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CLEANTECH & THE CLEAN ECONOMY
New Anglia
Sector Growth Strategy
SECTOR GROWTH STRATEGY
Norfolk & Suffolk
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Copyright © Hethel Innovation Ltd, 2017
While every effort has been made to ensure that the information in this document is accurate at the
time of going to press, no liability for damage is accepted by Hethel Innovation Ltd arising from any
errors or omissions that may appear, however caused – or from any editorial alterations to submitted
information. The author reserves the right to edit or exclude entries.
The views expressed within this Report are those of the authors, any third party may choose to make use
of the Report or extracts from it entirely at their own risk and neither the authors nor Hethel Innovation
shall have any responsibility whatsoever in relation to such use.
We welcome feedback on the issues raised by this study and comments should be sent to:
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Contents
Contents Executive Summary .............................................................................................................................................. 4
Section 1. Defining our Clean Economy ............................................................................................................. 5
Why Cleantech + the Clean Economy? ............................................................................................................. 5
Why is it important? ................................................................................................................................................. 5
Clean Economy in New Anglia ............................................................................................................................. 6
Identifying our Cleantech industry sectors………………………………………………………………………….8
Our Cluster Strengths…………………………………………………………………………………………………...13
Research Strengths and Cleantech Opportunities ......................................................................................... 14
Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats ................................................................................................ 16
Our Vision: A Cleantech Route to Revenue ..................................................................................................... 19
Sector Network: Cleantech East......................................................................................................................... 20
Mapping Our Skills ................................................................................................................................................. 23
Section 2. The New Anglia Cleantech + Clean Economy Sector Growth Strategy ...................................... 24
Research + Innovation ......................................................................................................................................... 24
Skills ........................................................................................................................................................................... 25
Infra-structure ......................................................................................................................................................... 26
Startups / Scaleups ................................................................................................................................................ 27
Procurement........................................................................................................................................................... 28
Trade + Investment ................................................................................................................................................ 29
Clean Growth ........................................................................................................................................................ 30
Sector Focus ........................................................................................................................................................... 31
A Balanced Economy .......................................................................................................................................... 32
The Right Institutions .............................................................................................................................................. 33
Key Recomendations ......................................................................................................................................... 34
References ........................................................................................................................................................... 35
Appendix ............................................................................................................................................................. 36
About Innovation New Anglia ........................................................................................................................... 37
About ERDF .......................................................................................................................................................... 37
About the Author................................................................................................................................................. 37
Katherine Lower ..................................................................................................................................................... 37
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Executive Summary
Globally, clean growth and cleantech are increasingly being adopted and implemented into
national development. Clean growth ensures a clean economy which can deliver increased
economic growth and decreased emissions. The importance of the sector has never before been so
prevalent, until recently, with added pressures from the 2015 Paris Agreement calling for the cleaner
economic growth of the UK to reduce emissions.
This is contextualised in the Governments recent Clean Growth Strategy (2017), supporting their
overarching Industrial Strategy, in which it is affirmed that clean growth and economic growth go
hand-in-hand. However, New Anglia’s cleantech and clean economy was vastly overlooked and
neglected to be considered as a centre of excellence in the UK within this report. This, therefore, has
led to this New Anglia Sector Growth Strategy for Cleantech & The Clean Economy – a response to
the Government’s Clean Growth Strategy.
New Anglia is developing and pioneering in clean technologies. Within this report, our leading
cleantech industry sectors have been mapped, demonstrating why cleantech is the future of our
regions economy. Established sectors identified across Norfolk and Suffolk include; environmental
technologies, clean energy, low carbon transport, advanced materials and built environment.
Alongside this, our emerging sub-sectors will be mapped. We should and must focus on the truly
innovative emerging sectors which are not yet fully established, offering our support to enable growth.
It is paramount that we gaze into New Anglia’s future and visualise what we will see.
Moreover, this report will identify the research strengths and opportunities available to support the
clean economic growth of New Anglia. With this, possible weaknesses of our region, with the potential
to transpire into a threat, will also be speculated and identified. By identifying these areas of
weaknesses, solutions can be formed, and recommendations can be given to form a strategy which
can tackle these challenges.
Nonetheless, whilst clean growth will bring these challenges to New Anglia, if we can harness clean
technologies effectively and adapt to threats accordingly, the opportunities socially, economically
and environmentally far outweigh the risk. Our New Anglia economy is comprised of innovation,
talent, entrepreneurship and ideas which can enable a clean economy to thrive. We must look
towards supporting, growing and establishing our emerging sectors, moreover building upon our
existing sectors for region to truly support a clean economy.
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Section 1. Defining our Clean Economy
Why Cleantech + the Clean Economy?
Simply put, Cleantech is any product, process or service which can provide a superior performance at a
lower cost, by harnessing renewable materials and energy sources, while greatly reducing negative
ecological impacts, as well as improving efficiency & responsible use (and reuse) of natural resources.
Cleantech contributes towards the development of a low carbon economy, ensuring that growth is
sustainable. Clean economy is derived from clean products, processes and services; addressing the
challenges we face in the light of climate change such as food, water, resources, pollution, and energy
production. It is basic business principles that to last, you must be sustainable. For Hethel Innovation, a
truly sustainable economy will also include circular economy principles.
A circular economy reuses resources for as long as possible to gain maximum value, thus reducing the
‘make, use and dispose’ culture. Circular economy includes creating new and innovative business
models based on social capital, improved recycling processes, additional manufacturing skills and
enablers such as collaboration, incentives, and regulation. For a more efficient economy, increasing
economic output must occur alongside a reduced resource input and pollution – with emphasis on
carbon dioxide. To achieve a reduced impact on the environment we must limit our reliance on finite
resources by reducing our demand and turning our preference towards infinite resources.
Fundamentally, clean growth through a clean economy can deliver increased economic growth and
decreased emissions, as summarized recently by the Government.1
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
Transitioning towards a clean, low carbon economy will have a vital significance on our regional
economy, maintaining the potential to have large benefits. A low carbon economy will work towards
connecting local potential, creating and exploiting highly skilled and high-tech jobs across the region –
overall contributing to a larger GVA per person. As well as economic benefits, this will create major social
benefits and reduce economic disparities between individuals across the region. For this to happen, a
low carbon economy will require large amounts of infrastructure to ensure that clean technologies can
be properly utilised. Consequently, industry growth will create more jobs as the movement of resources
becomes easier.
1 HM Government, 2017. The Clean Growth Strategy - Leading the way to a low carbon future. London: Available
from:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/651916/BEIS_The_Clean_Growth_o
nline_12.10.17.pdf [Accessed 31 October 2017].
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For industry to decarbonise, it must become leaner and more productive. For clear reasons, this has
economic impacts as less of, or the same, inputs are used to produce a larger output. Productivity and
lean are not always linked directly to becoming cleaner or greener, however using fewer resources and
creating less waste is inherently more low carbon.
With 1 in 12 jobs in New Anglia relying on natural capital, it is particularly beneficial for New Anglia to
grow its low carbon economy. Natural capital offer business opportunities, however, natural capital
needs time to replenish stock, allowing nature to recover from human activity depleting it. Therefore, in
a low carbon economy, natural assets are preserved and promoted to help secure jobs. Tourism is a
strong underpinning sector in New Anglia which is heavily reliant on the region’s environment. For us to
continue to support and benefit from tourism we must protect these natural assets and avoid overall
ecosystem damage.
To become globally competitive and a truly influential region within the UK, we must promote our
comparative strengths in our various sectors. We should and must focus on the truly innovative emerging
sectors which are not yet fully established, offering our support to enable growth. It is paramount that we
gaze into New Anglia’s future and visualise what we will see.
CLEAN economy in new Anglia
New Anglia is one of the best placed regions to support a low carbon economy, with this being largely
attributed to our strengths in clean technology. Considerably, New Anglia is a comparable centre of
excellence with other regions in the UK – the East of England’s regional position is shown in Figure 1.
The term cleantech refers to any product, process or service which addresses environmental issues on
either a local, regional or global scale. Fundamentally, cleantech enables us to provide superior or equal
performance of existing services whilst harnessing renewables materials and energy sources, leading
towards a reduced negative ecological impact, as well as improving the efficiency and responsible use
(and reuse) of natural resources.
