Business Cornwall June 21 by Business Cornwall

CORNWALL'S PREMIER BUSINESS RESOURCE FOR ALL THE LATEST NEWS AND OPINION

businesscornwall.co.uk

JUNE 2021 | ISSUE 148 | £3.95

G7 SPECIAL GLOBAL SPOTLIGHT ON CORNWALL’S GROWTH INDUSTRIES

30 UNDER 30

THE DUCHY’S BRIGHTEST BUSINESS TALENT

06 9 772514

842001

SAVE LIVES BY BECOMING A

TOURISM BUSINESS

SUPPORTER

CORNWALL Registered Charity 1133295

“

When we met the Cornwall Air Ambulance team, we were in complete awe of the amazing work carried out by the charity and wanted to help raise some of the money it needs. We asked our customers to add £2 to the payment of their holiday so that we can pass on, in full, the total donation. We initially hoped to raise £3,500 but it ended up raising over £9,000 – that’s over 4,000 holiday-makers who donated!

cornwallairambulancetrust.org/ tourism-business-supporter/

“

– Harriet Wills, Marketing Manager at Cornish Horizons

JUNE 2021

INSIDE REGULARS 6 INCOMING WHAT ROLE CAN CORNWALL PLAY IN THE GREEN REVOLUTION?

8 BUSINESS NEWS QUEEN’S AWARD FOR ST EVAL CANDLE CO

71 FSB FEDERATION OF SMALL BUSINESSES LATEST

72 EDUCATION & TRAINING NEWS SPACE TECHNOLOGY TRAINING

75 CHAMBER NEWS LATEST FROM CORNWALL CHAMBER

76 TEST DRIVE THE CUPRA LEON HYBRID

78 JUST A THOUGHT

ISSUE 148

FEATURES 12 INTERVIEW LEP CHAIR MARK DUDDRIDGE ON G7

16 GEORESOURCES CORNWALL CAN BE A TESTBED FOR SUSTAINABLE METAL MINING

26 RENEWABLE ENERGY HOW THE GREEN REVOLOUTION IS AT THE HEART OF CORNWALL’S GROWTH PLANS

54 NATURE RECOVERY PROTECTING CORNWALL’S NATURAL WORLD

57 SUSTAINABLE TOURISM JILL STEIN EXPLAINS THE IMPORTANCE OF DEVELOPING THIS KEY SECTOR

58 30 UNDER 30 CORNWALL’S BRIGHTEST YOUNG BUSINESS TALENT

32 CREATIVE CORNWALL 66 GROWTH HOW CORNWALL’S CREATIVE PROGRAMME INDUSTRIES ARE LEADING

38 SPACE & DATA ESTABLISHING A SPACE CLUSTER

46 DIGITAL & SKILLS UPSKILLING IN THE TECH ERA

INVESTING IN A LOW CARBON FUTURE

68 UNLOCKING POTENTIAL SUPPORT PROGRAMME CONTINUES TO DELIVER

52 DEPRIVATION & REGENERATION EMMIE KELL ON REGENERATING CORNWALL’S COMMUNITIES

SW BIDS CHAIR RICHARD WILCOX

80 THE LAST WORD SCREEN CORNWALL MD LAURA GILES

PHOTO: JUBILEE POOL, PENZANCE SEE PAGE 29 FOR FULL STORY

BUSINESS CORNWALL | 1

CONTRIBUTORS

TOP LEFT: ELENA BOILS TOP CENTRE: JILL STEIN TOP RIGHT: JAMES DARLING BOTTOM LEFT: CAROLYN CADMAN BOTTOM RIGHT: EMMIE KELL

ELENA BOILS

JILL STEIN

JAMES DARLING

Elena is a freelance illustrator based in London. Born in Mexico where she grew up, she studied illustration at Cornwall’s Falmouth University. Her style of colourful image making explores the theme of spaces, by combining rigid formal shapes with figurative lines, bringing to life the projects in Carolyn Cadman’s article on page 54

Jill Stein is chair of Visit Cornwall and coowner of the Rick Stein Group which played a key role in boosting food and drink tourism in Cornwall and re-setting the standard of food and service in local restaurants. Jill writes about the importance of the tourism sector for Cornwall and the broader need for sustainable tourism on page 57.

Former Royal Marines officer and photographer James Darling is a freelance photographer based in North Cornwall. Leaving the military in 2002 he retrained formally as a photographer at the University of Westminster, spending three years at Reuters before taking his own commissions. James shot the cover story for the issue at Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens near Penzance over two days, art directed by Scott Manning from Felt Branding.

CAROLYN CADMAN CEO of Cornwall Wildlife Trust, Carolyn has a birds’ eye view of the variety of projects taking place in Cornwall which are helping us protect the environment and progress towards our target of being carbon neutral by 2030. She takes a look at some of the projects making a difference on page 54.

2 | BUSINESS CORNWALL

EMMIE KELL Emmie Kell is CEO of Cornwall Museums Partnership. She grew up in Cornwall, attending primary school in Camborne, and secondary school in Pool – two of the Duchy’s most deprived areas. On page 52 she writes about the need for regeneration in Cornwall and the important role Cornish culture can play in raising aspirations.

He says “It was an honour to meet so many of the brilliant people working in and around Cornwall’s emerging industries. We have so much talent here and it’s a joy to capture it.” With thanks to Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens.

CONTRIBUTORS

Letter from the guest editor

Glenn

Caplin-Grey

Dydh da ha Kernow a’gas dynnergh! It’s a real pleasure to have worked with the team at Business Cornwall magazine on the production of this month’s ‘G7 edition’. Never has Cornwall been in the spotlight more and it’s important we maximise the opportunity to tell the story of modern Cornwall. Not only the story of how our emerging sectors hold the key to answering some of the big questions that World leaders will be grappling with in Carbis Bay, but also highlighting why that is so important to our communities, businesses and environment. In putting together the content for this edition I’ve been struck by the apparent gap between the two narratives. On one hand Cornwall has an enormous opportunity to be a creative and carbon-neutral economy with sectors like space and data, georesources, agri-tech and renewable energy. On the other hand, we have communities in poverty and young people struggling to match opportunity to their aspiration. But the more I’ve looked at the stories of individuals and businesses in this edition, the more I’m convinced that they are the same story. New challenges. New opportunities. New skills. And more relevant than ever to wider global challenges like climate change and inequality. Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly are rich in natural capital and alive with the opportunity to improve the lives of those that live here. Our culture and history suggests we can make that a reality. I hope this edition shines a light on some of what is happening right here as world leaders gather in Cornwall.

Glenn Caplin-Grey

CEO of Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership BUSINESS CORNWALL | 3

JUNE 2021

CORNWALL'S PREMIER BUSINESS RESOURCE FOR ALL THE LATEST NEWS AND OPINION

businesscornwall.co.uk

JUNE 2021 | ISSUE 148 | £3.95

G7 SPECIAL GLOBAL SPOTLIGHT ON CORNWALL’S GROWTH INDUSTRIES

30 UNDER 30

THE DUCHY’S BRIGHTEST BUSINESS TALENT

06 9 772514

842001

9 772514

842001

ON THE COVER

GLOBAL SPOTLIGHT ON CORNWALL’S GROWTH INDUSTRIES EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Nick Eyriey nick@businesscornwall.co.uk PUBLISHER Toni Eyriey toni@businesscornwall.co.uk BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Morveth Ward morveth@businesscornwall.co.uk ACCOUNT MANAGER Caroline Carter caroline@businesscornwall.co.uk

WELCOME

BY EDITOR NICK EYRIEY

ISSUE 148

EYES OF THE WORLD

Welcome to a very special, bumper edition of Business Cornwall magazine. As Cornwall gets set to welcome the leaders of the G7 nations down to Carbis Bay this month, we present a slightly different issue than normal. Guest-edited by LEP chief executive Glenn Caplin-Grey, we take a comprehensive look at the state of the nation here in Cornwall and the various sectors and industries best placed to lead the Duchy to a successful and sustainable future. One of the reasons Boris Johnson chose Cornwall to host G7 is that it ticks many of the boxes in his quest for the economy to build back better and greener. Many of the building blocks are here – renewable energy, georesources, space etc. We focus on these sectors and more and showcase the fantastic opportunities that lie ahead for Cornwall.

CONTRIBUTORS Glenn Caplin-Grey, Katie Wild, Jason Clark, Katie Sandow, James Darling, Scott Manning DESIGN Ade Taylor design@businesscornwall.co.uk PRINT Printed in Cornwall by Deltor BUSINESS CORNWALL is published 10 times a year by: Tonick Business Publishing Pool Innovation Centre Trevenson Road Redruth TR15 3PL Tel: 01209 718688

SUBSCRIPTIONS subscriptions@businesscornwall.co.uk Registered under the Data Protection Act. All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced, copied, stored in an electronic retrieval system or transmitted without the written permission of the publisher. Stringent efforts have been made by Business Cornwall magazine to ensure accuracy. However, due principally to the fact that data cannot always be verified, it is possible that some errors or omissions may occur. Business Cornwall magazine can not accept responsibility for such errors or omissions. Business Cornwall magazine accepts no responsibility for comments made by interviewees that may offend.

And with our eyes fixed firmly on the future, we also present, in association with Cornwall Chamber of Commerce, the annual 30 under 30 awards. Not only is Cornwall home to some brilliant businesses, but also some brilliant young business talent, which we celebrate on page 58. For three days at least, the eyes of the world will be upon Cornwall. But hopefully the legacy will be with us for a lot longer.

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THE CONVERSATION

ERIC NICHOLLS

Cornwall Manufacturers Group A significant proportion of our members either manufacture for green energy power generation businesses or are at the heart of the sector themselves. Long-term investment in green power, innovation and re-skilling support will not only develop these further but will also afford Cornwall the opportunity to create good quality jobs and enable the county to be recognised for the engineering and manufacturing sector it was so proudly identified with when it was the mining capital of the world.

The big question

Cornwall’s natural assets and its industrial heritage shows that this extraordinary county is positioned to lead from the front, delivering on many of the key assets of the ten-point plan for a Green Industrial Revolution.

RUTH HUXLEY

Cornwall Food & Drink Businesses here are familiar with discovering how they can work together, sharing limited resources, creating co-efficiencies, carving out market opportunities. It’s part of the territory in outlying regions like this, but it also puts Cornwall in a good position to create a sustainable future, conserving and sharing the most precious resources while working out ways to replace them with more plentiful or less damaging alternatives.

What role can Cornwall play in the Green Industrial Revolution?

Although famed for its food and drink, with a small number of exceptions Cornwall hasn’t become a major producer of food on any sort of industrial scale – factory farming for example never really cottoned on because we just don’t have the geography for it. However, that in itself means that the county is perfectly placed to capture the essence of the new

Join the conversation @biz_cornwall

/businesscornwall

businesscornwall.co.uk

FIVE WAYS TO ‘GREEN’ YOUR BUSINESS

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6 | BUSINESS CORNWALL

1 Use a free online emissions calculator to measure how much carbon your business emits, then devise your carbon reduction strategy.

2 Review your supply chain. Consider everything from your energy supplier to your accountant, IT supplies, caterer and cleaning firm. Buy only from carbon neutral suppliers

THE CONVERSATION

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green industrial revolution, where food becomes more highly valued and therefore wasted less. Producing less but better food, such as Cornwall’s prized grass-fed beef, lamb and dairy produce, using methods in tune with the landscape and environment, has to be an important part of that transformation.

Leap

I’d rephrase the question firstly to, “what role can Cornwall play in its natural and social capital revolution providing sustainable profit for all?”. Cornwall has an opportunity to encourage pioneering businesses by investing, supporting and enhancing businesses and environments that already positively contribute. We have an ever growing and high level B Corporation certified business community and Cornwall is one of the fastest growth B Corp ‘using business as a force for good’, clusters outside of London. The UK being the fastest growing B Corp market in the world.

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Cornwall has a number of emerging sectors – all in need of construction. If the ambition is a green industrial revolution, our industry needs to give clients the means through which to reduce climate change and protect the environment. At ISO Spaces, we have a ‘Menu of Renewables’; clients can browse optional extras like air source heat pump, green roof, solar panels to install on their build. We have a responsibility to offer and encourage green solutions like these so that the advances our county is making are not detrimental to the environment.

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For a raft of reasons, Cornwall is brilliantly placed to play a major role in the Green Industrial Revolution. Of course, there are the big ticket developments, but our work at Real Ideas shows how committed individuals, particularly young people, are to innovating new solutions and developing greener, fairer, increasingly purpose driven ventures. Mix these with the power of immersive technologies, digital fabrication and good old fashioned opportunities to work together at C Space, in other creative spaces and online, and it’s easy to see why Cornwall can lead the way.

With lower overheads and creative, can-do attitudes businesses are able to grow and navigate products into new markets quickly without being held back by traditional routes to market. This is very much what we are experiencing with Flexi-Hex a new sustainable packaging product.

Discourage face-to-face meetings and opt for online video conferencing. Encourage greener travel such as walking or cycling to work, car sharing schemes and home working. Install EV charging points. Invite ideas from employees and share successes!

and switch to green energy tariffs.

4 Review policies and make green thinking part of your culture. Implement hot desking and flexible working practices.

& Mobile

Real Ideas

Cornwall is quickly emerging as a county which offers much more than just a two-week yearly vacation. Talented people are moving to the area to progress their careers, because innovative start-ups are able to capitalise on an historical cultural attitude of making stuff happen, often with a laser focus on sustainability.

with all UK

LINDSEY HALL

Flexi-Hex

3 Improve efficiency. Reduce energy consumption by not heating premises at the same time as cooling them. Consider generating your own solar power and selling any surplus back to the grid. Insulate existing premises or relocate to buildings with strong EPC ratings. Use electric heating and induction cookers instead of gas. Check the energy rating of your appliances. Install low energy LED lighting. Eliminate single use plastic. Recyle what you can.

SIP Trunks

The businesses of tomorrow are already here today and across this decade Cornwall has a huge opportunity to realise and enable its purpose as the heart of regenerative, forward-thinking, B Corp certified (or at least using the framework) circular economy local to global.

SAM BOEX

INCOMING

5 Consider climate neutral certification – green values attract customers. Offset unavoidable travel and shipping through carbon credits and carbon offsetting schemes (such as deforestation or renewable energy projects). Adopt a green cause as your official business charity.

your entire carbon footprint. Enough people making just small changes can make a huge difference for our planet. Can we afford not to? Contact Natalie Dyson on 01392 210700 to discuss ways the energy team at Stephens Scown can support your business with its carbon-reduction strategy, email solicitors@stephens-scown.co.uk or visit www.stephens-scown.co.uk

It is estimated that only 0.5% of annual revenue is needed to offset

BUSINESS CORNWALL | 7

CORNWALL

BUSINESS NEWS

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NEWS IN BRIEF The 15-minute flight between Land’s End and St Mary’s on the Isles of Scilly was the UK’s busiest flight route in April, busier even than Heathrow to New York. With 363 flights during April, Skybus flew more than 3,100 passengers and beat the second busiest route – Alderney to Guernsey – by more than 100 flights. ___________________________ Aval Dor Vodka from Colwith Farm Distillery has been recognised as one of the UK’s highest-ranking vodkas, winning the prestigious San Francisco World Spirits Competition Double Gold for a second consecutive year. Cornish potato vodka is the only one in the UK to achieve Double Gold more than once. ___________________________ The Pig at Harlyn Bay is one of just one 69 hotels globally to appear on Condé Nast Traveller’s Hot List 2021, unveiling its favourite new hotels around the world for the year ahead. ___________________________ easyJet is launching a new summer route between Newquay and London Gatwick. Flights from Cornwall Airport Newquay will operate three times a week on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays throughout the peak summer season from June 8 through to October 30. ___________________________ A Falmouth start-up has developed a solution to simplify payment for car parking. Rather than having to use different apps for different car parks, with FindParkPay from entrepreneurs Tim Macknelly and Matthew Ratsey you visit the website, select the car park, enter their registration number and pay.

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Clarity founder and CEO, Sami McCabe, said: “The acquisition of 3WhiteHats is an important milestone in our growth story, and will create enormous opportunity for both teams to work on truly integrated campaigns for a growing client base of some of the most exciting and ambitious businesses on earth.” 3WhiteHats MD, Tom Telford added: “The chance to join Clarity on its rocketship growth trajectory was an opportunity not to be missed.”

MAKE GIGABIT BROADBAND YOUR BUSINESS’ G7 LEGACY Says Paddy Paddison, chief technology officer at Wildanet. Cornwall has quite rightly chosen to take the opportunity of the G7 to focus on the hotbed of innovation that exists here, our peerless credentials as a centre for renewables and low carbon technology and the genuine potential for this small part of the world to be a thought leader on a global stage.

8 | BUSINESS CORNWALL

What makes it particularly exciting is that while this message draws on the talent of the people we have here, together with Cornwall’s natural assets, its geology and climate, the key to unlocking all this potential lies in capitalising on the power of fast reliable internet.

BUSINESS NEWS

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ROYAL MAIL DRONE TRIAL A new £2 million business park at Porthleven has welcomed its first occupants. Helston-based Origin Coffee, one of the UK’s longest standing specialist coffee makers, and engineering company Porthleven Metalwork have relocated to the new Foundry Business Park. The move has allowed both businesses to expand their operations while remaining in the area and providing employment for local people. The project has taken a year to build and has been supported by the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly LEP using £700k from the Government’s Local Growth Fund, with a further £1.3 million coming from the Porthleven Harbour and Dock Company (PHDC).

FIRST OCCUPANTS FOR FOUNDRY

The St Eval Candle Company was just one of 205 winners in the UK – and the only business in Cornwall - to receive a Queen’s Award this year. CEO, Ian Greaves, said: “As we have grown over the years, we have always strived to put sustainability at the heart of all we do.

10 | BUSINESS CORNWALL

Uncrewed Aerial Vehicle (UAV) flights have been delivering Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), Covid testing kits and other mail to the Isles of Scilly.

Rob Moore from the PHDC, said: “We are extremely proud to have completed the first phase of development at The Foundry and are excited to see how the project will facilitate the growth of enterprising businesses that are moving to the site.”

The Government-funded project will initially have a particular focus on helping to fight the pandemic by delivering crucial PPE and testing kits to the islands’ most vulnerable and remote communities. But the Windracers drone is also able to accommodate mail of most shapes and sizes, enabling more general mail to be transported to the islands as part of the trial.

Owner and founder, Tom Sobey, added: “I am incredibly proud to be able to open the new roastery in Porthleven this spring. We opened our first Origin coffee shop in Porthleven six years ago, and it’s been incredible to watch the town flourish into a vibrant destination and we are all looking forward to joining the community.”

Amy Richards, local postwoman for the Isles of Scilly, said: “It’s great to be involved in this initiative. There are some really remote areas on these islands, and this is a terrific way to help us reach them. It’s really important for us to do all we can to help all areas of the country stay connected – especially in these difficult times.”

QUEEN’S AWARD FOR ST EVAL A Cornish company has been recognised for its sustainable development after being awarded a Queen’s Award for Enterprise.

The Royal Mail has become the first UK parcel carrier to make deliveries by drone.

“I am immensely proud of the team here at St Eval in the way that the whole team have worked so hard at building a not only successful, but also an ethical and sustainable business which continues to go from strength to strength.”

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Investing in the Future of Cornwall Innovative courses, modern qualifications and a £12 million infrastructure investment. Coming together to deliver the skills and support for the engineers, scientists and technologists of tomorrow. truro-penwith.ac.uk

Outstanding Education Inspiring Futures

MARK

DUDDRIDGE

In a blog published when the G7 was announced, you asked people to look beyond ‘pasties and Poldark’ and open their eyes to a new Cornwall. What did you mean by that? It alludes to two big things really. In Cornwall we now have opportunities to reshape our economy going forward, particularly around the green agenda. We have relatively small businesses down here emerging in areas which could be absolutely huge. For instance, if we see floating offshore wind realised in the Celtic Sea, by 2030 that could be a £10 billion investment, not just the stuff that goes out on the sea but the assembly, servicing, the power coming ashore etc. We’re starting to

12 | BUSINESS CORNWALL

get real traction behind the georesources argument, lithium and minerals. And lithium is really exciting, because it’s not just the finding it and mining it but it’s also the refining process of it. At the moment, lithium around the world is shipped intercontinentally, so the cost of doing that and the carbon impact of producing batteries is huge. We have an opportunity in Cornwall of doing it all in almost one place.

What a fantastic opportunity to talk to the world

And we’re seeing a lot of interest around space and data. Hopefully launches from Newquay will start next year and then we can start to look at the data application coming back from those satellites; Goonhilly and big data, and some of the investments there. By 2030, if we’re not surrounded by these sort of things, I think everybody will be really disappointed. But the other side of Poldark and pasties is how do we reconfigure our traditional

industries as well? We’ve got a fantastic reputation as a visitor destination and for our food and drink and fishing, but those industries have been clobbered by Covid, probably lost well over a billion pounds in revenue over the last year. And we also know they are traditionally relatively low paid and seasonal, so we’re looking also how to redefine those industries and broaden the scope in terms of seasons. Do we make some of the offer more environmentally regenerative, different sorts of holidays? How do we up the whole offer to make sure the quality of what people get in Cornwall continues to improve? And then making sure we’re investing in the right skills agenda to go behind it. So, we see the key planks of change in Cornwall being unlocking some of these big structural things, which is why we’re so keen that the Government looks a bit longer term around funding opportunities so we can lock in the private money to go behind it. It’s also about getting behind our traditional businesses and making them far more competitive. And behind all of that being mindful that we have some communities

MARK

DUDDRIDGE

Mark

Duddridge

Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership chair, Mark Duddridge, is excited at the opportunities the Duchy has to shine on the world stage. with real difficulties in terms of skills, deprivation and earning levels and we know going forward they have to be revitalised and reinvigorated and we need to get more people back into work.

Hosting G7 might not get people reaching for their order books straight away, but it will help draw investors to some of these emerging areas.

also encouraging Cornish businesses to look again at where their market should be, raising ambition levels not only of businesses but also young people to see those world leaders here.

So, with ‘Pasties and Poldark’, we’ve got such a fantastic brand strength, but how do we get underneath that and make sure more of the value of that sticks in Cornwall?

What legacy would you like hosting the summit to leave?

Things like space for instance, the programme has been engaging with school children which has been massively powerful. And building those bridges between trade bodies and investment bodies, Government, Department for International Trade and people like that, it is relationships like that that will bear fruit. And I suspect that will be the real legacy.

Why do you think the Prime Minister chose Cornwall to host G7? We’re really delighted that he did! Cornwall’s international reputation for the things we’ve mentioned, being a place to visit and eat out, family time is key, but I think as well, the Government recognises we ought to be a leader. People talk about the fourth industrial revolution, with our resources around it in terms of energy wind, geothermal, groundsource. Also, there’s huge interest in unlocking the potential of space as a massive market. Cornwall is a bit betwixt and between at the moment; it’s evolving into a very different place and that different place is really relevant to the sort of growth the Government wants.

Government recognises we ought to be a leader

There appears to be a willingness from Government to make sure there is an immediate legacy and the environmental bias towards that is very welcome. But in the medium to long term, in 5-10 years Cornwall will hopefully look back and think what a fantastic opportunity we had to talk to the world. It won’t be the answer, but it will be a big fillip on the way to creating something different. A good shop window for attracting future investment? There’s a lot of interest from investors in energy and geo-resources, but it’s

Can Cornwall’s beautiful natural landscape help in attracting inward investment, particularly in the wake of the pandemic? The impact of that is two-fold. There is a lot of house buying at the moment, a recognition that it’s a beautiful place to live and work. But that whole impact on housing is something that is very profound and Cornwall will have to work through how we respond to that collectively.

BUSINESS CORNWALL | 13

MARK

DUDDRIDGE

The other part of that is there will be people around looking at our business and visitor economy thinking these could be really sound investments going forward. I know we spoke about extending the seasons, but the interest in health and wellbeing and the great outdoors, can we really start to make inroads into making it a more yearround industry? Can we get behind those really novel industries looking at environmental regeneration and experiential holidays and not just the family side of it? We’ve got some really beautiful places which aren’t overrun in the summer and we need to think how we do it differently, because there’s a risk our hot spots have too many visitors.

economies. That ability to think strategically about what needs to happen. But also not just the strategy, but also working independently with partners, joining up Government, local government with private businesses and emerging sectors. When we were talking about Newquay becoming a spaceport for example, the LEP has always been a key partner in talking to the UK Space Agency, Virgin Orbit, the Council, lobbying the Government, talking to businesses who may be part of that supply chain. That kind of strategic thinking and pulling groups of people together is really key.

Strategic thinking and pulling groups of people together is really key

We want to create a slightly different visitor economy, more people being employed for longer and we need to get behind the skills agenda, because we are still finding it difficult attracting the right people. We have some fantastic Further and Higher Education resources now in Cornwall. We have South West Institute of Technology about to be launched as well, and those people are really working closely together. We need to really get behind the skills agenda, but not just for young people but also people my age who may need reskilling as our economy changes. We need that way of thinking, rather than just short-term shovel-ready competitive bids, which are welcome, but they’re not going to make the difference that we need. LEPs have been going 11 years now since effectively replacing the RDAs. How do you gauge their success? I think LEPs are strange organisations which are hard to understand, because they sit in a space between private business and government, but we’re predominantly a private-sector led body. Although there’s lot of variation up and down the country, LEPs tend to build around distinct 14 | BUSINESS CORNWALL

And the other area we measure ourselves on is the delivery programmes, when we get opportunities to invest directly. Are we able to get those monies away and do we get the results we need? In the early days it was large transport upgrades such as the A30 and rail, latterly it’s been more about getting behind private businesses and step change growth, or working around the skills agenda.

The LEP here is just for Cornwall and Scilly. Does that make it easier than had it been based in Exeter for example? Yes. Having only two councils to deal with is key. The LEPs are based on sensible economic geographies and Cornwall makes a lot of sense in its own right. It has a very distinctive geography and economy. We do share the same problems with much of the south west peninsula, but we don’t share it with places like Bristol, South Wales or Gloucester. So having something based around the geography of the LEPs makes sense both in looking small and looking large. There is a lot of focus at the moment from Government on what those economic entities should be and I really hope Cornwall will stay as it is, because I think it works down here. Do you think Whitehall understands Cornwall? I think largely it does. The Whitehall people we work most closely with down here, absolutely understand Cornwall. Our issue is probably through national policy being more aligned to London, the north, cities - different economies than ours. And coming out of Covid and the disruption to markets caused by Brexit, the need to urgently rekindle economies has probably led to a more short-

term, shovel-ready, basic infrastructure type approach than Cornwall needs. We have to realise we are a relatively small economy in a distant place. But if you look at how the Government would like to see the UK economy evolve, we are absolutely plum centre of that. With all this potential, are you confident for the future? I am, but the next couple of years are going to be really tough. I think we’ll have a really busy summer, and we’re going to start seeing markets pick up again. The G7 summit will be a fantastic opportunity for us, but we still know we have lost so much in terms of revenue and the indebtedness of individuals and businesses is significant. So, the ability of those businesses to raise cash to expand is going to be restrained and we’re not out of Covid yet, we’re not out of the disruption of things like Brexit. So I think the next couple of years are going to be hard and I think Cornwall has to be honest with itself that we’ve got some hard miles ahead. When you start to look after that, you start to see the clean energy business grow, the georeources, the space agenda, the digital investments to underpin things like our creative industries, you can see how we ought to be tremendously competitive. So, I am genuinely optimistic about the next five, ten years, but I am worried with all the glitz of G7 and this summer, everyone will think it’s all fine now and it really isn’t. Universal credit numbers have doubled. Places have been hard hit, young people have been hard hit. But longer term, I really do think we’ll start to see structural change in terms of where people earn a living and how they earn a living. And that’s why it’s so important we keep the skills agenda high. cioslep.com

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Mining for

the future

Frances Wall, Professor of Applied Minerology at Camborne School of Mines, University of Exeter, reflects on how Cornwall can be a testbed for sustainable metal mining.

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GEORESOURCES I’m involved with some large research projects dealing with technology metals and the critical raw materials we need for the energy transition. One is called Met4Tech (met4tech. org) and that’s all about creating a circular economy for technology metals. Our Met4Tech research, which is funded by UK Research and Innovation, starts with the very first stages of production all the way through business systems for use and re-use, to the recycling phase. The first raw materials case study is here in Cornwall, looking at what the future of technology metals production and the whole business ecosystem and value chain around that might be. The fact is that worldwide we’re using more raw materials than ever before and we’re using a wider diversity of raw materials in all of our clean technology and all of our digital technologies.

But I think we’ve dropped the ball over past years and haven’t really thought about where the mined materials come from at all. Suddenly everyone is in a big race because they realise that if you want to make electric cars you do need to think about new raw materials. It’s a wake-up call. I think people see the UK as a good jurisdiction from a regulatory point of view and that means companies will be able to stand up and say if you buy from the UK you can be reassured minerals have been responsibly sourced but actually there is more to do to reach best practice.

If we really want value chains for lithium, tin, tungsten, then we’ve got to go for it

An electric car has four times the amount of copper than a fossil fuel car; wind turbines have tonnes of rare earths in a direct drive motor. And we’ve all heard of lithium for lithium-ion batteries - it’s like magic pixie dust for raw materials interest. We know we’re going to need so much more lithium – maybe 500 times more in the next 20 years, so the race is on to find new sources. All of this is driving demand and the prices of metals like tin and tungsten have been going up, so it’s worth people coming and exploring again in Cornwall and Devon where we do have some world-class deposits. Cornwall really has some very interesting lithium deposits in granite mica and potentially from geothermal brines. Nobody’s ever made a commercial lithium mine in these types of deposits before, so this is really innovative work.

There are international frameworks and industry schemes that show and assure responsible sourcing. I think there’s a challenge to the region about what we adopt out of those schemes and demonstrate to the world and to local people here in Cornwall that our minerals are responsibly sourced to the highest possible international standards. The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe is developing a sustainable resource management system and we’re seeing if Cornwall can take part in that and lead by example. The UK is taking a lead on international resource management initiatives during its G7 presidency so that would fit well. We would like to win further funding for this initiative so that we can enact it properly in an area like Cornwall. We need integrated plans for georesources so that production enhances Cornwall’s climate change actions, its World Heritage site, biodiversity plans and tourism as well as the economy.

From a Government point of view, I think if they are serious about critical raw materials then they need to enable and de-risk exploration. And if we’re going to capture the whole value chain right from exploration through to recycling then we need concerted, strategic investment. If we really want value chains for lithium, tin, tungsten, then we’ve got to go for it. The challenge is making sure that the human and infrastructure capital that you create from mining endures. If it’s just 20 years of high paid jobs then doom and gloom when everything shuts down then we’re doing it wrong. Camborne School of Mines is a good example of that. It survived after the mines closed and continues to train people to go all over the world. The Cornwall Mining Alliance is another. It has over 100 companies and organisations, including many specialist consultants and small companies who deploy their expertise worldwide. We have another research project called Deep Digital Cornwall to make sure this sector is active in leading research. It’s a very exciting time. We always used to do projects on Cornwall’s post-mining regeneration but now here we are, with half a dozen active minerals projects, plus the two deep geothermal projects right in our own back yard, which is fantastic. It’s an amazing opportunity to put Cornwall in the lead as a best-practice example of the use of its geological resources.

I think the Covid crisis has also brought supply chains into the fore. People are thinking we should mine closer to home because it’s safer in terms of securing the supply chain. And then there’s the responsible sourcing agenda. How do you know when you drive your car that it doesn’t contain cobalt mined by children, or resources that have caused environmental damage when they were mined? There’s also a big geopolitical change and I think this is part of the resilience panel at the G7. They are looking at critical raw materials and how the world will change in the future. China is in the lead and have taken an interest not only in mining but in buying raw materials worldwide and refining as well, and that means they have a tremendously powerful manufacturing base. BUSINESS CORNWALL | 17

GEORESOURCES some estimates say demand will more than double by 2024, with further growth expected as electric vehicles become mainstream. The UK is currently totally reliant on imports of lithium, which is why the Government’s security and defence review published in March highlights domestic extraction and processing of this ‘critical mineral’ as a priority. Cornwall, meanwhile, through an accident of geology, sits atop one of just five large-scale lithium-enriched bodies of granite in the world and is attracting international attention. And it’s not just lithium. Tin, tungsten and copper are also found in abundance. There are at least half a dozen mining companies actively exploring Cornwall’s mineral wealth, bringing new processes and technologies to extract minerals in the most sustainable way.

THE LITHIUM OPPORTUNITY

in 1998. Today the area stands on the cusp of another revolution, driven by the need for technology metals like lithium, tin and copper in the transition to a low carbon economy.

Cornwall’s copper and tin mines were at the heart of the first industrial revolution more than 200 years ago, with the last tin mine closing

A surge in electric vehicles sales has seen global demand for lithium soar. The metal is critical to the production of batteries and

18 | BUSINESS CORNWALL

Among them is St Austell-based British Lithium, recently awarded a £2.9 million grant from the UK Government’s Sustainable Innovation Fund to progress plans for a pilot plant to extract battery-grade lithium from granite. The company hopes to produce 21,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate a year in the next

GEORESOURCES

PHOTO CREDIT: BRITISH LITHIUM

three to five years, enough it says to support production of up to half a million electric vehicles annually. Director Andrew Smith says: “Since 2016 British Lithium have been developing our technology which is sustainable, carbon free and produces battery-grade lithium carbonate. We’re very thankful for all the support the Government has given us to date, particularly financing our pilot plant which will enable us to attract commercial financing.”

Penryn-based Cornish Lithium is another modern-day prospector. Its approach is two-pronged, extracting lithium from both hard rock and also geothermal waters. It has entered into a joint venture with Geothermal Engineering Limited (GEL) to build a £4 million lithium extraction plant at the United Downs Deep Geothermal Project, drawing lithium from geothermal brines from five kilometres down.

A surge in electric vehicles sales has seen global demand for lithium soar

The project has the backing of the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership which successfully bid for £2.9 million of

Getting Building Fund investment from the UK Government to put into the plant, which will be built by spring next year. Cornish Lithium has also secured £680k from the Automotive Transformation Fund, a collaboration between the UK Government and automotive industry, for a £1 million feasibility study into plans for a hard rock lithium extraction plant at St Dennis near St Austell. Cornish Lithium’s senior geologist, Lucy Crane, says: “A core part of Cornish Lithium’s ethos really is sustainability and we want to produce these minerals that are going to enable the energy transition as responsibly as we possibly can. To do that it means embracing new technologies.”

BUSINESS CORNWALL | 19

GEORESOURCES

LUCY CRANE, CORNISH LITHIUM

A GIGAFACTORY FOR CORNWALL? To meet rapidly growing demand for electric vehicles requires large-scale battery production in so-called gigafactories or megafactories. China currently produces around three quarters of the world’s batteries but with the market set to increase substantially, there is an opportunity for the UK to take a much bigger share. The Faraday Institute estimates that the UK could sustain one gigafactory by 2022 and two from 2025, but believes that eight will be needed by 2040. Each factory would employ between 2,000 and 3,000 people directly and support a further 7,000 to 8,000 jobs in the battery supply chain. Jeremy Wrathall, founder and chief executive of Cornish

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Lithium, believes Cornwall could be a centre not just for battery raw materials but also battery production: “We are trying to get as much economic ‘value add’ in Cornwall as we possibly can. A megafactory generates around 3,000 jobs or more and if we can capture that manufacturing pound in Cornwall it would just be amazing. “Call me over-enthusiastic but if we build a megafactory then why couldn’t we attract vehicle manufacturing from Tesla or Apple?

A RICH VEIN OF OPPORTUNITY The Department for International Trade has identified Cornwall’s mining sector as a ‘High Potential Opportunity’ for investment because of the area’s rich geology. The HPO means Cornwall’s abundance of technology metals and mineral deposits including lithium, tin, tungsten and cobalt is a globally-significant resource with major investment potential. High Potential Opportunities, or HPOs, are part of the UK Government’s drive to attract more overseas investment and trade

It’s what I call imagineering – if you had a completely blank slate with the Cornish economy and you can generate things like lithium and you can produce things like batteries, then what else can come? “Cornwall is at the centre of the UK’s aspirations for renewables, for battery raw materials, for geothermal, for floating offshore wind. I don’t think there’s ever been such an opportunity as the G7 summit to capture people’s imaginations about what could be achieved.” opportunities to the UK by showcasing national sector strengths and skills to global investors. As well as these high value natural resources, Cornwall’s rich mining history spanning centuries of exploration has created a legacy of world-leading expertise, a strong skills base and highly experienced supply chain. There are currently more than 100 mining related companies in Cornwall, many of them members of the Cornwall Mining Alliance, whose members provide services in more than 150 countries worldwide. And Cornwall is home to the world-class Camborne School of Mines. Founded in 1888, the school is part of the University of Exeter and is ranked eighth in the world for minerals and mining.

GEORESOURCES

A FUTURE FOR SOUTH CROFTY For Cornish Metals, a Canadian-owned AIMlisted company, its primary focus is tin. It owns South Crofty mine at Pool, which until 1998 was in production for almost 400 years and is described by the company as one of the highest grade undeveloped tin resources globally. Chief operating officer, Owen Mihalop, says: “The opportunity for tech metal mining in Cornwall is really significant. At South Crofty we’re primarily focused on tin. Tin is the forgotten foot soldier of the high tech world. It’s used in absolutely everything that we need for our modern lives, mobile phones, robotics, computing, power generation, power storage. Everything we need for a low carbon economy requires tin. “What makes South Crofty a world-class mine is the high grade nature of the ore, so we have to mine less material to produce the same amount of tin. Based on our current resources we calculate that South Crofty mine will contribute around £600 million to the UK economy. One of the main drivers is the fact that it is economic to mine tin in Cornwall today and we should be doing that for the benefit of the country and the local community.” Cornish Metals also has a drilling programme underway at United Downs following discovery of high grade copper-tin in 2020, and holds 15,000 hectares in exploration licences across Cornwall.

BUSINESS CORNWALL | 21

LITHIUM

EXPLORATION

making a

difference

Based in Roche, the business has identified a resource of over 100 million tonnes in a former clay mine near St Austell - enough to support a projected annual production of 20,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate. That’s enough to meet one-third of Britain’s likely demand by 2030 when all UK car manufacture converts to electric vehicles. From the very start, British Lithium’s aim has been to achieve the lowest environmental footprint possible. Car electrification is based on the need for a greener future, yet most lithium production is currently

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powered by coal in China. “That’s why we have developed a highly efficient process for concentrating lithium mica without using chemicals and why we will be using renewable energy to power our newly invented Mi-Sep ® technology which has a patent pending,” says CEO Andrew Smith. British Lithium carried out a scoping study in 2018 to target areas for lithium, which is only found in the brown mica of granite. The work involved field mapping, grab sampling, trenching and drilling to provide a better understanding of lithium mineralisation and grade variability within the deposit. Mineral processing starts with breaking the rock to a size where the minerals can be separated from one another and extracting lithium from the waste. British Lithium’s method focuses on minimising chemical use so the waste coming from its plant does not need neutralising. Water

composition is essentially unchanged and, because the team will be extracting micas at a really coarse size, the waste material is very similar to building or beach sand. “Once we have made a lithium mica concentrate, we roast it using lime as a reagent, rather than acid,” says Andrew. “The solution is then purified to produce lithium carbonate.” The Government has helped fund British Lithium’s dedicated lithium metallurgical research laboratory in Cornwall – the only one of its kind in the country. Innovate UK is also providing nearly £3 million to help develop a pilot plant within the next 12 months. “It’s important to eliminate scale-up risk by producing lithium in real-world conditions at pilot scale,” says Andrew, an engineer who previously ran an international mining team for the Cinovec lithium project in the Czech Republic, currently Europe’s largest lithium resource. “The plant will allow us to

LITHIUM

EXPLORATION

British Lithium is the first company to discover a sizable lithium deposit in the UK, the first to develop a novel process for extracting lithium in a sustainable manner and the first to prove battery grade lithium can be produced from Cornish granite.

collect accurate data on any waste products and emissions, test the energy and water balances and prove our process route. We can also produce sufficient quantities of battery grade lithium to achieve potential customer acceptance and buy-in. “Pilot scale production represents a key milestone, because battery and electric vehicle makers are very concerned about their carbon footprint. “Aiming to produce the world’s greenest lithium gives us a huge advantage, but we need to prove what we are saying.

carbonate here by this time next year.” Cars are the UK’s biggest export, creating £80 billion worth of GDP and over 800,000 jobs. To comply with the government’s recently announced green agenda, the industry needs to transform itself in just nine years. That means investing heavily in the lithium battery supply chain – especially as Europe has the same aspirations and is already building gigafactories.

British Lithium’s aim has been to achieve the lowest environmental footprint possible

“A million pounds worth of bespoke equipment has already been ordered and we will be producing lithium

“The UK Government’s recently published ten-point plan for a green industrial revolution requires all new cars to be electric by 2030,” says British Lithium chair Roderick Smith, an acknowledged world expert in extractive metallurgy who spent more than 30 years leading publicly listed Australian mining companies as CEO. “We have been researching and developing

our plan for sustainable lithium extraction in Cornwall for the last three years and have already recruited some of the country’s finest minds to our project. “When we are fully operational, we expect to be employing hundreds of people directly and thousands more through our supply chain. We also anticipate meeting at least one third of the UK’s annual demand for lithium, whilst protecting the environment.” With a growing team of geologists, metallurgists, technicians and administrative staff, British Lithium looks set for a bright, very productive future. “I’m confident we have the drive, knowledge and professional expertise to achieve our goals,” Andrew adds. “The work we are doing is crucial and we’re excited about setting a good example and making a real difference. “Not just to Cornwall, but the UK as a whole.”

BUSINESS CORNWALL | 23

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realised this problem was common across the entire country, for businesses located in the more sparsely populated and rural regions. Economic inequality was evident, with businesses in large conurbations enjoying much easier access to finance, with investments all too often being directed to London or other large cities. Motivated by a desire to help redress this imbalance, FOLK2FOLK expanded out from its base in Cornwall to spearhead a lending movement across regional Britain.

Eco-investment or green investing are no longer the preserve of larger investors

The Cornwall of today is no different. The deeply ingrained trait of practical problem solving and innovation runs strong, with emerging climate change technologies and an innovative finance sector as modern-day examples. FOLK2FOLK is a national company born, bred and headquartered in Cornwall and is continuing this heritage of innovation by exporting financial solutions beyond Cornwall’s borders across regional Britain. FOLK2FOLK was founded in 2013 to help resolve the lack of available finance for businesses in Cornwall. The company quickly

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Today, FOLK2FOLK occupies a unique space within the UK’s finance sector because of its niche focus on helping businesses in regional Britain grow, develop, and diversify.

FOLK2FOLK’s secured loans are funded by individuals and institutions. With more than £420M invested via the platform, and with no investor capital losses to date, FOLK2FOLK and its investors have helped transform the futures of small businesses it has supported. There is a growing cohort of investors who are committed to helping tackle climate change through investment and FOLK2FOLK has supported a range of renewable energy projects including wind, solar and biomass energy.

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ENERGY

RENEWABLE

Clean growth Glenn Caplin-Grey, chief executive of the Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership, explains how Cornwall is putting the green industrial revolution at the heart of its economic plans. Cornwall has long been a renewable energy pioneer, from the early ‘hot rocks’ research projects of the 1970s, to the UK’s first commercial windfarm in the 1990s, to today’s groundbreaking developments with geothermal energy, floating offshore wind ambitions and energy market trials. As G7 leaders convene at Carbis Bay, climate change is near the top of their agenda. National 26 | BUSINESS CORNWALL

government including the UK and US have this year accelerated the pace at which they intend to decarbonise their economies, describing climate change as an existential threat. In Cornwall, we have declared a climate emergency and pledged to become net zero carbon by 2030, a full 20 years ahead of the rest of the UK. In the last eight years, Cornwall has cut its carbon footprint by almost a fifth, and two-thirds of emissions reductions have been achieved by decarbonising electricity. We are the sunniest place in the UK with one of the best wind climates in Western Europe, so we are ideal for solar and wind power.

That has helped Cornwall meet 40% of its electricity demand from renewables, up from just 6% in 2009. Now we are looking at how floating wind turbines, anchored miles offshore, can deliver power, jobs and prosperity to our coastal communities and create a global export market.

Cornwall has cut its carbon footprint by almost a fifth

Beneath our feet, the action of cooling molten rock 280 million years ago has blessed us with the best geothermal resources in the country, abundant metals like tin and tungsten, and one of the largest concentrations of lithiumenriched granite in the world.

RENEWABLE That geological blessing could provide an endless source of heat and electricity for our homes and businesses, and provide secure, sustainable and ethically sourced raw materials like lithium for electric car battery production.

ENERGY

BENNAMANN

Cornwall will soon have the UK’s first commercial geothermal power plant, and Europe’s first plant for extracting lithium from geothermal waters. On the Isles of Scilly, 28 miles offshore, we’re working with Hitachi to pioneer bi-directional charging for electric cars, figuring out how stored energy in vehicles can help meet local energy demand. With Centrica we have achieved a world-first with a ground-breaking Local Energy Market trial that completed last year. This vital research is helping shape how we create a more flexible, efficient and low carbon energy system. And we are proud of innovators like Bennamann, a local company intent on driving a shake-up of the energy market through the production of net-zero biomethane. By combining our natural assets with our centuries-old spirit of discovery and invention, Cornwall is driving innovation, creating jobs and tackling some of the most pressing social and environmental challenges of our age. At the Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership, we are putting the green industrial revolution at the heart of our economic plans. Clean growth is not a contradiction. By generating our own heat and power from renewable sources we can drive our economy, secure our supply, tackle energy inequality in our communities and respond to climate change.

Cornish company Bennamann is developing and marketing technology to capture and repurpose methane emissions from agricultural and other sectors. The company prevents this harmful greenhouse gas from entering the atmosphere and using its innovative and patented technology processes it into liquid methane for distribution and use as an energy rich renewable biofuel.

stronger and greener, but also a way to provide funding and technology to support regenerative and restorative farming practices which further helps futureproof the vital role of agriculture in the UK.” Bennamann is working with Cornwall Council on a pilot project to fuel the Council’s fleet of 77 converted road maintenance trucks using biomethane derived from slurry from six Council-owned dairy farms in Cornwall.

