New National Centre to Help Unlock Potential of UKs Rural Economies
This is a real coup and very welcome. I think there will be lots of content with focuses on rural and economy sharpened by the current coronavirus challenges, to get stuck into. The article tells us:
Newcastle University and its partners are to lead a new National Centre that will support enterprise, resilience and innovation among rural firms and unlock the untapped potential of rural economies across the UK.
Led by experts from Newcastle, Warwick, Gloucestershire and the Royal Agricultural Universities, and working with businesses, policy makers, enterprise agencies and communities, the centre has been awarded £3.8 million of funding by Research England.
In England alone, rural businesses comprise over half a million enterprises, 3.6 million employees and contribute over £260 billion to GDP.
Through the National Innovation Centre for Rural Enterprise (NICRE), the aim is to help build the capabilities of policy makers, support agencies, rural businesses and their advisers to create resilient and sustainable economies fit for the 21stcentury.
Centre director Jeremy Phillipson, professor of rural development at Newcastle University (pictured), said: “A thriving rural economy is crucial to the future prosperity, well-being and resilience of communities across the UK.
“The need to encourage and release the dynamism and untapped potential of rural areas is even greater now with the combined uncertainty of Brexit and impacts of COVID-19 and what the implications will be, not just for rural areas, but for the UK economy as a whole.”