Clean economy will provide the UK with a cleaner economic growth, with the low carbon economy
expected to grow by 11% per year between 2015 and 2030, which is four times faster than the projected
growth of the UK’s economy as a whole.2 This concept of a clean economy is, therefore, a concept to
be taken seriously when speculating the UK’s future economy structure. Whilst the UK itself is well placed
to take advantage of this global opportunity, New Anglia is arguably even more so. New Anglia has an
established number of sectors which are world leading, as well as globally significant research facilities.
The UK Government has increased its investment in low carbon innovation to £2.5 billion allocated
between 2015 to 2021, New Anglia could seize a significant amount of this funding.
In New Anglia’s Green Economy Pathfinder manifesto 2012-2015 the East of England is noted to be the
second largest centre for the UK energy industry, behind Aberdeen.3 The low-carbon nuclear energy
generation at Sizewell has helped to establish the region’s aspirations to be the greenest county in the
UK. New Anglia’s offshore wind sector boasts East Anglia ONE, led by ScottishPower Renewables, the
most cost effective offshore windfarm development ever delivered. Construction commenced in 2017,
with a projected 3000 construction jobs and 102 wind turbines set to be achieved by 2020.4
2 HM Government, 2017. The Clean Growth Strategy - Leading the way to a low carbon future. London: Available
from:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/651916/BEIS_The_Clean_Growth_o
nline_12.10.17.pdf [Accessed 31 October 2017]. 3 New Anglia: Local Enterprise Partnership for Norfolk and Suffolk, 2013. Leading the Way: Green Economy Pathfinder
manifesto 2012-15. 4 ScottishPower Renewables, 2017. Offshore Wind: Benefits. Scottish Power Ltd, Available from:
https://www.scottishpowerrenewables.com/pages/east_anglia_benefits.aspx [Accessed 23 October 2017]
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Norfolk and Suffolk are already home to established Cleantech industry sectors, including environmental
technologies, clean energy, low carbon transport, advanced materials and built environment.
FIGURE 1. THE EAST OF ENGLAND’S LANDSCAPE AND REGIONAL POSITION
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IDENTIFYING OUR cleantech industry SECTORS
In Norfolk and Suffolk, these industry sectors can be summarized by the following:
ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGIES
New Anglia has a wealth of environmental technology (envirotech), being the application of one or
more environmental science, green chemistry, environmental monitoring and electronic devices. These
are exploited to monitor, model and conserve the natural environment and its resources – ultimately
curbing negative human impacts.
Regionally, New Anglia has strengths within this sector, having a strong background in environmental
sciences and research. The UEA is a hot bed of world class research and its school of environmental
sciences is one of the largest interdisciplinary departments in Europe. As a result, research from the
environmental sciences department ranked 1st in the UK for impact, standing at the forefront of crucial
environmental research for over 50 years.
Commercially New Anglia has enabling strengths in ICT, Energy and High Value Manufacturing, coupled
with the UEA’S world class research many businesses across New Anglia are pioneering the UK’s leading
environmental technologies.
BUSINESSES IN ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGIES
EnLight is a multi-award winning solution which develops and
implements technology that transforms lighting infrastructure into an
energy efficient and low maintenance asset.
Syrinix spun out of UEA in 2004 to specialise in providing intelligent
pipeline monitoring solutions for clearer network insights. Since 2004,
Syrinix has grown to establish installation locations across the globe.
INTERNET OF THINGS
SENSORS
ELECTRONICS CONSTRUCTION
£122 Billion
UK share of the LCGES
market
£3.2
Trillion
Global low-carbon and env goods + services
sector value
1 in 12
New Anglian jobs
directly depend on
natural capital
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CLEAN ENERGY
With the UK being the 12th EU country most reliant on foreign energy, there is a need to transition towards
a more reliable source of energy. The East of England is home to some of the world’s foremost scientific
assets.5 As a result, New Anglia is at the forefront of the UK’s new electricity plans, with 20,000MW of
offshore wind energy planned off the East coast. Moreover, with the decommissioning of Sizewell B
planned for 2035, the proposal of a significantly larger Sizewell C will have the potential to supply 3.2GW
to the national grid.6
A multiplicity of large asset owners and operators including EDF, Dong Energy and Shell with a large
supply chain across companies in manufacturing, fabrication and energy solutions operate in New
Anglia. Additional energy giants, such as Vattenfall, are looking to invest in the East of England’s viable
coast.
Clean energy truly supports a circular economy, harnessing renewable and therefore infinite sources for
energy whilst having little negative impacts on our environment. In Denmark, wind energy can meet up
to 140% of the nation’s electricity needs, exporting the surplus to neighbouring countries. In the UK, the
East of England is a major player in the UK’s substantial growth within offshore wind developments, with
our coast being host to nearly 70% of the total capacity installed across UK waters.7
Businesses in clean energy
Connected Energy are leading the way to grid decarbonisation by
pioneering in energy storage. They are accelerating new
approaches to grid load management by balancing energy
demand with energy supply.
ScottishPower Renewables offshore East Anglia THREE is their second
offshore wind project in New Anglia. East Anglia THREE will have an
installed capacity of 1200MW, enabling it to power as estimated
890,000 homes.
5 The Greater Cambridge Greater Peterborough Enterprise Partnership, 2017. East of England Science and Innovation
Audit. 6 New Anglia: Local Enterprise Partnership for Norfolk and Suffolk, 2013. Leading the Way: Green Economy Pathfinder
manifesto 2012-15. 7 The East of England Energy Group (EEEGR), 2017. Offshore Wind. Energy Sector, EEEGR. Available from:
http://www.eeegr.com/wind-power.html [Accessed 26 October 2017].
BATTERY Storage
E
BATTERY STORAGE
ICT
BATTERY STORAGE
RENEWABLES
ENERGY ENGINEERING
7,700
Employees in the regional
energy workforce
£13 Billion
Turnover per year
6,200
Businesses supported by
the energy industry in total
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LOW CARBON TRANSPORT
New Anglia has a rich heritage when it comes to the automotive industry, being the home of Lotus cars
and other thriving businesses. More recently, global automotive giant Geely has become the majority
shareholder for Lotus and are further investing in New Anglia’s automotive manufacturing sector.
However, whilst there is some whole vehicle manufacturing, New Anglia’s strength is in component
manufacturing. A thriving engineering sector supports this strong supply chain. This is supported by 4
universities and academic institutions with degree programmes for the automotive sector – Cambridge,
Cranfield, Hertfordshire and Anglia Ruskin. The sector also retains a strong R&D capability with eight of
the 24 main UK automotive R&D and technology centres based in the East of England. As a region, we
have strengths in; lightweight structures, engine design and biofuels.
With transport being responsible for around 24% of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions, it is the second
largest contributor to the UK’s carbon footprint behind non-renewable energy supply.8 Therefore the
important for growing the low carbon transport sector in the East of England is of vital importance and
provides opportunities economically, socially and environmentally.
Businesses in LOW CARBON TRANSPORT
Equipmake’s core expertise is in the development of power
electronic control systems and high-performance motors. At
present, Equipmake have been funded £2.5M by Innovate UK to
develop a low cost electric bus drivetrain to provide a turnkey
solution for mass adoption of Electric Buses.
MSF Technologies Ltd is a clean-tech, advanced engineering
company, delivering highly efficient technological products that
address the long-term challenges of effective power generation
and storage. MSF’s products are developed for the on-highway, off-
highway, renewable energy and custom solution industries.
8 Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, GOV, 2017. Final UK greenhouse gas emissions national
statistics: 1990-2015. Final UK greenhouse gas emissions national statistics and Greenhouse gas emissions.