Chris Mann, Bennamann’s co-founder and chairman says: “We see our commercially viable technology not only as a way to help farm businesses become economically

And it is involved in a £1.2 million research programme to establish an energy independent farm in Cornwall using its technology. Bennamann.com

This included installing solar panels, smart batteries and monitoring equipment in 100 homes in Cornwall, enabling them to act as a virtual power plant for the local and national grid. Centrica helped deliver Cornwall’s first, smart grid-connected wind turbine and a 1.5MW lithium ion storage battery, in partnership with Cornwall Council.

the challenge of fluctuating energy supply from renewable sources like wind and solar. Sometimes they produce too much power for the grid to accommodate, and sometimes too little to meet demand.

There is a lot the G7 can learn from Cornwall.

LOCAL ENERGY MARKET International energy business Centrica used Cornwall for a groundbreaking Local Energy Market (LEM) trial which concluded in November last year. The three-year, £16.7 million project tested the role of flexible energy demand, generation and storage via a new virtual marketplace, supported by the installation of new technology in nearly 200 homes and businesses.

Cornwall can pave the way for a smarter grid

Centrica said what the project achieved in terms of flexible energy trading was a world first and would help meet

Centrica says: “We showed that solutions like the Cornwall LEM can pave the way for a smarter grid that is better able to accommodate renewable energy, reduce carbon emissions, and create new ways of making money from flexible energy resources.”

BUSINESS CORNWALL | 27

RENEWABLE

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ENERGY

RENEWABLE

GEOTHERMAL For self-confessed volcano fan Hazel Farndale you could say that her career to date has been forged, quite literally, in the depths of the Earth. Hazel has a Masters in Earth Sciences from the University of Oxford and joined a start-up geothermal development company straight out of university, helping to scope projects worldwide as a research geologist. There followed a short stint in the Civil Service but Hazel’s love of all things geothermal saw her join the £30 million United Downs Deep Geothermal project near Redruth in November last year, working for Geothermal Engineering Ltd (GEL).

This granite is rich in naturally occurring elements that constantly emit heat as they decay, and in geological terms are relatively near the surface. Hazel says: “Geothermal energy is very simply the heat from the Earth, and in Cornwall we have radiogenic granites which will continue decaying and producing heat for millions of years. “Within the UK it’s really quite unique. It’s not the only heat-producing granite but it’s certainly the largest. So, Cornwall is very much the logical place for earlystage deep geothermal development in the UK.”

But why Cornwall? The reason is geology

As GEL’s project geologist, Hazel is at the leading edge of what will be the UK’s first geothermal power plant when it is commissioned at United Downs next year. GEL has already drilled the deepest hole on UK soil, at 5,275m, or more than three miles, where temperatures reach 180 degrees Celsius. Tapping that energy 24/7 for zero-carbon heat and electricity generation is GEL’s goal. But why Cornwall? The reason is geology, and specifically something called the Cornubian batholith. That’s a massive slab of granite formed by the crystallisation of molten rock some 280 million years ago, stretching from Dartmoor in the east right out into the Atlantic ocean beyond the Isles of Scilly in the west.

HOW DOES IT WORK? The United Downs Deep Geothermal Project works by circulating water between two wells drilled deep into Cornwall’s hot granite. The first ‘injection’ well, is 2,393m deep. Water injected into this well percolates down through fissures in the granite, picking up heat as it goes. By the time it reaches the production well at 5,275m (more than 2,800m further down), it is around 180 degrees Celsius in temperature. An electric pump sends the superheated water back to the surface which passes through a heat exchanger filled with a secondary fluid that turns to steam and drives a generator to produce electricity. The two systems are selfcontained. There are no plumes of vapour and very little to see on the surface when the plant is finished. Excess heat can also be used to heat nearby buildings. GEL is partnering with a company called Cornish Lithium to build a pilot plant that can

Cornwall was among the first regions in the UK to declare a climate emergency and has committed to be a net-zero carbon economy by 2030, which is 20 years ahead of the rest of the UK. The area is no stranger to renewable energy pioneers. The United Downs project, which is privately and publicly funded, has been more than 10 years in the making and plans to have a fully commissioned power plant on site by next summer. It expects to generate around 3MW of electricity – enough to power around 8,000 homes – and generate up to 20MW of heat for local businesses. Ecotricity has signed a power purchase agreement with GEL to distribute green electricity to customers across the country – the first-time geothermal electricity will be produced and sold in the UK.

ENERGY

GEL has identified numerous potential sites for geothermal power plants across Cornwall. With a price tag of around £50 million each, the business is hoping to raise around £200 million of investment for the first four projects. Hazel says: “We have ambitions for a lot of future sites and the first step is to develop four sites at a cost of around £200 million. We’re building up a lot of expertise and a level of knowledge that will be exportable to similar geothermal projects, potentially anywhere in the world where there are big granite bodies. “And we’re talking to a lot of people around the UK, to help them build up their knowledge, whether that’s abandoned mines with hot water down them, or oil and gas wells that can be repurposed – there are all sorts of geological environments where we can apply the knowledge we have learned here in Cornwall.” Hazel adds: “It’s great to be at the forefront of the technology, of the green revolution. There’s a real momentum behind us at the moment and I feel like I’ve joined the company at a really exciting time. “The Government is sitting up and taking notice, the public are really getting behind low carbon, and geothermal is such a dream job for a geologist. I got into it originally through my love of volcanoes, but it’s hugely exciting to be part of a renewable energy project that now has such a bright future in the UK.” geothermalengineering.co.uk

extract lithium from geothermal waters for use in the production of batteries for electric vehicles and storage technologies.

JUBILEE POOL Last year GEL installed a £1.8m geothermal heating system for a section of the Jubilee Pool lido in Penzance, which originally opened in 1935. The company drilled a single 410m well to extract warm water from underground. Heat pumps remove the heat and distribute it to the pool via a heat exchanger, which means 80% of the energy required to maintain the water at 35 degrees C is geothermal.

EDEN GEOTHERMAL The world-famous Eden Project near St Austell is currently drilling a 4.5km deep geothermal well to provide heat for its biomes, greenhouses, kitchens and offices as part of a £17m project. A second phase plans to drill a further well and install an electricity plant, which means Eden could become carbon negative by 2023. BUSINESS CORNWALL | 29

RENEWABLE

ENERGY

GO WITH THE FLOW Large scale investment in renewable energy is going to be crucial to the UK’s energy supply and reducing carbon emissions and is a huge opportunity for Cornwall. The UK Government, which will host the UN’s COP26 climate change conference later this year, has put floating offshore wind (FLOW) energy at the top of its 10-point plan for a green industrial revolution. It wants to quadruple the amount of offshore wind energy we produce to 40GW by 2030, which would be enough to power every home in the UK and support up to 60,000 jobs. And it wants to see 1GW of that target delivered by floating offshore wind in the same timescale. Floating wind turbines can be located much further offshore than turbines with fixed foundations, and in areas with much more wind.

That’s why for more than two years the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) has been working with industry, Government and regulators to promote floating offshore wind as an economic and environmental opportunity not just for Cornwall and the south west, but the UK.

For Cornwall, floating offshore wind is a huge opportunity. Together with Scotland, the Celtic Sea off the coast of Cornwall and South Wales are the only suitable locations for commercial-scale floating wind projects owing to depth of water and consistently high winds. Cornwall enjoys some of the best

FLOW Accelerator project which will de-risk technology development and encourage investment in Celtic Sea projects. “The opportunities if we’re successful are huge. Our aim is to get 3GW of floating wind installed by 2030 and that would require £10 billion of inward investment and would create at least 3,500 jobs. It would also position us perfectly to be a world leader in floating offshore wind and export around the world.”

