East of England: a global economic force

The East of England is an economic force to be reckoned with compared to other top-performing global regions but investment in high-level skills and infrastructure is holding back greater growth.

A report from Insight East, the economic experts at the East of England Development Agency (EEDA), compares the region with other international world-leading regions across 23 measures of competitiveness. The report shows that the East of England compares favourably with similar regions such as Massachusetts/Rhode Island, Virginia and California in the United States, and Tokai in Japan. 

The report provides a better understanding of the international strengths and weaknesses of the region’s economy will now help decision-makers make timely and appropriate investment decisions.

Key findings from ‘International insight: how the East of England economy compares’ include:

• In 2006 the East of England had the forth highest value of exports in the UK, worth £20.2 billion
• If the region was a nation, it would have ranked 18^th out of the 39 OECD nations prior to the recession
• Total investment in research and development (R&D) is double the EU average of 3.9% of the value of economic output
• 80% of all R&D investment is made by businesses which is comparatively high
• At 6 per the East of England has seen the highest recorded population growth between 1995-2005, higher than any UK region outside of London
• Over half use the internet to buy goods and service putting us in the top 10 of ‘web savvy’ regions compared to 97 European comparator regions
• At £44,423 of wealth generated per worker in 2005 our labour productivity is only average compared to European regions and only half that of US comparators such as Massachusetts/Rhode Island and Virginia
• 43% of us are employed in knowledge-intensive services, 15^th highest compared to other European regions and just behind South Sweden and the South East of England
• 20.3% of adults have higher level qualifications, ranking us below several leading global regions as well as below the UK average
• At 59 minutes it takes us a quarter of an hour longer than the average traveller in the UK to get to a town or city which is classed as a major economic centre

Glenn Athey, director of Insight East said:

“These findings help us better understand the region’s competitive strengths and weaknesses and help decision-makers here make the right investments at the right time for long-term economic prosperity.

“It is clear from this report that if the East of England is to continue to perform strongly against other comparative world-leading regions, skills and infrastructure issues need to be addressed. This is especially important if he East of England is to remain a key knowledge-based economy and capitalise on a rapid transition to a low-carbon economy.” 

The report is available on the Insight East website at:

www.insighteast.org.uk

 From: http://www.eeda.org.uk/4714.asp