ELECTRONICS
ADVANCED MATERIALS
AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING
Internet of things
380
Engineering and
manufacturing
companies
27%
Of the workforce is
employed in
assembly
45
Businesses involved in
the direct manufacture
of motor vehicles in New
Anglia
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ADVANCED MATERIALS
The East of England has world class research strengths in advanced materials, with the primary focus on
the use of composites within New Anglia. The UK composites sector is worth over £1.6 billion, supporting
the following supply chains; aerospace, defence, automotive, rail, construction, marine, oil & gas and
renewables. With the UK composite supply chains increasing their adoption of more sustainable materials,
it has been identified that this could grow the UK’s current £2.3 billion composite product market to £12
billion by 2030.9
In a regional context, identified incubators, innovation centres and science parks supporting this sub-
sector include; OrbisEnergy, Granta Park and Hethel Engineering Centre - please see diagram in the
Appendix. The East of England’s universities are also important enablers for this sub-sector, including the
University of Cambridge’s Engineering Department (and within this, the Institute for Manufacturing (IfM)
and its Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy. Moreover Cranfield University has been
supporting long-tern industry collaborations, connecting the advanced materials sub-sector to its supply
chain.
It is projected that the market for advanced materials will grow from £33.4 billion in 2015 to be worth over
£80 billion by 2024.10 Thus the underlying opportunities for competitive businesses in New Anglia are
evident. New Anglia has 56 advanced materials businesses.
Businesses in ADVANCED MATERIALS
Mussett have introduced the use of new age materials
technologies, forming Mussett Composites. Working with low
carbon vehicle manufacturers, such as Delphi Dynamics, Mussett
are committed to minimizing waste, reducing energy consumption
and reducing harmful emissions.
bf1systems is a market leading provider of electrical, electronic &
composite solutions to clients within the Motorsport, Automotive,
Aerospace and Sports Industries. The bf1systems in-house team
design and manufacture high quality composite parts.
9 Composites Leadership Forum, 2016. The 2016 UK Composites Strategy. Hemel Hempstead
10 The Greater Cambridge Greater Peterborough Enterprise Partnership, 2017. East of England Science and
Innovation Audit.
LIGHTWEIGHT STRUCUTRES
Innovative technologies
Over 55
Companies involved in
advanced composites
3rd
Largest cluster for composites in the UK
close behind clusters in the Midlands
and South West
SUSTAINABLE MATERIALS
Academic research
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BUILT ENVIRONMENT
New Anglia, like most of the UK, is facing a major housing shortage, New Anglia LEP are planning to build
117,000 new houses by 2026 to combat this. However, with residential energy use representing 15% of
total UK greenhouse gas emissions, there is increasing pressure to consider carbon reduction during the
concept, design and construction of buildings.
Challenges for New Anglia include a growing and aging population, rapid urbanisation, new customer
trends, changing infrastructure demands and more stringent environmental regulation, however these
pressures are also creating new innovation opportunities for jobs and businesses. Approximately 5,200
firms in the New Anglia area build new or improve the existing housing stock. However the New Anglia
LEP’s plan to build new houses is estimated to create 10,000 new businesses and 95,000 more jobs.
Optimising the IoT and using new technologies can enable us to be more efficient with domestic and
commercial energy use. IoT adoption continues to progress, allowing objects to be sensed or controlled
remotely across existing network infrastructure by businesses. The uses of smartphones are constantly
evolving, the next use of mobile devices is the ability to control your homes with in a smarter, more
sustainable way. Ultimately this can reduce the UK’s emissions from buildings, currently standing at 45%
of our total emissions.
Businesses in BUILT ENVIRONMENT
Beattie Passive have developed innovative offsite timber frame
build technology which has been certified by the Passivhaus
Institute in Germany as the only complete Passivehaus system. This
high-performance system delivers energy efficient homes in any
design, shape or style.
Norfolk Smart Homes offer home automation systems, elements
such as lighting and heating can be seamlessly integrated to
control buildings from anywhere in the world. This can improve the
management of energy by providing real-time data, which can
then reduce excess or accidental usage.
Tufeco have an innovative approach to building affordable
housing. Their approach uses recycled glass beads to form a
construction material that can be extruded in any size. Tufeco are
working with Vitromite Ltd, a manufacturer of next generation
construction materials, to build this modular system with recycled
materials.
Internet of things
CONSTRUCTION
Energy engineering
electronics
64,000 Employees in the
construction industry in
New Anglia
70% Decrease in waste
output from Green
Buildings
240,000 UK government target for
number of houses to be
built per year
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Our CLUSTER STRENGTHS
A number of innovation hubs have been identified across the region, which specialise in supporting clean
technologies and the transition towards a low carbon and circular economy. These include the following:
• Hethel Engineering Centre – an award-winning innovation hub
built to serve the high-performance engineering and
manufacturing sectors, which is now seeking to grow and support
its Cleantech businesses based at the centre.
• Framlingham Technology Centre – offering physical and
virtual tenancy, Framlingham Technology Centre provide office
space for start-ups and SME’s to begin their journey. Offering
support and opportunities for networking, sites like this can
drastically help with business incubation.
• Orbis Energy – a worldwide centre of excellence for the
burgeoning offshore renewables business, Orbis Energy is the
flagship location for businesses in offshore wind, wave and tidal
technologies.
• Scottow Enterprise Park – based in one of the Government’s
prestigious Enterprise Zones, the site operated by Hethel Innovation
and is looking to forward the cleantech sector – on site and
regionally.
• UEA Enterprise Centre – an award-winning building based on
the UEA campus offering tenancy, meeting rooms and event hire.
The centre is managed by The Adapt Low Carbon Group, which
led to this regional business hub dubbed as the UK’s greenest
building due to its Passivhaus standard and BREEAM outstanding
rating.
• Cambridge Cleantech – aims to promote a significant cluster and centre of excellence for the
cleantech sector by co-ordinating, supporting and promoting commercial opportunities. Whilst
Cambridge Cleantech are not based within New Anglia, their proximity to our region provides
opportunities.
• Cleantech Incubation Europe – provides a positive business climate and will help authorities
to choose suitable policy interventions tailored to their own local and regional situation,
researching policies and procedures that encourage cleantech incubation.
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Research Strengths and cleantech Opportunities
Our Cleantech research strength in environmental technologies, clean energy, low carbon transport,
advanced materials and built environment within Norfolk and Suffolk is supported by our academic
facilities. The University of East Anglia is at the core of research for the cleantech sector of New Anglia,
focusing on the global challenges that we face, from; meeting the needs of an ageing population,
understanding the unique and fragile environments we live in, tackling energy, food and water security
so we can make the best use of our planet’s resources.
UEA’s Water Research Centre (WSRC), founded in 2011, brings together interdisciplinary researchers from
across the University to address global water challenges locally and globally. Current research is
supported by UEA’s expertise in climate change and variability, water efficiency and transboundary
water management - among many others.11
As a result of this world class research, many businesses have spun out of UEA and
are now thriving globally. A unique example is Syrinix, formed in 2004 by Dr Paul
Linford to provide an intelligent pipeline monitoring system which uses its technology
to detect leaks in large pipes and water mains. Since launching their research at UEA,
they have since expanded to further develop their intelligent monitoring system and
now export their technology globally.
UEA’s research has led to increasing knowledge on the trends in global emissions and sinks of carbon.
With UEA providing research to the Global Carbon Project (GCP), the definitive source of information
about CO2 emissions, It leaves little room to wonder why UEA has been ranked 3rd in the UK for its volume
of world-leading research.
11 UEA, 2017. Breaking Boundaries - Explore Our Research. University of East Anglia: Creative Sponge.
“UEA is a research-intensive institution, ranked in the
world’s top 100 universities for research excellence. Our
pioneering research plays a key role in exploring and
understanding the critical challenges we face today, and
connects our world-leading academics with society,
industry and policy-makers across the globe”
Professor David Richardson
Vice-Chancellor
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New Anglia’s world class research has enabled up to map the five key sub-sectors holding opportunities
for New Anglia, if supported and developed. Our five key sub-sectors for Clean Technology in New Anglia
are summarized below:
Our region has a cluster forming around low carbon transport, including both
private and academic sector players. The engineering heritage from Lotus has
provided the knowledge for many businesses to thrive, with the focus now
targeting lightweight electric vehicles. Advanced lightweight vehicles and
materials is key to improve the performance of next generation electric
vehicles. This global challenge of costs and safety maintenance associated
with electric vehicles are being answered by the automotive manufacturers
of New Anglia.
