial services, law and business services which is already adapting to provide specialist support to the renewable energy sector.
Third, the city hosts leading edge research capability in its universities, which almost daily is being augmented by commercial investment in new research facilities by the likes of Mitsubishi, Gamesa and Seimens.
The Government has established a forward looking framework of policy that is allowing the sector to flourish. It latest initiative – the Green Investment Bank – is a welcome addition to that. The renewable energy sector is unusual in that it combines early stage development risks with capital intensity. A government initiative that helps to bring together risk capital (public and private) with technological know-how is enlightened policy making at its best.
The question remains where to locate this new institution. This week I am part of a delegation seeking to persuade the government that Edinburgh must be the logical home for the Green Investment Bank.
Other UK cities have clear strengths in some of the necessary attributes to create a successful industrial concentration in the renewable energy sector. But only Edinburgh has all of them – access to natural resources, the necessary skills, a nascent industry already in place, a strong research capability, and a tradition of excellence in finance and other aspects of the supply chain.
This government has seen the need to rebalance Britain’s economy away from over-reliance on the City of London, and has taken welcome measures to encouraging economic growth across the range of sectors and regions. Headquartering the Green Investment Bank in Edinburgh would be great step forward to boosting an industrial success story that would benefit the whole of Britain.
Ron Hewitt is Chief Executive of the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce
