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  • Career changers entering ED
  • Consultants needing CPD
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Explorer services plus:

  • 15 hours of on-demand courses
  • Downloadable templates and tools
  • 10 workbooks relating to the Handbook
  • AI assistant (Eddie) based on the Handbook

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Latest News and Advice

๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—˜๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ถ๐—ฐ ๐——๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ’๐˜€ ๐—ฉ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜„: ๐—ฃ๐—ผ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—ฃ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐˜€ ๐——๐—ผ๐—ป’๐˜ ๐—ฆ๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ณ๐˜ ๐— ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐˜๐˜€

๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—˜๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ถ๐—ฐ ๐——๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ’๐˜€ ๐—ฉ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜„: ๐—ฃ๐—ผ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—ฃ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐˜€ ๐——๐—ผ๐—ป’๐˜ ๐—ฆ๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ณ๐˜ ๐— ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐˜๐˜€

Political pronouncements don't shift markets unless they are backed by tangible co-investment, legislation, incentives, changes to tax codes and/or demand stimulus This is the first article in a regular weekly series, where I reflect on a common issue that I see a lot...

Best Practice Supporting Industries and Clusters

Best Practice Supporting Industries and Clusters

The book I'm launching next month - ๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜“๐˜ฐ๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ญ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜™๐˜ฆ๐˜จ๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ข๐˜ญ ๐˜Œ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜ช๐˜ค ๐˜‹๐˜ฆ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต ๐˜๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฌ - is packed with practical advice and case studies. Here's a sample of what's in the book regarding industrial clusters...The UK has oscillated between active industrial strategy...

๐—œ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐˜‚๐˜€๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—ฐ๐—น๐˜‚๐˜€๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—ถ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜ โ€“ ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒโ€™๐˜€ ๐Ÿฑ ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ฝ๐˜€ ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐˜€๐˜‚๐—ฐ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€๐—ณ๐˜‚๐—น ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜† ๐—ฏ๐˜† ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ถ๐—ฐ ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜ ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—บ๐˜€

The evidence is clear: successful industrial clusters generate genuine competitive advantages. Firms in Oxfordshireโ€™s Motorsport Valley are 6x more productive than isolated competitors. Research Triangle Park transformed North Carolina from textile dependence into a ยฃ17 billion innovation economy. Denmarkโ€™s professionalised clusters consistently outperform regions without them. Yet cluster initiatives can sometimes fail to deliver. Why? [โ€ฆ]

๐——๐—ผ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—น๐—ผ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ผ๐—บ๐˜† ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜€ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚ ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ผ๐—ผ๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ถ๐—ฐ ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฒ

Local leaders often say they canโ€™t afford to invest in economic development. ๐˜‰๐˜ถ๐˜ต ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฐ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ฏโ€™๐˜ต ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ถ๐˜ต๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ญ โ€“ ๐˜ช๐˜ตโ€™๐˜ด ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ ๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ท๐˜ฆ ๐˜ค๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ฆ ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฉ ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ฒ๐˜ถ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ๐˜ด. ๐——๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ถ ๐—ฅ๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ธโ€™๐˜€ ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฐ๐—ต ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐˜‚๐˜€๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐˜† ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—น๐˜€ ๐˜€๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—น: ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ถ๐—ฐ ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜ ๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—ณ๐˜‚๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฎ๐—น๐—น๐˜† ๐—ฎ ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜† ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€. ๐—ฌ๐—ผ๐˜‚ ๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ป ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐˜„๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ธ๐˜€ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—ฌ๐—ข๐—จ๐—ฅ ๐—น๐—ผ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜๐˜† ๐—ฏ๐˜† ๐—ฒ๐˜…๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด, ๐—ด๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒ, ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐—ฎ๐—ฝ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด. Consider what [โ€ฆ]

๐—™๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐—ณ๐˜‚๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฎ๐—น๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐˜„๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐˜„ ๐—Ÿ๐—ผ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—ฆ๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—น๐—น๐˜€ ๐—œ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜ ๐—ฃ๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ป

๐—™๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐—ณ๐˜‚๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฎ๐—น๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐˜„๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐˜„ ๐—Ÿ๐—ผ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—ฆ๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—น๐—น๐˜€ ๐—œ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜ ๐—ฃ๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ป

After reviewing dozens of local skills plans, I see the same fundamental misunderstandings repeated. Here's what actually matters: ๐Ÿญ. ๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜ ๐˜€๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—น๐—น๐˜€ An aerospace manufacturer needs accountants, IT staff, administrators, and delivery drivers - not just...