• How can UK cities and regions become both more enterprising and more creative?
• Will policies to foster thriving regional knowledge economies built on science and technology-based companies conflict with the need to tackle poverty and social exclusion?
• And what can we learn from US efforts, such as the Regional Innovation Initiative, to boost the fortunes of underperforming communities that have not successfully adapted to the rigours of global competition?

These are just some of the questions asked at the National Competitiveness Summit on Tuesday 25th October 2005.

Welcome and Introduction

Peter Mearns, Northwest Regional Development Agency

Session 1: Regional Innovation Systems

Michael Kitson, University of Cambridge, “Enterprising and Creative Places”
Richard Lester, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, “Regional Competitiveness in the Global Economy: Innovation and the Role of the University”
Mindy Wilson, CBI, “The Country of Choice”

Session 2: How to Sustain Enterprising Places

Peter Tyler, University of Cambridge and Christie Baxter, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, “Policy and Enterprising Places for Technology Based Development”
James Hehir, Ipswich Borough Council, “Across the Pond”
Dennis Berkey, President of Worcester Polytechnic, USA, “How to Sustain Enterprising Places”

Session 3: Social Enterprise

Jonathan Bland, Chief Executive of the Social Enterprise Coalition, “Social Enterprise: building a progressive economy”
Amber Nystrom, Founder and CEO, Social Fusion, USA, “Social Enterprise Incubation: Building Ecosystems for Sustainable Innovation”
Tom Bentley, Director of DEMOS, “How People Make Places”

Flight of the Creative Class

Keynote Speech
Professor Richard Florida, George Mason University, “Flight of the Creative Class: The New Global Competition for Talent”

Discussant
Tony Wilson, Co-Founder of Factory Records, "Little Boys With Guitars"

Ministerial Speech

Barry Gardiner MP, Under Secretary of State for Competitiveness at the Department of Trade and Industry

Panel Session: Where do we go from here?

Barry Gardiner MP, Under Secretary of State for Competitiveness at the Department of Trade and Industry
Richard Florida, US public policy expert and author of The Rise of the Creative Class
Tony Wilson, Co-Founder of Factory Records
Richard Leese, Leader of Manchester City Council
Drummond Bone, Vice Chancellor of the University of Liverpool

Conclusion

Professor Michael Kelly, Executive Director of the Cambridge-MIT Institute at the University of Cambridge

Event Partners

The National Competitiveness Summit is a high-level annual conference, organised by the Cambridge-MIT Institute, bringing together industry, academia and government to discuss issues that are key to the competitiveness of the UK economy. The 2005 Summit on Enterprising & Creative Places is co-hosted by the Northwest Regional Development Agency.