Events

12th Annual State of the City Economy Conference

Glasgow Economic Partnership hosted the 12th Annual State of the City Economy Conference, sponsored by ScottishPower with supporting sponsorship from Glasgow Housing Association, at the Radisson SAS hotel, Glasgow, on the morning of Friday, 20 November.

Over 500 delegates, representing all sectors of Glasgow's economy, attended the event. In addition, a number of Councillors, MPs and MSPs partcipated in the conference.

Stuart Patrick, Chief Executive of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, opened the conference and welcomed the delegates on behalf of Glasgow Economic Partnership. He stated that Glasgow must continue to be proactive in its approach to make sure we avoid some of the worst outcomes from the previous recessions and stressed that the conference was an important staging post for Team Glasgow in responding to the economic challenges we face. He also introduced the conference chair, Greg Clark, Global Advisor on the Development and Investment of Cities and Regions. 

Leader of Glasgow City Council, Councillor Steven Purcell, highlighted the progress Glasgow has made over the last 10-12 years, which ensured that Glasgow entered this recession in much stronger shape than it had entered previous recessions.  He reviewed the announcements he made at the 11th Annual State of the City Economy Conference to help the city through the challenging economic climate and reported that these measures have delivered real success. He also spoke about the Living Wage, the Commonwealth Games Apprenticeship Iniative, GARL, the Games Legacy Framework and the Clyde Gateway Urban Regeneration Company. The Leader also offered up three areas where he believes we should concentrate our efforts and resources to ensure long term economic development and growth: skills and training, infrastructure invesment and the importance of cities as drivers of the whole Scottish Economy.

Keynote speaker was the Rt Hon Jim Murphy, Secretary of State for Scotland. He announced that the first ever Scottish Jobs Summit will take place on January 11th 2010, in Easterhouse, Glasgow. Click here is read his speech in full.

Chris Brodie (SLIMS Consulting) looked at what we know about the current recession and presented some evidence of what it might mean for Glasgow and for Step Change. This presentation is available to download via the links at the bottom of this page.

Crawford Gillies (Chair, Scottish Enterprise) stated that Glasgow has proven itself one of the most dynamic cities in Scotland. However, recovery will not happen overnight and much of what the public and private sectors achieve together in the coming months and years will determine the success not just of the extent and pace of recovery but also of Scotland's economic future.

Debra Mountford, OECD LEED Programme, presented the 10 Barcelona Principles. She praised Glasgow's Living Wage iniative and strong leadership as good examples of planning for the upturn. This presentation is available to download via the links at the bottom of this page.

Some key messages from the conference were captured by various press articles:

»»Glasgow To Take On 1000 More Apprentices, The Evening Times 

»»State Of The City Conference Focuses On Plans For The Upturn, Glasgow Business, Page 9

Downloads: