Latest News | 4 March 2021
Being called the home of innovation is a real shot in the arm for Derby
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.
When someone describes your city as the “home of innovation” it should be something to take pride from.
And when that city is Derby – and the person doing the talking turns out to be the Prime Minister – if you work in marketing, you take it and run with it!
We have my former employers, the Derby Telegraph, to thank for eliciting that golden nugget from the mouth of Boris Johnson during his February visit to SureScreen Diagnostics, following a deal between the Government and the firm for 20 million rapid Covid tests. (Read the full story here.)
Such praise from the PM is music to the ears of any inward investment agency worth its salt – but particularly to the team here at Marketing Derby, who work so hard to sell the city as the UK Capital of Innovation. So, from now on, don’t just take our word for it – ask Boris!
However, he did go on to refer to our train-making site as Bombardier – but we’ll forgive him that seeing as the ink on the Alstom takeover was still drying! (Read the full story here.)
Of course, our global manufacturers like Alstom, Rolls-Royce and Toyota, are vitally important to the local economy.
But what Derby is also proving, particularly during this pandemic, is that we are not just about trains, planes and automobiles.
Companies like SureScreen and medical manufacturer Pennine Healthcare, which has partnered with the Cabinet Office in the fight against Covid-19, are prime examples of the city’s growing stature in the pharmaceuticals industry. (Read the full story here.)
During his visit to Derby, Boris also stopped by Derby City Council's impressive Derby Arena to check out the city’s vaccination programme.
Little did I know at the time, but I would end up there too in February.
Yes, I know what you’re thinking. I also thought that people aged in their 20s were not being called until later. Ah-hem!
One Saturday afternoon I received a telephone call from my medical practice, which I initially treated as a hoax.
By Sunday morning I was sitting on a plastic chair in the middle of Derby Arena having a dose of Oxford-AstraZeneca injected into my left arm.
For the first 48 hours after the event, it felt like I’d been hit by a Martyn Waghorn free-kick – but the flu-like symptoms, which were to be expected, soon passed.
As I left the arena, I remember experiencing two major emotions. The first was euphoria at having had the jab – the second was pride.
I couldn’t believe how well organised and efficient the whole process was.
I take my hat off to the incredible NHS staff and all of those volunteers at Derby Arena who made the experience so, well, pleasant (a big shout out to my Marketing Derby colleague Amy Burton who is among those volunteers!).
They welcomed us all to the arena like we were going to see the Christmas panto (Sleeping Beauty would’ve been appropriate!).
I think I was in and out of the arena in less than 10 minutes. Incredible. Derby at its brilliant best.
Elsewhere, education and young people were at the heart of many of the other recent big stories.
Over the past 12 months or so, our children have had a pretty tough time of it – as have many adults as they try to balance work with home-schooling.
In some cases, their education has been impacted – not by the quality of our educational institutions – but of their broadband and computer equipment as they try to study from home.
Last month, Marketing Derby published a number of stories appealing for businesses to donate unwanted laptops to the school pupils and students who needed them most.
Of course, in February, we had National Apprenticeship Week, for which I put together a special Marketing Derby e-shot, extolling the virtues of apprenticeships and their benefits to both businesses and young people. (Read the full story here.)
Among those supporting apprenticeships is Derby College Group, which last month received a further cash boost from the Government to improve its T-Level facilities, particularly for Science T-Level students. (Read the full story here.)
It will enable the next generation of laboratory scientists to become work-ready – and recent events have shown just how important they are to us.
In terms of the regeneration of Derby, there was further positive news on that front – most notably the confirmation of £10 million from the Environment Agency towards the city’s flood defence programme and the creation of a new regeneration area called Derby Riverside. (Read the full story here.)
The fortunes of a city are intrinsically linked to those of the region – and that is why Marketing Derby got behind an East Midlands inland Freeport bid, which was tabled by a consortium led by the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership and its equivalent in Leicester and Leicestershire. (Read the full story here.)
The bid tallied with many of our ambitions here in Derby and Derbyshire – and the prospect of 60,000 new jobs that such status would bring made it an absolute no-brainer, especially as one of the three sites is located in South Derbyshire.
We were, therefore, delighted when, in his Budget speech on Wednesday, Chancellor the Exchequer Rishi Sunak revealed that the East Midlands bid had been successful – a welcome shot in the arm for our local economy!
Anyway, that’s enough from me. Have a safe and productive March and I look forward to catching up again next month.