Community owned power generation is a growing trend in the UK, combating
the challenges introduced by the rise in energy prices nationally. The growth
of distributed energy resources offers energy self-sufficiency, as well as
providing a reduced environmental impact. Alongside distributed energy
resources, battery storage has also become a viable alternative in becoming
independent of the grid. With new technology enabling our electricity grids to
become smarter, this can allow owners to maximise value and to reduce
energy loss. Our regions SME’s are creating the technology to allow this,
ultimately offering New Anglia to be an entirely energy self-sufficient region.
With economic opportunities presented by the 2015 Paris Agreement
expecting $13.5 trillion in public and private investment worldwide, the UK can
position itself as a world leader in innovative utilities. This can range from
renewable energy to energy saving solutions, which will help the UK to curb its
carbon emissions and reduce waste. With water security being a concern in
our region, various technologies have been developed to strengthen our
water supply. Moreover, our coast is a leading area in sustainable energy
sources, being host to; offshore wind farms, nuclear and solar generation.
Consequently, the East of England has been a key area in enabling the UK to
reach over 50% renewable energy supply.
To increase output and reduce input, efficiency is key. Fundamentally, the rise
of domestic, industrial and transport resource demands of cities are growing
alongside the rapid growth in population and development. Utilising
technology to control, automate and utilise resources more effectively will
help New Anglia to curb this growth. Numerous counties across the UK are
transforming, including Bristol and Cambridge, with the vision to have smart
and efficient cities with improved interconnectivity. Although, with New
Anglia’s resources and capabilities in digital - as well as technological and
manufacturing – technologies, we should be a comparable contender to
these emerging smart cities.
Like much of the UK, New Anglia is facing a housing shortage which our
councils are looking to solve. In relation to our clean economy, we must
consider that we are also facing climate change in which domestic energy
use is a considerable factor. Creating sustainable and energy efficient
buildings is helping to address both challenges. With advances in passive
house technology decreasing the energy demand from heating and cooling,
recycled composite building materials reducing the carbon footprint of
building construction and smart home technologies automating our homes to
prevent excessive energy consumption from appliances, New Anglia has a
construction sector which can fulfil our needs.
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Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats – How do we grow our sector?
As the Clean Technology in Norfolk and Suffolk is it at forefront of our regions economy and a major
contributor to jobs created, it is crucial to develop a strategy for identifying and supporting strengths to
reach opportunities, whilst addressing weaknesses and threats.
Our first step in helping to form this strategy was to conduct a SWOT analysis of developing New Anglia’s
Cleantech and Clean Economy, summarised below:
TABLE 1. GROWING NEW ANGLIA’S CLEANTECH AND CLEAN ECONOMY– STRENGTHS AND
WEAKNESSES
STRENGTHS
• Businesses in Renewable energy
• Support for the local skills base
• A hub of world-class research
• Highly skilled advanced manufacturing
and engineering sector
• Innovation hubs supporting growth
• Land space for expansion of industry
• Strong agriculture sector
WEAKNESSES
• Weak infrastructure for sub-sector
development
• Lack of Cleantech and/or Clean
Economy focused degrees
• Poor communication channels between
research and local industry
• Low levels of start-ups and business
innovation
• Lack of awareness for available funding
The STRENGTHS of New Anglia’s Cleantech and Clean Economy are considerable, leading to many
opportunities for our region, with our key areas of strength including:
Businesses in Renewable energy – Our region presents an abundance of businesses in the renewables
sector, ranging from wind, solar and tidal. Our positioning on the coast makes New Anglia one of the
most viable areas in the UK to capture wind energy.
Support for local skills base – This is provided by programs, courses and research in many different ways.
The Great Yarmouth based 3sun Group’s 3sun Academy training division offers courses for the energy,
construction, engineering and manufacturing industries.
A hub of world-class research - Proximity to University’s leading world-class research in related sectors has
created a cluster of knowledge in our region. The University of Cambridge and Cranfield University both
provide expert integration of research and education with practical application in industry.
Highly skilled advanced manufacturing and engineering sector – One of our unique advantages is the
highly skilled advanced manufacturing and engineering industry, a long-term asset for our region, which
supports the R&D process for the low carbon transport development. In 2016 there were 13,780
manufacturing businesses in the East of England, with the numbers increasing with each year.
Innovation hubs supporting growth – Existing innovation hubs support and facilitate the clean growth of
New Anglia. Innovation Martlesham is an established cluster of high-tech ICT companies located at BT’s
former site, Adastral Park. Providing office spaces and opportunities for networking, innovation hubs lead
to business innovation.
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Land space for expansion of industry – environmental factors such as our undeveloped land assets play
to our county’s advantage, allowing for the development of large cleantech industry.
Strong agriculture sector – Our land and agricultural sectors are set to play a significant role in low carbon
economic growth. Cleantech offers opportunities to strengthen this rural economy, with argi-tech
enhancing output.
By contrast, the WEAKNESSES of our Cleantech sector fall heavily around socio-environmental factors,
which can lead to threats for the cleantech sector, including:
Weak infrastructure for sub-sector development – New Anglia is regarded as a remote region within the
UK, which can deter businesses from establishing themselves. Whilst the development of the A11 has
improved links to Cambridge and London, transport links remain weak for the region.
Lack of Cleantech and/or Clean Economy focused degrees – This is a national weakness for clean
growth, with less than 5 universities offering clean technology focused degrees or further education.
However New Anglia could position itself as the UK’s leading educator in cleantech, with strengths at
UEA in Environmental Science and its new degree in Engineering providing the perfect foundation for this
opportunity.
Poor communication channels between research and local industry – Although influenced by our rural
location, there are significant weaknesses in our research and local industries actively seeking valuable
connections. This is due to our comparably small and dispersed innovation hubs coupled with a lack of
cross sector platforms.
Low levels of start-ups and business innovation – New Anglia has some of the lowest levels of start-up
rates in the UK and as a result there is a lack of business innovation and adoption of new industry. For our
region to thrive, these attitudes need to change in order to continue growth and development of our
economy.
Lack of awareness for available funding – Our underpinning cleantech sectors all need existing finances
or financial support for research to revenue to take place. Gaining funding can be challenging for many
businesses, particularly during their earliest stages. That said, one opportunity for funding is the Low
Carbon Innovation Fund (LCIF) venture capital fund which can provide equity finance for SME’s based
within the East of England.
TABLE 2. GROWING NEW ANGLIA’S CLEANTECH AND CLEAN ECONOMY – OPPORTUNITIES AND
THREATS
Opportunities
• Political support for sector growth
• Regional housing shortage
• Abundance of high-skilled researchers,
many with an interest in
entrepreneurialism
• National ban of petrol/diesel vehicles by
2040
• Growth of sector networks
• Improved infrastructure; innovative
utilities, smart cities, transport
• Diversification of farm businesses
Threats
• Our rural location deterring large
businesses
• Linking more to Cambridge creates a
brain drain
• Poor communication channels causing
region to lag
• Business uncertainty and reluctance to
invest in innovation
• Reluctance to risk economic payback
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The OPPORTUNITIES for the growth of our cleantech sector are largely supported by our strengths as a
region, including:
Political support for sector growth – With the UK Government recently releasing The Clean Growth
Strategy, there are growing pressures globally for the UK to cut emissions. Clean growth, including the
further emergence of renewable energy, is an area which the UK Government in increasingly becoming
invested in.
Regional housing shortage – Whilst housing shortages are a regional concern, many opportunities will
arise for our local skills base. As sustainable housing is increasingly proving to be profitable, for both
businesses and building owners, this demand for new homes could bring significant business for low
carbon construction.
High-skilled researchers with interests in entrepreneurialism – There is an abundance of high-skilled
researchers in our region, with many leaving the UEA with a desire to form their own business. Whilst Syrinix
is one success story, there are many others yet to be fully recognised.
National ban of petrol/diesel vehicles by 2040 – Pressures from the 2015 Paris Agreement has led to the
Government’s decision to ban all diesel and petrol vehicle production by 2040. For New Anglia’s
engineering and manufacturing industry, this holds an immense opportunity to develop and
manufacture next generation vehicles. Examples of Norfolk based Equipmake and Geely are already
exploiting this.
