Talking Business:
Read this month’s Island Business column from Kevin Smith, Isle of Wight Chamber Of Commerce Chief Executive
At the Chamber we want to focus and encourage a wide range of industry sectors to help grow and develop the Isle of Wight’s economy. We understand the importance of tourism, and together with the IW Council the Chamber was instrumental in setting up Visit Isle of Wight to better promote the Island as a great place to come and take a holiday. But good economic development should always ensure we maximise and support all of our assets.
The Isle of Wight has a fabulous marine and manufacturing base, which makes up a larger percentage of our business community than those of the very wealthy South East of England and the UK as a whole. These sectors are crucial because they often pay higher salaries and employ large numbers of skilled employees. The more of these businesses that we can grow, develop and attract to the Isle of Wight, then the greater the contribution will be to the wealth of local economy, as well as providing some fantastic career opportunities for the Island’s young people.
These industry sectors have been highlighted in the Solent Enterprise Partnerships (LEP’s) ‘economic strategy’ and are also included in the Isle of Wight’s Economic draft strategy. This means that it is important for the Island to retain its existing businesses and help them grow further.
We should all strive for the Isle of Wight to become well known as a great place that supports business growth in marine and advanced manufacturing and encourages innovation and technology. We can also become recognised as an outstanding place to start up or relocate new business, and I already encourage this agenda amongst the partner organisations that I work with.
The Solent LEP has recently commissioned a report that highlighted the location of important water front sites for the maritime industry. These included three ‘Tier 1’ sites which have been designated as being areas of prime strategic importance, not just to the Isle of Wight but for the Solent LEP Area. These sites need to be protected to encourage the continuation of marine based industries. This does not mean that we stop proactive development across the Island but we need to ensure that we look at the bigger picture, protect our assets for the future and lay the foundations for prosperity for future generations that follow.
Sometimes I think that the Island can lose sight of the fact that we are not just a tourism destination but we actually have a long pedigree of high skilled advanced manufacturing and marine based business who encourage innovation and new technologies and who then take this to international markets. This has to be celebrated and more of it encouraged. I think many readers would be astounded at the international client list that many of these businesses have.
In the coming months the Chamber will be establishing its Economic Advisory Board. It will look at how we continue to support marine industries and attracting other sectors that will assist to grow the economic wellbeing of the Island. Simply put this will mean more high paying jobs, more employment opportunities and a positive future for our young people.
