UK Competitiveness Index (UKCI) 2010 This is the 2010 edition of the report, which was first introduced and published in 2000. It represents a benchmarking of the competitiveness of the UK’s regions and localities. The UK Competitiveness Index has been designed as an integrated measure of competitiveness focusing on both the development and sustainability of businesses and the economic welfare of individuals. One of the findings of this report is that Exeter is the city which has seen the greatest improvement in competitiveness in recent years. UKCI 2010 Datasheet (Excel)
The Western Daily Press Business Guide 2010 Released in January, this features the West Country's top 150 companies.
BIS Annual Innovation Report 2009 The second Annual Innovation Report was launched on 22 February 2010. The report provides a snapshot of innovation in the UK and an opportunity to compare performance across years. While much of the data in this second report precedes the onset of the global recession, it highlights rising R&D investment, more A levels and first degrees being taken in STEM subjects and more innovative public procurement through the reformed Small Business Research Initiative. However, it also highlights that UK business spending on R&D remains low relative to other advanced countries, and it captures the decline in venture capital and private equity investment in the UK in 2008.
Investing in a Low Carbon Britain The UK has begun the transition to a low carbon economy. The transition will change every aspect of our lives, our work, and our society. Building on the Government’s vision for a Low Carbon Industrial Strategy published in April 2009, Investing in a Low Carbon Britain sets out a programme of targeted investment to provide real help now for businesses and households, creating and sustaining the jobs that will contribute to the UK’s prosperity in a new low carbon world.
2008 European Innovation Scoreboard
This is the eighth edition of the European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS), which provides a comparative assessment of the innovation performance of EU Member States, under the EU Lisbon Strategy. The methodology for the 2008 EIS is revised compared to that of 2007 with a stronger focus on services, non-technological aspects, and outputs of innovation (Section 5.1). The analysis of trends over time is now based on changes in the absolute values of the indicators over a five year period, rather than the previous approach of measuring trends relative to the EU average.
Commission Staff Working Document: Regions 2020 - An Assessment of Future Challenges for EU Regions, 2008. This report produced by the EU Commission, looks at how the pressures of globalisation may affect the different EU regions, including the South West. It produces a globalisation vulnerability index. The index ranks European regions with reference to each other.
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has just published Housing investment and neighbourhood market change. This study of neighbourhood housing markets in England in the 1990s and early 2000s describes and accounts for patterns of change in housing market performance, with a particular focus on the impact of new investment.
The Foundation has also published a second study, Understanding and responding to housing market change, which summarises evidence on recent changes in the English housing market.
State of the Country Side Update The Commission for Rural Communities has just released a new State of the Countryside Update, presenting an analysis of data concerning the cash purchases of housing stock - from a rural perspective. This update can be found on the CRC website at:
Commission for Rural Communities
The above report, State of the Countryside 2008 provides a summary of social, economic and environmental conditions and changes across rural England, highlighting the main challenges and future trends for government and other organisations.
To view the full report visit: http://www.ruralcommunities.gov.uk/