Growth of sector networks – Our regions weaknesses in communication channels has led to the formation
of several networks for the sector, providing a platform to facilitate connections between the public,
private and academic sectors. Cleantech East is an example of a network supporting the cleantech
growth and clean economy.
Improved infrastructure; innovative utilities, smart cities, transport – Nationally, the growth of the UK’s low
carbon economy has expanded into many parts of the UK. A need for efficiency corresponds with a
clean economy, this can be delivered by innovative technologies and ultimately lead to a smarter way
of life. TechEast is in the midst of a four-year campaign to boost Norwich’s digital economy.
Diversification of farm businesses – Agriculture is at the core of New Anglia’s economy, supporting
multiple sectors as a result. However agriculture is also a huge contributor towards our carbon emissions.
Combing agriculture with innovative technologies (agri-tech) can reduce emissions by enhancing
output and reducing input.
Various THREATS to our Cleantech sector growth are largely attributed to the underlying weaknesses of
our region, potential threats include:
Our rural location deterring large businesses – With Norwich and Ipswich being the only large cities in the
region, international trade can be difficult for businesses. Norwich airport aids this concern, however our
rural location remains an issue for some businesses.
Linking more to Cambridge creates a brain drain – Cambridge is leading the cleantech growth in the
UK, being a major source of technology innovation. Whilst this creates opportunities for New Anglia due
to Cambridgeshire being our neighbouring county, there is also a high risk of a brain drain. With New
Anglia already having an ageing population, the prospect of our highly qualified people moving to
Cambridge is a risk.
Poor communication channels causing region to lag - One of the largest threats to our Cleantech sector
growth is a lack of co-ordination and co-operation between the various key players within New Anglia,
sprawling across our academic institutes, public sector and established private industries.
Business uncertainty and reluctance to invest in innovation - Brexit uncertainty is a significant threat both
in the future and today, there is a risk of a regressing effect on the regional low carbon developments in
business innovation and its EU-citizen researchers.
Reluctance to risk economic payback - The implications associated with Brexit could also further reduce
the amount of available funding for the sector. Ultimately, this, among other factors, could lead to a
reduced favourability of a low carbon future if our national economy changes.
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Our Vision: A Cleantech business Route to Revenue
Bearing in mind the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats described above, we can begin to
show the shape of what needs to be achieved to encourage a vibrant and economically productive
clean economy.
Instead of describing an abstract ideal of what this clean economy would look
like, we believe it’s more effective to demonstrate our vision through a home-
grown New Anglia Cleantech business’s route to revenue.
1. Learns about process of research commercialisation by attending a half-day
workshop, arranged by her employer institution
2. Starts to look out for commercial opportunities in her lab; hears about what markets for
cleantech are looking for through regular updates, events and newsletters
3. After a discussion with the owner of a local SME, she spots an idea worth developing;
with a facilitator, refines the idea to define the specific market needs her technology
could address
4. The researcher’s employer institution agrees to license the IP to her, enabling her to
personally follow up the idea commercially
5. While developing the technical proof-of-concept in her lab, she works with a Norwich
Business School MBA student on a collaborative project to do initial market research
6. Following this she accesses £5k of on-Park funding to obtain a more in-depth proof of
market from a specialist consultancy
7. With proof of market in place, she forms a company with a serial entrepreneur she met
at a networking event and some of the researchers from her lab
8. With a combination of investments from public seed funding, an angel investor and a
New Anglia-based academic venture capital fund, the researcher (now CEO)
successfully pilots the new technology in situ with the local SME who she initially
discussed the idea with
9. With initial revenue and further funding, she scales up the company’s R&D activities,
hiring 5 new researchers and a 2-person business development team, including the
now-graduated MBA student she worked with previously
10. With a successful round of private investment, the CEO now looks to build a new
production facility, requiring more technicians from the local area and process
automation and control systems from local SMEs
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Sector Network:
Cleantech East
In response to the cleantech & clean economy challenge and opportunity, as well as outlining the need
to grow our low carbon economy, this section will explore our growth strategy.
Hethel Innovation is proactively supporting the growth of cleantech and the low carbon economy in
Norfolk and Suffolk through the creation of a sector development network, Cleantech East.
The purpose of Cleantech East is to focus on how we can promote clean technology within New Anglia
businesses which will in turn grow the low carbon economy. By providing a platform for the cleantech
sector Cleantech East aims to connect the various agencies, institutions, and industry sectors along
emerging cleantech supply and value chains, in order to secure sustained and sustainable economic
growth for Norfolk, Suffolk, and the wider East of England.
To fulfil this purpose we have developed 4 main ways that businesses can engage with cleantech, these
are:
IMPROVE AND SCALE UP
For researchers and cleantech start-ups, we are offering
workshops related to commercialisation, lean start-up and scale-
up processes, as well as help finding R&D collaborations and other
sources of financial and non-financial support
ADAPT TO MAKE
Where businesses of all sectors can grow through cleantech, we
are working to define and promote feasible opportunities with
individual businesses, and support them to deliver an adaptation
strategy
Buy in and adopt We are developing a platform to showcase high-performance
cleantech available throughout the region, to build local demand
and connect the New Anglia low carbon community.
Encourage demand
On the macro scale we are working with supply chain leaders to
develop initiatives to encourage the piloting and diffusion of
cleantech innovations throughout supply chains, in order to
address key challenges shared by industry sectors
The initial phase of Cleantech East’s development has taken place as part of the ERDF-funded Innovation
New Anglia project, led by Hethel Innovation and supported by delivery partners including the Norfolk
and Suffolk County Councils.
To achieve our purpose, however, we will have to seek additional sources of funding to carry out key
cleantech development activities, which are diverse but in a rough order (clockwise from the top)
include the following steps:
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FIGURE 2. THE CLEANTECH EAST SECTOR DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY
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As a network, Cleantech East have developed the following approach to most appropriately and
successfully enable the growth of the cleantech sector, figure 3 presents the five pillars of Cleantech
East’s core aims:
Representing the voice for the Cleantech sector
Encouraging Innovation through challenges
Offering support to connect knowledge, innovation
and experience
Providing a platform to connect sectors and build the
supply chain
The main goal being the pilot the Cleantech sector
forwards
FIGURE 3. THE FIVE AIMS OF CLEANTECH EAST
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mapping our skills
Discussed within this report is the necessity to provide a range of skills in order to grow a clean economy.
Whilst our region has some of these skills, we are also lacking in some or have none at all. It is imperative
that we support the local skills base so that this does not become a limiting factor of business and
economic growth.
To develop the future skills base, we are working on:
Challenge Innovation Platforms – A programme to help get university
students business experience to increase their graduate employability. This programme
sees Challenge Innovation Teams (CITs) set a challenge by a local business, which they
solve whilst receiving mentoring from HIL and a business mentor.
Pilot Innovation Platforms – Helping students take their knowledge and
turn it into a viable business idea through emergence mapping, training, and support.
Students will investigate the research, businesses, and trends in their field to get a basic
knowledge of the market before developing their ideas into start-ups through our Activate
training.
Innovate Research - Helps researchers understand how research moves from the
lab out into the market. It helps researchers understand innovation, create, and evaluate
ideas, develop product and business model concepts, and learn about routes to impact.
Specific Degree Courses - Getting UEA to capitalise on the regions strengths to
make an employability focused course on environmental science with clean tech and low
carbon engineering degrees to give students the specific skills to join local businesses.
High School and College Engagement - engaging with students early to
get them inspired and interested in clean tech so they can plan their next stages
accordingly. Showing them that there are opportunities within the region for high skilled,
high paid and high-tech jobs. Get them excited and building their business connections
early so they are fully aware of and equip to make the most of the opportunities on offer
in the region.
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Section 2. The New Anglia cleantech + clean
economy Sector Growth Strategy
An emerging sector focus is key to delivering long-term sustained and sustainable economic growth: the
objective of any Sector Growth Strategy.
Based on our understanding of the clean economy’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats,
and our learning from activities to support the sector’s growth, we have summarised how each of the
Sector Growth Strategy’s 10 pillars can be addressed in the context of clean economy development.
