Barriers to Innovation

Our Economic Growth team is excited to be developing a new proactive, commercially astute and tech savvy inward investment service fit for a post Covid and post Brexit Essex. We want to understand Essex's strengths, its competition and how inward investment decision making has been impacted by current economic and environmental conditions and wish to work collaboratively with inward investment specialists to shape and deliver a world class service. We are planning to go out to tender for:

• a comprehensive assessment of the current innovation support landscape in Essex. • to benchmark Essex against peers and best practice areas both in UK and further afield. • to recommend an approach to address the perceived Innovation support shortcomings within Essex based on a 'gold, silver & bronze' type approach weighing in estimated associated costs and benefits.

In July the UK Government published its UK Innovation Strategy, and this will need to be contextualised in any work, but the outputs required will be Essex specific.

The above should fully embrace a collaborative partnership approach across Essex.

Additional information: Responses to the questionnaire should be e-mailed to Michael Veasey, michael.veasey@essex.gov.uk