Superfast Cornwall, the pioneering initiative rolling out super-fast broadband across Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, has been announced as a major winner at the World Communication Awards.  A panel of judges, which included some of the world’s leading IT experts, named the £132 million private and public sector partnership as Project of the Year.  The judges said Superfast Cornwall was “a good example of a private company partnering with the public sector” to create “Europe’s most ambitious rural deployment of super-fast broadband."

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To support the cross Government campaign to help more young people into work and training, Jobcentre Plus services for 16 and17 year olds claiming Jobseekers Allowance have been more closely aligned with services and support for our customers aged 18 and over. 

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Only a few days into his new role and on a sunny autumn day at Gwithian Beach, Chris Hayes DWP Director for Labour Market strategy, got a taste of the Work Programme – Cornwall style!  Chris’s visit to Jobcentre Plus in Cornwall coincided with a pilot of new activity for the DWP Work Programme, commissioned by Prospects Ltd and delivered by Surf Action, who also receive ESF Convergence investment through Cornwall Works 50+. 

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Check out the new  ESF Convergence investments in skills and training.

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An ambitious, multi million scheme for the expansion of a major employer in the Newquay area has been approved for European Regional Development Fund Convergence investment.  It will create about 60 jobs on top of the 270 already employed by Pall at their St Columb base.

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"With sluggish rates of economic growth in the headlines across Europe, the European Commission’s October publication of proposals for the future of regional development makes interesting reading.

"Entitled 'Cohesion Policy: Investing in Growth and Jobs', the proposals focus tightly on investing European regional development funding on the priorities of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth.  In all but the least-well-developed regions – and it is good news that Cornwall seems likely to move out of the poorest-performing category after 2013 – the proposals suggest that the bulk of the ERDF investment should be focused in three key priority areas:

• Research and development, and innovation
• Energy efficiency and renewables
• SME (small and medium sized enterprise) support

"Introducing the proposals, Commissioners have made clear that they see business innovation at the very heart of how the EU will compete globally with the emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China.

"These proposals should be welcomed in Cornwall, reflecting as they do our existing commitment to growing a broader more knowledge-based economy, for example, building specialist expertise in marine renewables and supporting small businesses with growth potential across all sectors.

"A very recent report by the Warwickshire Observatory looked at all 38 areas of England now covered by Local Enterprise Partnerships and produced a league table showing performance on a range of key economic indicators.  Their findings merit a closer look.  On key indicators of the knowledge economy, Cornwall is near the top in terms of the rate of growth of businesses in knowledge-based sectors (5th out of 38) but we remain firmly bottom of the league table in terms of the absolute proportion of our economy that is knowledge based.  This says to me that we have been doing the right things to stimulate innovative growth, but it’s a very long haul and we have a lot further to go.

"To encourage regions to take a strategic approach to developing R&D and Innovation, the Commission is asking every region to develop a “Smart Specialisation Strategy”.  Is this just a piece of jargon-ridden bureaucracy?  I can be a bit cynical about such initiatives but on this occasion, I think there could be real value in the exercise.  What they mean is that each area should take a long, hard and analytical look at its strengths, weaknesses and opportunities in relation to R&D and innovation, and come up with a focused investment plan to build up those areas where businesses can truly excel.

"The Convergence Programme has already pioneered this approach with CUC partners, in its decisions to make concentrated investments in the areas of the environment, marine renewables, health and the creative and digital economy, supported by innovation centres and the enterprise institute.  We are recognised as having led the way among Convergence regions.  As the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly LEP examines its own priorities for the future, the time is ripe to refresh our approach to Smart Specialisation so that we can begin to build a substantial new knowledge-based economy and start to climb off the bottom rung of the ladder of that LEP league-table.  It’s a call to action in which CUC partner institutions, as key University-level drivers of the knowledge economy, are committed to playing our full part."

Between June and October 2011 over £19,000 was awarded to the Cornish fishing industry from the European Fisheries Fund (EFF) and the Marine Management Organisation.

The funding was awarded to seven projects in the county. These included a grant of £5,700 towards a new engine for a vessel in Newlyn which aims to reduce annual costs by £750 and fuel consumption by around 1,250 litres. A vessel in Mevagissey also received £2,000 towards a new engine. This project aims to reduce fuel usage by up to 20 per cent.

For more information on the support available through the EFF see the Marine Management Organisation website or call 0300 123 1032.

Information about the fisheries programme can also be found here:

> Convergence website

Information about the Rural Development Programme (RDPE) can also be found via Business Link Rural Business Support and on the Convergence website.