1. Research + Innovation
Diffusing innovation and commercialising
our science base
The challenge
The UK in general and New Anglia in particular suffers from a ‘strong research, weak development’
commercialisation position, with weaknesses in several parts of the innovation ecosystem including
access to patient capital, research entrepreneurship, and research-industry ties.
On the business side, this has also resulted in persistently low levels of innovation and spend on plant and
equipment.
What we’re doing
New Anglia has one huge resource of research excellence, the UEA, largely responsible for our regions
strengths in research – see Table 1. For over 50 years UEA has been at the forefront of cutting edge
research. We are working with the UEA on a number of programmes, including knowledge partnerships.
These partnerships see local businesses working with students and researches to help encourage
innovation. This innovation occurs both within the business from the fresh research knowledge and in the
research from a more business-like mind.
To improve research entrepreneurship, we are delivering a rolling series of free commercialisation
workshops, Innovate Research, that unearth enterprising researchers and give them an initial insight into
how research can be taken from the lab into the real world, along with a more focused and in-depth
series, Research to Revenue. We then connect
Our recommendations
From the recent consultations on the Science and Innovation Audit, INA are aware that local businesses
are not seeing the benefit of research as it is not being commercialised and applied within an industry
setting. Our recommendation is for our region’s research to be more openly and concisely portrayed to
industry. This should take to form of clear packages which are understandable for a non-academic.
Above all this will tackle our weaknesses in poor communication channels between research & local
industry.
Researchers should be encouraged from a much earlier stage to be more entrepreneurial, being
provided with the tools and expertise to turn knowledge into business. This could take the form of
Innovation Centres for research application or Entrepreneur training such as the Innovate Research
programme. By growing this our strengths in innovation hubs will develop into greater opportunities.
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2. Skills Improving technical education and
boosting key STEM skills
The challenge
While the UK has high levels of graduate-level qualification, we consistently lag behind other developed
nations for levels and quality of technical education. In addition, at the postgraduate and postdoctoral
level we have significant strengths in fundamental research skills, but in many places (such as New Anglia)
lack the entrepreneurial and commercial training necessary to develop a research-led cluster.
On a wider scale, we also underperform compared to other developed nations in overall levels of
numeracy and literacy, and New Anglia’s own performance only last year reached the national
average.
What we’re doing
We are launching Challenge Innovation Programmes to help get university students business experience
to increase their graduate employability. Pilot Innovation Programmes helps students and researchers
explore their innovation potential and map their route to market.
Innovate Research gives researchers the skills to commercialise on their knowledge. It helps researchers
understand innovation, create, and evaluate ideas, develop product and business model concepts and
learn about routes to impact.
Based on our belief that an understanding of the “real world” of employment and knowledge
application drives school student engagement with topics, we also deliver Gamechangers workshops for
schools, where we introduce principles of innovation and enterprise, and explore how these intersect
with conventional school subjects. Our support for the local skills base will be strengthened further through
STEM-based workshops.
Our recommendations
While basic commercial acumen is often necessary for researchers to begin the process of innovation,
professional levels of business development skill are typically required to successfully bring a product to
market. We therefore recommend that our local universities and research institutions bring together
business-STEM co-founders clubs.
Getting UEA to capitalise on the regions strengths to make an employability focused course on
environmental science with clean tech and low carbon engineering degrees to give students the
specific skills to join local businesses. We recommend that the UEA continues to develop degree
programmes which exploit local sector strengths. This can then minimize a brain drain flowing into
Cambridge, encouraging academics to stay in the region.
For FE and school-age pupils we recommend that the promise of the clean economy be brought into
the school curriculum through adjacent disciplines, for example engineering, geography and
environmental sciences. Cleantech courses could also be developed in anticipation of demand for
clean growth, linked perhaps to UEA’s developing Productivity Institute. Our strengths in manufacturing
and research in environmental sciences provide New Anglia with the opportunity to lead this field.
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3. Infra-structure
Upgrading key utilities and joining up
investment with local priority
The challenge
Another example of the UK sowing but not capturing innovation is in infrastructure: while we have been
instrumental in many of the technologies building the modern world, the quality of our infrastructure is
the lowest in the G7.
Even within this below-average context, Norfolk and Suffolk perform poorly in relation to the rest of the
country – our access to superfast broadband is 7 percentage points lower than the national average,12,
and our transport links were highlighted repeatedly by firms as a constraining factor in the 2015 New
Anglia Innovation Report.
What we’re doing
Directly solving our region’s fundamental infrastructure challenges is beyond our programme scope, but
we are working with economic development stakeholders to define some economic development
opportunities relating to the clean economy (see recommendations below). Working together to
connect existing networks we are developing Innovation Networks which will help open up the region’s
infrastructure challenges as opportunities for local SMEs.
We are running a challenge-led workshops on digital, energy and transport infrastructure to encourage
large monopoly holders such as NCC and Anglian Water to open their doors to innovative solutions from
SMEs. This helps to target our threats in business uncertainty and reluctance to invest in innovation.
Our recommendations
Based on our discussions with New Anglia businesses, it is clear there is a need to underpin economic
development packages with concrete and sufficient support across the whole infrastructure mix,
including communications, transport, and energy.
Our recommendation is for these monopoly holders to become more open and transparent to the local
supply chains. There are many solutions within the region which could improve our infrastructure but
procurement and general engagement regulations are stunting collaborations. With government
support for clean growth rising, this could provide the solution we need.
12 Ofcom (2016) Connected Nations 2016. Available from: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/research-and-data/multi-
sector-research/infrastructure-research/connected-nations-2016 [Accessed 24th October 2017)
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4. Start-ups / Scaleups
Building enterprise pathways with support
and patient capital
The challenge
Ongoing growth in the number of startup businesses in the UK pays tribute to low barriers to entry for those
who want to start their own business, but while we place third in global start-up rates we rank thirteenth
for the number of successful scale-ups.
Given that high-growth and innovative businesses are disproportionately responsible for increases in jobs
and economic growth, New Anglia’s very low ranking for business innovation13 should be cause for
concern.
What we’re doing
Through the Innovation New Anglia project we are helping to create start-ups through our Activate
programme which helps people begin in a fast and lean way. To extend this, we are developing a
programme focused on scale-up support, Accelerate, which will be live in the next few months.
Through our efforts to map the local innovation and business support landscape, we have also
established links with local investor networks such as Anglia Capital Group. We will continue to support
local businesses to access finance through engagement with ACG, banks and other sources, as well as
with other types of support which will be showcased through local support directories.
Our Hethel and Scottow incubators provide start-ups and scale-ups with a place to grow and develop
whilst being able to access our services on site. Incubators draw upon our strengths in available
innovation hubs and support offered. Through these incubators, we are linking with other centres around
the region including Framlingham Technology park to help connect businesses which need collaboration
partners to scale up.
We make sure we regularly refresh our sector information by mapping and engaging the local supply
chain. This means that we can provide start ups and scale ups the up to date information with the types
of support on offer, businesses already operating and funding opportunities.
Our recommendations
Support for start-ups and scale-ups can often be disjointed with various organisations duplicating each
other. This leads to inefficient business support with too much in some areas being under-utilised and not
enough in others. We recommend that the region’s support services are open to working together, to
deliver a connected support programme. This will ensure as many bases are covered as possible.
13 ERC / EEC (2015) Benchmarking local innovation: the innovation geography of the UK.
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5. Procurement Improving the public sector as a buyer
and developing supply chains
The challenge
Public sector institutions such as hospitals, research centres and local government departments together
spend 14% of UK GDP, yet many businesses and particularly SMEs have extreme difficulty in selling even
high-performance products and services into the public sector.
Other procurement initiatives elsewhere in the world such as the United States’ DARPA and SBIR
programmes confirm the potential of public procurement as a tool to drive and sustain successful
innovation.
What we’re doing
Our Innovate Networks, previously mentioned in the Infrastructure pillar, help connect public sector
bodies with the private sector. These networks are designed to get both parties speaking a common
language to encourage collaboration.
Cleantech East’s Sector Leadership Group will have a mixed private sector core group with other
academic and public sector members which will allow these three groups to come together on a regular
basis to discuss issues they both face within the low carbon space. This can lead to solutions for all sectors.
