This week the H&F Leader Stephen Cowan and Cllr Sanderson promoted the borough’s Industrial Strategy and our White City Innovation District at a major international economic conference.
The event, part of the International Association of Science Parks and Areas of Innovation (IASP), took place in Glasgow.
The White City Innovation District is one of just ten invited founding members of the IASP’s Innovation Districts Alliance (launched in March 2023), underlining the success of our Industrial Strategy in positioning the borough as a global economic hotspot – one where businesses have attracted upwards of £6bn in growth investment since 2017 and created 8,000 jobs.
Building on the council’s pioneering partnership with the 22@Barcelona innovation district, the conference provided opportunities to further partnerships, including with the Milan Innovation District, Berlin Adlershof Innovation District and the Melbourne Innovation Districts, among others.
Discussions focused on exchanging good practice including how to nurture successful economic ecosystems whilst ensuring inclusion of communities is hardwired into that growth as envisaged by our Industrial Strategy.
As part of the conference, Cllr Cowan led a workshop focused on skills and talent, enabling participants to share good practice in how their innovation districts build and promote pathways into good jobs for local communities, fostering inclusive economic growth.
