Time for our innovation to soar as 2023 takes off

Here, in his latest monthly column reflecting on the news over the past month, our Press and PR Executive Robin Johnson looks at the headlines.

Welcome aboard flight 2023 to who knows where.

Please ensure that all Christmas decorations are safely stowed away in the overhead lockers (namely the loft) and that your seatbelts are tightly fastened, because it’s more than likely that we will experience a little bit of turbulence this year.

At least that’s what has been predicted as we continue to battle with the rising cost of living, strikes and other challenges.

Not to sound too much like a killjoy, but it was with a sense of relief that I took all our Christmas lights down this week, thinking how much I’d be saving on the electricity bill!

There will be tough moments this year for sure. However, if there’s any learning to be taken from 2022 it is that whatever is thrown at us, as a city – and county for that matter – we can overcome challenges through collaboration and innovation.

Take Derby County as an example. Twelve months ago, the club was in administration and about to enter one of the most turbulent periods in its long and proud history.

The Rams were perilously close to going out of existence. However, twelve months on, thanks to the collective efforts of the community – not least Bondholder Clowes Developments – the Rams are very much alive and rebuilding.

At the time of writing, the club occupies a play-off spot in League One, which is remarkable when you think about it. (I hope I haven’t cursed us now!)

It just goes to show what can be done when we work together – which is why I’m not too afraid of what economic curveballs 2023 might throw at us.

It’s time to roll up our collective sleeves and get down to business.

And happily, there are plenty of things to look forward to in 2023, as ongoing developments continue to progress, while others bubbling under the surface break cover.

And, of course, we have a whole host of Marketing Derby events to look forward to in 2023.

The first major one in the calendar will be our Annual Business Event, which will take place at Derby Theatre, on Friday, 24 February.

Make sure you pencil that date in your diary and join us for a look back on 2022 and get an insight into what’s happing this year.

For now, let’s look back on how 2022 ended – yes, I know, it seems like an age ago now.

Among the Bondholders who finished the year with a flourish was Derbion, which lifted the lid on its master plan for two key areas of the city centre.

The plans could potentially see 1,250 new homes built in the heart of the city.

Residential schemes have proven to be a great success for Derby – just look at how well new homes have sold at developments such as Castleward and the Nightingale Quarter, with The Condor at Becketwell due to come on stream very soon.

Moving from the future to the present, 2022 was a very productive year for Derbion both in terms of attracting significant new names to the centre and seeing existing ones invest in their current stores.

Of course, the largest – and perhaps most anticipated one of them all – came towards the end of the year, when the impressive Frasers department store opened for business in the former Debenhams unit.

The new Frasers covers 127,000 sq ft across three floors. I don’t think there are many shopping centres in the region currently announcing store openings of such scale.

Putting them all together, these quality arrivals are helping to give the shopping and leisure destination an increasing high-end feel – and the bosses at Derbion need to be commended for attracting these big names, particularly against the backdrop of an ever-challenging retail market.

However, it does also raise a question about areas elsewhere in the city centre – a challenge that has been with us pretty much ever since the shopping centre first opened its doors back in 2007 as Westfield Derby.

My belief is that major city centre developments, such as Becketwell, the transformation of the Market Hall and the potential redevelopment of the Assembly Rooms site, have a key role to play in driving footfall to a repurposed city centre.

It’s interesting how the introduction of certain things can change the look and feel of a place.

Something new we can expect to see zipping around the city centre are e-bikes.

Okay, I’m not for a moment suggesting that the presence of a few hundred e-bikes will turn Derby into Amsterdam overnight – but simply seeing them being used (and used properly!) gives you an impression of a modern, forward-looking city that is willing to embrace new things.

Of course, the aim of e-bikes is to encourage us to travel in a more environmentally friendly way.

A car manufacturer that has been encouraging us to do so for many years through its products is Toyota Manufacturing UK Ltd.

The firm’s Burnaston plant is best known for producing environmentally friendly cars – but this year, it will be expanding its remit to pick-up trucks.

At the end of 2022, it was announced that Toyota had secured funding to develop a hydrogen fuel cell pick-up at its Derbyshire factory.

It will see Burnaston develop and build a hydrogen fuel cell powered prototype Toyota Hilux.

It is an excellent project that reinforces this region’s ambitions to be a centre of excellence for the development of hydrogen technologies.

Derby and Derbyshire are home to many companies like Toyota who have the talent and innovative spirit to meet global challenges.

A company that did this when the pandemic first hit was SureScreen, who developed Covid-19 lateral flow tests during the crisis.

Today, the firm is adapting the same technology to meet other health challenges – most recently the alarming instances of Strep A.

In recent years much work and investment has gone into boosting Derby’s cultural offer, for example the Derby Museums’ Museum of Making – and in the future, a new performance venue at Becketwell opening in 2025 and the possibility of a refurbished Guildhall Theatre and new Learning Theatre on the Assembly Rooms site.

Marketing Derby is a great supporter of the city’s cultural sector, which was shown in December when we sponsored Creative UK’s annual reception at QUAD.

A national network for the creative industries, Creative UK is an independent membership organisation that champions the value of the sector – and this was the first time its reception had been held in the East Midlands.

Towards the end of the year, Marketing Derby also sponsored the London and Derby press launches for FORMAT23, which is a major international photography festival due to take place in Derby in March.

In terms of Derby’s cultural calendar, FORMAT is one of our jewels in the crown and something we can all look forward to – as is the imminent prestigious Hogarth exhibition at the Derby Museum and Art Gallery, which we are supporting.

Before I sign off, I’d just like to remind you that our latest edition of Innovate Magazine is now out, which celebrates the companies who are bucking the trend in the face of those economic headwinds I mentioned earlier.

It’s much better than those inflight magazines you usually get.

So, buckle up, return your tables to the upright position and I’ll be round with the drinks trolley later (I’m not paying, by the way!).

Have a safe and productive January and I look forward to catching up again soon.