Moreover Cleantech East will be made more aware of how we can better support clean growth,
including raising awareness of available funding – such as The Low Carbon Innovation Fund.
The challenge-led workshops are going to open the public sector up to local SMEs who need help with
getting into these big organisations. A lot of SMEs do not have the resources to be involved in traditional
procurement processes.
Our recommendations
Improving regional procurement must involve large public sector organisations, however, our
recommendation is for these organisations to change their procurement protocol to allow SMEs to supply
them. This will take a large amount of work but if it is implemented, it will revolutionise these organisations
as they will be able to work with far more innovative and adaptable companies willing to work together
on solutions to meet both party’s needs. It is hopeful that Government support will lead to new
opportunities in improving regional procurement.
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6. Trade + Investment
Promoting exports and attracting
international investors
The challenge
The efforts to mobilise the UK as a destination for inward investment have been successful, but our firms
are still poor exporters compared to other G7 countries, and trade as a share of the UK economy has
grown comparatively slowly as a result.
A key barrier for both trade and inward investment in New Anglia has been a lack of clearly articulated
areas of comparative advantage: previous attempts to define our regional USPs have been ineffective,
through over-broad categorisation or an emphasis on commonplace (and therefore weakly persuasive)
industrial sectors.
In addition, our key knowledge assets such as the Norwich Research Park institutes have historically
focused on fundamental research, which despite immense potential value has provided little cause to
engage with industry, both at home and abroad.
What we’re doing
The Cleantech East programme is geared towards supporting and connecting excellent research and
businesses within our local clean economy. Our continued industry mapping and exploring activities will
enable us to foster local innovation, but the data generated by those same activities will also provide
numerous examples of genuine comparative advantage, both present and future. The Innovation New
Anglia business support programme also supports the development of business export and fundraising
expertise.
Moreover, to attract international investors, New Anglia must have an international offer. For this
international offer, we are helping to develop our comparative advantages. This will allow us to develop
an international brand, able to attract investors to support our emerging strengths.
Cleantech East is developing relationships with a number of networks, including the Enterprise Europe
Network (EEN). This provides us with resources to signpost to for when our local businesses want to export.
We can signpost to EEN who can then provide our local businesses with the support and contacts they
need to start exporting.
Our recommendations
To build a competitive international offer to attract investment, we need to support our emerging sectors
appropriately. This will take the form of start-up funding, affordable space and space to grow into,
support to help them build local supply chains, and finding business partners. We have some underlying
strengths in these areas – see Tables 1 and 2 – through our innovation hubs, local support and the growth
of sector networks.
Hethel Innovation are already supporting New Anglia’s emerging sectors (Bioeconomy, Information
Economy, Low Carbon Economy), however it would strengthen our position if other organisations were
to move their primary focus from enabling sectors, such as energy, to focus on building our future
international offer.
More generally, the value of these and other economic and infrastructural assets (e.g. the developing
Cambridge-Norwich Tech Corridor) should be clearly defined, packaged and promoted on the national
and international stage.
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7. Clean Growth Focusing on energy efficiency and
building a low-carbon economy
The challenge
The Climate Change Act 2020 commits the UK to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by a third by 2020,
but overall energy consumption is still expected to rise. Novel solutions in areas of energy production,
efficiency and supply must be developed and adopted if we are to meet our overall environmental
obligations.
What we’re doing
This pillar perfectly aligns with our focus of growing the low carbon economy. Energy efficiency and
cleantech go hand in hand. All the previously discussed products and programmes are working towards
the same common goal of growing a low carbon economy.
From our base at Hethel Engineering Centre, an emerging low-carbon technology hub, we have through
the Innovation New Anglia project supported more than 220 businesses, many of whom are developing
solutions for a more resource-efficient future. Our opportunities which have arisen from regional
challenges, such as housing shortages and the ban of petrol/diesel fuelled vehicles, will allow emerging
clean businesses to lead this transition.
Our recommendations
At the beginning of this report, we covered the particular strength’s New Anglia has to support the
transition towards a low carbon economy. It is vital that these strengths are capitalised. The world leading
research from UEA must be realised within local businesses to promote start ups, innovation and
economic growth.
Our knowledge base must become firmly rooted within the local area, interacting with the private sector
far more than they already are. To help the businesses this interaction could produce, funding must be
available to encourage the adoption of and the adaption to make clean technologies. Moreover
available funding routes must be made more transparent, limiting the lack of awareness.
Specific loan or grant schemes could be introduced to connect expertise in our research centres to
regional businesses, in order to support pilot projects of new, environmentally-focused clean
technologies, such as energy storage projects and environmental monitoring (amongst others).
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8. Sector Focus Building on comparative advantage to
help new sectors to flourish
The challenge
Focusing financial and non-financial support on specific sectors with genuinely world-class comparative
advantage has been proven to deliver economically, but previous attempts to ‘pick winners’ by UK
governments have often failed. For smart specialisation to succeed, it must be defined and delivered
with business, for business.
In New Anglia we currently suffer from a dual malaise, of emphasis on commonplace and therefore lower
‘value’ industrial sectors, and a vision that is placed firmly in the present. To rally private and public sector
stakeholders, excite onlookers, and build a unique identity for the region, we must stake our claims in the
future with an aspirational emerging sector focus.
What we’re doing
Through Cleantech East, Hethel Innovation is looking to address all pillars of the Sector Growth strategy
through an emerging sector and cross-sector focus, in the clean economy as well as biotechnologies,
information technologies, and advanced manufacturing and engineering. With each sector having a
sector development manager to focus on developing products and programmes specifically relevant
for each area.
Also needed is a cross-sector approach to ensure the most is being made of the innovations within each.
There are similarities between the emerging sectors, and this should be exploited to ensure any
interventions have the greatest impact to the overall economy.
To build granularity and a foundation for concrete interventions, we are defining the specific shape of
our local clean economy through our research, technology and industrial mapping – all existing strengths
- including the identification and validation of sub-sectors (a necessary precursor to developing relevant
supply chains).
Our recommendations
On a practical level, we believe that bringing together the relevant businesses and researchers in sub-
sector groups would be an effective strategy for fostering collaboration, innovation and ownership of this
emerging sector.
Throughout this report, we have recommended that the sectors to focus on are the emerging ones, and
this still stands true here. It is not a recommendation to drop support to the enabling and underpinning
sectors, but instead a recommendation that we need to realise that emerging sectors are the future of
these enabling and underpinning sectors.
The future of the energy, construction, ICT and advanced manufacturing and engineering (enabling
sectors) is within the emerging sectors and it is clear where the expertise is feeding through. To promote
enabling sectors as our comparative advantage is short sighted and would lead to us being less
competitive globally, in the long run.
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99. A Balanced
Economy
Addressing local challenges and
exploiting local opportunities
The challenge
While even London is a fifth less productive than other comparator countries such as France and
Germany14, the rest of the country lags behind the capital. This domestic concentration of clout has
seemingly led to a vicious circle, with London widening the gap, particularly since the economic
recession.
Despite being the site of assets with significant economic potential like Norwich Research Park, UEA and
the University of Suffolk, New Anglia unfortunately comes in below the national average for many markers
of economic performance, including growth and labour productivity15; this imbalance is thrown into the
spotlight further by the close proximity of Cambridge, a leading high-tech, low carbon cluster.
What we’re doing
Cleantech East and its sister programmes in biotechnologies and advanced manufacturing are all led
by Hethel Innovation, and are all manifestations of the same versatile economic growth model, focused
on emerging sectors. This growth of sector networks aim to connect core players within cleantech, which
will consequently improve communication channels.
As the model develops and (with luck) continues to deliver in new sectors, we will continue to work with
stakeholders to adapt it to new areas, with the overarching goal being to close New Anglia’s productivity
gap.
Building our local supply chain is imperative to ensure we can exploit local opportunities as well as
embedding the knowledge base within the region. This will help build a low carbon cluster within New
Anglia which will attract greater economic activity and pull business into the area.
Our recommendations
We believe a bold strategy supported at the highest level is needed to address our current economic
disadvantage: supercritical amounts of funding and other support from private and public sources should
be made available to New Anglia’s research institutes for commercialisation of their high-value
intellectual property – but with an obligation to pursue industrial production and scale.
