All universities have a vital role to play in supporting people on their doorstep – and it is essential that institutions engage with local authorities and their communities to make the most of their expertise to deliver economic impact.
Never has this ethos been more important than now and we have developed a practical support package to help businesses through the coronavirus emergency. Along with other agencies, our university is working with the Tees Valley Mayor and Combined Authority (TVCA) to ensure a co-ordinated approach, helping the region's businesses to stay resilient and be ready to grow when the crisis is over.
It is crucial that we work together as a region to help our people withstand the economic impact of COVID-19 and be ready for strong recovery. We want to play our part in helping companies in the Tees Valley and further afield get through this crisis and emerge as strong as possible, positioned for competitive performance. But the speed with which we have been able to turn around our support package is down to the long-standing collaborations we have with local government, businesses and other partners.
For the past five years we have taken on the mantle of an ‘anchor institution' – one that is rooted in the local community by our mission – which aligns business and innovation support to meet short and long-term regional economic goals. At the heart of this is a Memorandum of Understanding between our university and TVCA that we agreed to formally outline the scope of collaboration around supporting the rebalancing of the regional economy; start-up creation; support for scale-up businesses; improving innovation performance, skills and employability; and economic diversification.
The relationship between us and TVCA is, in many ways, the ideal concept of a joined-up approach to economic development. Whilst our immediate priority is delivering our COVID-19 business support package and services, it is also important that we do not lose sight of what is going to be needed in the economic climate we are facing.
The university plays a key role in planning the way forward. As a board member of the South Tees Development Corporation alongside local authority and business, we, in collaboration with the local community, set the vision of the South Tees area focusing on economic growth and inward investment, and were also involved in the formation of our Local Industrial Strategy. Our vice-chancellor, Professor Paul Croney, also sits on the board of Tees Valley Local Enterprise Partnership.
Our collaboration is already notable because it is the first civic engagement of its kind between a combined authority and a university. It was also originally built around the shared goal of creating 25,000 jobs by 2022 and attracting £1 billion investment – but, as previously, we need to continue be agile in thinking and quick to react to regional challenges and opportunities such as economic shocks and government policy.
TVCA has provided significant investment and support for our initiatives such as National Horizons Centre, a UK centre of excellence for the bio-industries; DigitalCity, which delivers discreet support for new, scale-up and investment-ready businesses; Animex/ExpoTees, an annual showcase for the world-class games and animation skills at our university; a range of business start-up, growth, leadership and productivity programmes; and most, recently, our successful bid for a University Enterprise Zone.
Prior to COVID-19, our partnership was already operating with impact, strategically and operationally, and beginning to fulfil the potential we see for the Tees Valley. We can, and will, deliver economic impact once this crisis is over.
Professor Jane Turner OBE DL is pro-vice-chancellor for enterprise and business engagement at Teesside University
