VIEW FROM THE REGIONS - Deutsch-Britische Industrie- und ...

4 View from the regions
North East England
in a global Europe:
Ambitions for growth
this was the title of a conference held
recently in newcastle upon tyne which
marked the start of a new drive to
maximize local business opportunities
by stimulating aspirations in the areas of
inward investment, export-led business
growth and further development of trade
opportunities with european countries.
Keynote speaker was His Excellency Georg
Boomgaarden, ambassador of the Federal
republic of Germany. He spoke about the
importance of the “mittelstand” (medium
sized companies) to the German economy
and how the German regional structure
provided support to such companies,
including through its financial infrastructure.
I was able to bring my own contacts and
experience as German Honorary Consul and
Chair of the north East England regional
Committee to the table.
The conference was part of a process
of refreshing and revitalizing business
networks following the winding up of the
region’s regional development agency One
northEast. One could quote the song “pick
yourself up, dust yourself off, start all over
again” …but not so! rather onwards and
upwards, because the region is notching
up some notable successes through its
championing of the low carbon economy
and the vehicles sector, part of the regional
economic strategy and in particular, the German
market and German companies are contributing
to these successes.
The north East of England has built up formidable
capacity for the offshore and subsea sectors,
based on deep water ports and riverside sites,
located on former shipyard sites. Coupled with
Tyneside’s proximity to the dogger Bank offshore
wind programme and the recent designation
of an Enterprise Zone on the north Bank of the
river Tyne with commitment to upgrade the
heavy-lift crane and £80 million of private sector
investment agreed this year, the region’s capability
to service the new offshore wind turbine building
programme cannot be doubted.
many companies based across the region with
expertise in the cable laying and trenching
sectors are already winning orders, including in
Germany, in the offshore wind technology sector.
CTC marine Products of darlington recently
announced a multi-million pound contract for
power cables for the dolwini project in north
Germany and the new division of Tekmar Energy
of newton aycliffe which employs 60 people
won a contract worth £4.5 million from German
energy company Bard. In a bid to showcase
the north East’s expertise in the offshore and
subsea sectors in Germany, the northern
Offshore Federation Energi Coast plans to take
a mission of north East companies to Hamburg,
Bremerhaven and Bremen in late June to meet
with companies such as Hochtief, repower, EOn
and EnBw before touring the Falck nutec facility
and attending the windforce 2012 exhibition
and conference in Bremen.
In addition, the narec centre at Blyth,
northumberland has been designated a
national Translational research Centre for the
renewables sector, with a wind turbine blade
testing facility and £150 million invested to
date. Siemens Energy of newcastle opened
their new Training Centre for apprentices
to support their wind turbine facilities and
work closely with Tynemet College, north
Tyneside, one of only three colleges in
England specializing in training in this sector.
The 3.5 year apprenticeship courses include
components of German language training.
a delegation from Berlin-Brandenburg visited
the training facility in april to hear at first hand
about the developments, as part of a project
of exchange of know-how on skills issues
within small and medium sized companies
in Germany and the region. Back to the title
of this article – the north East of England in a
Global Europe – yes, we have “ambitions for
Growth” and they are not all hot air!
Josephine Chexal, Chairperson
Josephine Chexal,
Chairperson
German-British Chamber
in North East England
Chairperson: Josephine V Chexal
Main Industries: Energy & Low Carbon
Technology, Chemicals, automotive and
digital media
Size of region: 5.923 sqm
(9.6 % of UK total)*
Population: 3.1 million (5 % of UK total)*
Regional Gross Value Added (GVA):
48.1 £bn (3.2 % of UK total)*
Export Trade to EU: 5.5 £bn
(4.3 % of UK total)*
*Source: Invest in the UK 2010, German-British Chamber