To grow the low carbon cluster which will give us a balanced economy, outputting as much economic
activity as effort put into supporting it, we must embed supply chains and knowledge locally. Funding
and other support should be available to New Anglia’s research institutes for commercialisation of their
IP with focus on scalability as well as to companies to adopt low carbon products, processes, and
services.
14 ONS (2016) International Comparisons of Productivity for 2015. 15Shared Intelligence & Inno TSD (2015) Innovation in New Anglia
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10. The Right Institutions
Structures, places and support to seed
future clusters
The challenge
While sustained and patient financial and other support are needed to successfully grow industrial
clusters, central government cannot effectively spot existing or future clusters at the regional level.
Research, innovation, and economic development institutions and programmes are therefore essential
to the delivery of any regional example of our sector growth strategy.
While the agencies concerned with economic growth in New Anglia have had and continue to have
individual successes, they currently lack co-ordination and the coherence needed to effectively build a
clean economy vision and actions supported by consensus.
What we’re doing
With Cleantech East and our other sector development programmes created through the Innovation
New Anglia project, Hethel Innovation is seeking to build a consensus around a vision of economic
growth based on emerging sectors and cross-sector innovation. To this end we have are forming a Sector
Leadership Group, bringing together regional research, private and public cleantech and clean
economy sector leads. We are also through our research and reports disseminating insight into our
specific challenges and opportunities.
Ultimately we will present the importance of the sector to our region, which will then reduce many of our
weaknesses and prevent further threats identified in Table 2.
Our recommendations
An innovation infrastructure (e.g. hubs, research institutes, networks) is already in place in New Anglia,
but programmes and the will to co-ordinate efforts around shared goals would open up opportunities for
synergy that increase the likelihood of success. We recommend that flexible, low-cost physical hubs for
innovation and the commercialisation of research be developed and supported to encourage growth.
To deliver broad economic growth, initiatives to build absorptive capacity for innovation amongst our
regional businesses could also be introduced.
Catapults have proven to be great places for clusters to centre around, especially where the knowledge
and business sectors interact. A catapult for environmental technologies to capitalise on the expertise
over at UEA and in innovations coming from the private sector would help seed a New Anglia low carbon
cluster.
However, building new places is not a strong strategy if the landscape is not suited to collaboration.
Support organisations need to work together, as previously recommended, to create a coherent,
efficient ‘place’ for a low carbon cluster to form.
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Key recommendations Following our research, we have compiled the most prevalent ‘asks’ to ensure the growth of our
emerging cleantech sector. From this we have formed recommendations for the top actions New Anglia
should take in supporting the regions clean growth and supporting cleantech clusters.
Top Asks
Our Key Sector Recommendations
1. Grow our number of
cleantech hubs and
encourage
connectivity
Within this Cluster Growth Strategy for Cleantech, it is abundantly clear
that there is no specialised physical space, or hub, for the cleantech
sector. We must rectify this by emerging our existing hubs as Cleantech
Business Hubs, offering specialised support for clean technologies.
2. Develop our
Cleantech Sector
Networks
For the Cleantech sector to fully emerge, we must encourage and
facilitate cross-sector collaborations amongst cleantech businesses and
researchers. Without this, research is unlikely to be realised and innovations
will not be made. Connecting businesses offers opportunities for new
innovations and business ventures.
3. Further support for
Cleantech start-ups
We must support New Anglia’s Cleantech start-ups during their earliest
stages. Specialised business support for the cleantech sector must be
developed and made assessible. This will be made easier through
developing cleantech hubs – Ask 1.
4. Draw upon the UEA’s
existing strengths
The UEA can lead the growth of a Cleantech Cluster within New Anglia by
forming a physical Cleantech Hub and Knowledge Hub. With the ability to
provide physical space for start-up businesses, the UEA could establish
itself as a cleantech incubator within New Anglia. Moreover, we
recommend that the UEA partners with Hethel Engineering Centre to form
a Technology Park, which would offer direct support to the cleantech
sector.
5. Recognition for
Cleantech business
Cleantech businesses must be given recognition, be it virtually or
physically, in some way to encourage more businesses to transition
towards following clean growth. By providing cleantech specific business
support, hubs, funding and grant schemes, cleantech businesses and
start-ups will be more likely to grow.
6. Support an Online
Innovation Platform
We must develop Online Innovation Platforms to aid the process of finding
collaborations within the cleantech sector. Innovation Platforms provide
collaboration opportunities by breaking down barriers to growth – being
vital for the emerging cleantech sector. These can be incorporated into
sector focused networks, providing online platforms.
7. Specific industry led
degree courses
The UEA is a research-intensive institution with a successful Environmental
Science degree and a new Engineering degree. By combining these three
strengths, the UEA has the ability to develop a cleantech led degree
course and strengthen our emerging Cleantech Cluster. With less than five
University’s in the UK offering a cleantech focused degree, there is a clear
opportunity for UEA to lead the sector into mainstream curriculum.
8. Funding dedicated to
the Cleantech sector
Whilst there are numerous routes to gain funding within New Anglia, there
is a lack of Cleantech focused funding. We must develop a funding
programme which directly supports SME’s within the cleantech sector. This
has seen success in wider regions, with cleantech SME’s receiving sector
focused support and accelerating growth.
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References
Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, GOV, 2017. Final UK greenhouse gas emissions
national statistics: 1990-2015. Final UK greenhouse gas emissions national statistics and Greenhouse gas
emissions.
ERC / EEC (2015) Benchmarking local innovation: the innovation geography of the UK.
HM Government, 2017. The Clean Growth Strategy - Leading the way to a low carbon future. London:
Available from:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/651916/BEIS_The_Cle
an_Growth_online_12.10.17.pdf [Accessed 31 October 2017].
New Anglia: Local Enterprise Partnership for Norfolk and Suffolk, 2013. Leading the Way: Green
Economy Pathfinder manifesto 2012-15.
Ofcom (2016) Connected Nations 2016. Available from: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/research-and-
data/multi-sector-research/infrastructure-research/connected-nations-2016 [Accessed 24th October
2017].
ONS (2016) International Comparisons of Productivity for 2015.
ScottishPower Renewables, 2017. Offshore Wind: Benefits. Scottish Power Ltd, Available from:
https://www.scottishpowerrenewables.com/pages/east_anglia_benefits.aspx [Accessed 23 October
2017].
Shared Intelligence & Inno TSD (2015) Innovation in New Anglia
The East of England Energy Group (EEEGR), 2017. Offshore Wind. Energy Sector, EEEGR. Available from:
http://www.eeegr.com/wind-power.html [Accessed 26 October 2017].
The Greater Cambridge Greater Peterborough Enterprise Partnership, 2017. East of England Science
and Innovation Audit.
UEA, 2017. Breaking Boundaries - Explore Our Research. University of East Anglia: Creative Sponge.
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Appendix
Summarizing the East of England’s Innovation Ecosystem in ICT
Source - The Greater Cambridge Greater Peterborough Enterprise
Partnership, 2017. East of England Science and Innovation Audit.
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About Innovation New Anglia
Innovation New Anglia is an innovation-led business support programme operating throughout Norfolk
& Suffolk. Through a range of tools such as online support, a collaborative learning platform, innovation
grants & emerging sector networks, the program aims to help entrepreneurs & researchers’ start-up
businesses, and for SMEs to harness their innovation potential.
For more information on the project please visit: www.innovationnewanglia.com
About ERDF
The Innovation New Anglia program is part financed by the England European Regional Development
Fund, as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020. The
Department for Communities and Local Government is the Managing Authority for ERDF. Established by
the European Union, ERDF funds help local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in
projects which will support innovation, business, create jobs and local community regeneration.
About the Author
Katherine lower SECTOR DEVELOPMENT MANAGER – CLEANTECH &
THE CLEAN ECONOMY [email protected]
Katherine is currently studying for a BSc (Hons) in Geography at
Bournemouth University and undergoing her one year industrial
placement. Katherine is passionate about utilizing innovation to
promote low-carbon technologies and sustainability.
At Hethel Innovation, Katherine is leading Cleantech East, a sector
network bringing together businesses, researchers, and students to
expand clean technology in the East.
