Low Carbon South West was delighted to host a successful evening networking event with their members Smith & Williamson on the City Deal on the 12th October at the accountancy firm's Central Bristol offices.

Speakers: Paul Taylor, Peter Jackson and David Mouncey

Over 60 delegates attended what proved to be a useful and informative event that prompted lively discussion on a subject that was new to many. We were lucky to welcome a panel of expert speakers with specialist knowledge of the subject of the City Deal.

We heard from Paul Taylor, who is lead for Bristol City Council on the successful City Deal and who gave the background to the bid.

Paul explained that The City Deal initiative is driven by the Government's decentralisation programme which aims to drive growth by giving local control over funds and decide who does what with the crucial aim of "unlocking growth".

The Deal offers the chance to keep growth income within the region and to use it to reinvest and incentivise in further growth. Income will be used, in combination with other funding sources, to create an Economic Development Fund for the West of England worth £1 billion over 25 years.

Paul emphasised that the City Deal funding will be one pot of money to manage and prioritise. Key components of the bid are concerned with transport devolution, people and skills, increased inward investment to create a growth hub and a public property board.

Dave Mouncey of Smith & Williamson sees The City Deal money opening up long term investment and the chance of increased leverage for borrowing which should certainly help green tech businesses.

Dave sees the key priorities arising from The City Deal to be the need for a clear energy strategy and a master plan that will ensure that funding possibilities are maximised.

From the business point of view, businesses will need to understand tax incentives and mechanisms for raising finance, such as the Enterprise Investment Scheme, R & D Tax credits, enhanced capital allowances and Patent Box, which provides an additional incentive for companies to retain and commercialise existing patents and to develop new innovative patented products.

Dave concluded that The City Deal will be interesting to business - but businesses will need to know and understand where opportunities are and how to make the most of them.

We then heard from Peter Jackson, of the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership, who gave an overview of The City Deal from the point of view of the LEP and its constituent partners.

Peter explained that the Growth Incentive is central to the Deal, as it will allow for pooling of the business rate growth from the five designated Enterprise Areas across the region and the Enterprise Zone, making a significant contribution to the West of England Economic Development Fund.

He acknowledged that this region's City Deal is weaker than those from other regions in respect of emphasising low carbon aspirations. However, he made the point that by way of preparation for bidding for Phase II of the funding, there is an opportunity to place more emphasis on developing certain sectors, especially the low carbon sector.

Peter explained that The Deal will provide:

• Investment in a major devolved transport scheme in Bristol
• A single skills investment plan to increase apprenticeships and a business led Charter Mark to improve the employability of those newly entering the labour market.
• The City Growth Hub to attract and support inward investors to the region and help them to grow their businesses and find the right skills
• A public Property Board in Bristol to streamline management of properties and unlock land for economic growth and housing.

The presentations were followed by a lively Q&A session chaired by Amy Robinson, Low Carbon South West. Topics of discussion included behaviour change in transport, how to best ensure local SMEs benefit from the City Deal and the likely role of the new Mayor of Bristol in influencing the direction of the policy.

The event was brought to a close by Alan Bailey of Low Carbon South West who feels that in his experience, the City Deal is the most cohesive policy of its type to date. He highlighted the role of LCSW in bringing companies together in a strong network and acting as a link between the policy makers and local businesses.

More detail on the strategy and planning of the City Deal can be found in the Implementation Action Plan which is published on the LEP website. The speakers presentations are available to download from our online resource centre.

Low Carbon South West would like to thank all of our speakers and contributors and especially our hosts Smith & Williamson who generously provided the venue and refreshments.

The Greenius, or Green Genius, national competition aimed at driving forward the UK's green growth agenda has opened and organisations are invited to compete for a share of £3 million for the development of innovative, near-market technologies leading to commercialisation.

Launched by the Deputy Prime Minister in June, the contest is seeking innovative solutions to questions of food, water and energy sustainability.

This competition is jointly funded by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). The competition will be managed by the UK's innovation agency, the Technology Strategy Board.

Food, water and energy are the themes of this challenge and the competition is seeking solutions and ideas that will link 2 or preferably all 3 of these themes. Solutions must be efficient and sustainable, and must be capable of rapid commercialisation, providing significant benefits for consumers and/or businesses.

The proposed solutions could, for example:

- Make large scale technologies work at smaller (factory or community) scale;

- Promote closed loop processes;

- Allow consumers better control of the resources that they consume;

- Aim to drive down the cost of a technology.

The competition is in two phases. In the first, 25 contracts will be awarded for feasibility studies lasting up to 13 weeks. In the second phase, the proposed solutions from phase 1 will be assessed for their suitability and up to six development contracts will be awarded, lasting up to 12 months, each leading to a prototype or demonstrator for the proposed technology.

The competition opened on 24 September 2012 and the deadline for registration is 29 October 2012. Applications must be received by 5 November 2012. For further information please visit: Greenius Award.

The Microelectronics and Environmental iNets autumn 2012 funding competition seeks applications from innovative small to medium sized enterprises in the South West of England to apply for their project innovation vouchers. The competition will open from 1 October 2012 and run until 28 November 2012.

Key Information:

Open to SMEs in all industry sectors
Up to £5,000 innovation voucher available
Support projects of up to 3 months in length
Easy application process, quick decision

The competitions are run to support the innovative use of microelectronics and environmental technologies in new products and services. They offer grants of up to £5,000 to enable external expertise to be used by a company to allow you to innovate, develop and grow.

Click here for more information on the Microelectronics scheme.

Click here for more information on the Environmental scheme.

Building on the existing industry links within the Faculty of Engineering at The University of Bristol, two new initiatives are being launched. The Faculty is keen to work with companies to support student employability as part of these schemes.

• Mentoring

Companies mentor a small group of students (3-5), which includes an initial meeting facilitated by the University, and two other meetings at the company's offices and/or a site location if appropriate.

• Internships

Companies are asked to offer paid summer internships to first year undergraduate students (Summer 2013) - application process to be administered by the Faculty.

These schemes are specifically for first year students as the Faculty is keen for all new students to engage with relevant industry early in their studies in order to enhance their employability and consider their career options.

These schemes are a great way for a company to develop its relationship with the Faculty of Engineering, and to raise its profile amongst students (and future potential employees). In addition, companies that are part of these schemes get access to a number of other industry-related initiatives currently being launched in the Faculty.

For more information on the schemes, please contact the Faculty's Industrial Liaison Office This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or click here to visit their website.