The LEP’s efforts have been spearheaded by LEP director Steve Jermy, who is chief executive of Wave Hub Development Services, a company owned by Cornwall Council to capture the value of floating offshore wind projects in the Celtic Sea.

Cornwall is the perfect location for floating offshore wind

There are also plans to increase the amount of UK ‘content’ in offshore wind projects, from around 48% now to 60%, so that more value is captured at home rather than being sourced from overseas.

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wind resources in Europe, and as a maritime region has an established offshore renewable energy supply chain, spanning environmental consultancy to subsea engineering, backed up by world-renowned research capability at the universities of Plymouth and Exeter.

Steve says: “Cornwall is the perfect location for floating offshore wind. We’ve got the depth of water offshore which is one of only two locations in the country where you can do it, and we’ve got excellent skill sets in the offshore renewables industry. “We’ve been working for more than two years to create a market. That requires a revenue support mechanism and a pipeline of projects, and I’m pleased to say that we’ve had great success with both. We now have a subsidy scheme in place from the Government specifically for emerging technologies such as floating offshore wind, and we have an initial Crown Estate leasing round for projects of 300MW of capacity in the Celtic Sea. That means there will be a pipeline of projects building between now and the middle of the decade, so we’re ready to go. “As the first part of that pipeline we are selling the Wave Hub marine energy test site and if everything goes according to plan we expect the purchaser to have floating wind turbines deployed there by about 2023 or 2024. And we’re leading the £6 million Cornwall

STEVE JERMY, WAVE HUB DEVELOPMENT SERVICES

A 300MW floating offshore wind project in the Celtic Sea could generate £232m in regional spend in the South West and South Wales and support 1,132 jobs, according to a report by the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult that was commissioned by the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly LEP and the Welsh Government in 2020. Nationally, the industry could support 17,000 jobs and generate £33.6 billion of economic activity, with global export potential. Simon Cheeseman, ORE Catapult’s south west regional manager, says: “ORE Catapult recognises the huge potential for economic benefit and job creation from the development of an indigenous floating offshore wind industry. Both Cornwall and Plymouth have strong, well established marine energy and offshore supply chains and are therefore in pole position to take full economic advantage of developments in the Celtic Sea and globally.”

RENEWABLE

THE SMART ISLANDS Jim Wrigley is project manager of GO-EV, a £3 million electric car share scheme on the Isles of Scilly where the vehicles are also part of the local electricity network. What is GO-EV? It’s a community car share scheme that offers electric vehicles for hire by the hour to residents, local and visiting businesses on the Isles of Scilly, and also the local Council. Why was the project set up? Although the Isles of Scilly have less than ten miles of roads we have a lot of cars for our population, almost one car per two people. We’re hoping to reduce the number of vehicles on the islands and offer a low-carbon alternative for getting around. How does it work? The project has installed 27 electric vehicle charging points around the islands and we are buying a fleet of 10 Nissan vehicles made up of cars, panel vans and seven-seaters so we can offer choice. These are being placed at key locations like the airport, quay, school and health centre. We have a car sharing app that you can use to book, unlock and pay for your rental. But this is about much more than just a car share scheme isn’t it? Yes, there’s a huge amount of technological innovation going on with our partners Hitachi Europe Ltd so that the electric vehicles become part of the energy system on Scilly.

ENERGY

How does that work? Ten of the charging stations are bi-directional, where vehicles can charge from them and discharge power back into the grid if required. This V2G (vehicleto-grid) technology is still in development so GO-EV really is a pioneering project in the UK and Europe. This supports Hitachi Europe’s ambition to deliver end-to-end services to decarbonise corporate and public vehicle fleets, and will support the UK’s ambition to become a leading innovator when it comes to electric vehicles.

JIM WRIGLEY, GO-EV

That sounds quite complicated. The principle is simple, but in practice it’s very sophisticated. We need to account properly for the movement of energy backwards and forwards and make sure for example that if there is demand in the network for electricity stored in the batteries of a car, that we leave enough charge for the next person who’s booked it to make their journey. And where does solar energy fit in? That’s another big part of the project. Many of our charging stations have their own solar panels, or are connected to solar panels on nearby buildings. We’re looking at how we can make the most of direct charging on site from the sun, including selling power back to the grid when there isn’t a vehicle connected. And where we haven’t got solar, then how can we make sure we’re using the best tariffs by charging vehicles overnight for example?

Stitching all of this together in the real world is a huge challenge and that’s why GO-EV is so groundbreaking. How is the project funded? With £600k from the Local Growth Fund via the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership, and £2.4 million from the European Regional Development Fund. What do you hope will be the legacy of GO-EV? For islanders my wish is for a low carbon community car share model that is sustainable and well-used. More widely, I would like to see what we are learning through GO-EV adopted by other communities across the UK, if not the world. We’re demonstrating in real life how technology can knit electric vehicles into the fabric of a local energy system.

BUSINESS CORNWALL | 31

CREATIVE

CORNWALL

Creative

thinking

Misha Curson is the Eden Project’s Senior Curator. She tells us how arts programming at Eden aims to engage the general public on complex global issues in a way that is both accessible and enjoyable.

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CORNWALL

CREATIVE

What is the connection between creative, culture, sustainability and the environment?

public perception and policy making.

I always reference this quote by environmental philosopher Gus Speth who articulated it perfectly, better than I ever could. He said:

The artwork will also exist in the digital realm. A new website will empower audiences across the globe to generate their own unique planting scheme of locallyoptimised plants for bees and other pollinators, using the same algorithm. Individuals joining in and planting their own gardens will be able to co-create their own artwork at home, while actively contributing to pollinator restoration.

“I used to think the top environmental problems were biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse and climate change. I thought that with 30 years of good science we could address these problems. But I was wrong. The top environmental problems are selfishness, greed and apathy, and to deal with those we need a spiritual and cultural transformation, and we scientists don’t know how to do that.” At Eden, we have a thoroughly researched, authenticated interpretation programme. It seeks to address the most pressing social-environmental challenges of our time, and then looks at how we can communicate that to the general public, both accurately and accessibly. Our art programme offers yet another level – it’s how we bring in interpersonal, intra-personal reflections on these issues. To engage people on an empathetic, emotional and spiritual level. How do art and science go together at Eden?

How can art and culture help with the kind of spiritual and cultural transformation Speth talks about? There’s an intrinsic thing that happens through artist collaborations, which is to reveal a view of the world through an alternative lens. That in itself can spark new chapters of thought and ways of navigating the pressing social and environmental challenges of our times.

To engage people on an empathetic, emotional and spiritual level

Art and science are two sides of the same coin. Both are investigative. One seeks to be evidence-based and objective, to make existence universally understandable, while the other is implicitly subjective.

At Eden we embrace the agency of artists to disrupt pre-conceived models of thought; to provoke, to inspire, to captivate. To go further than simply understanding these issues. One example of how we bring art and science together is a commission we’re currently working on with the artist Dr Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg, funded by Garfield Weston and in partnership with Google Arts and Culture and Gaia Art Foundation. We invited Daisy to develop a proposal, responding to our research masterfile, on emerging theories of pollinator decline and restoration. We connected her with expert botanists and horticulturalists at Eden, as well as our network of academic thoughtleaders who specialise in pollination research. Daisy’s proposal for Eden is a living artwork. It will comprise a new garden, designed, planted and optimised for pollinators by using a specially designed algorithm (developed in collaboration with string-theory physicist Dr Przemek Witaszczyk) and a curated palette of plants. We hope that by celebrating this intersection and fostering these collaborations we might make space for alternative insight and inspire further research. Creating a ripple effect, provoking wider interest, passion and understanding, and in turn influencing

It’s well evidenced that culture drives social, economic and environmental transformation, both the Eden Project and Tate St Ives are clear examples of this. Our work is representative of the philosophy of Cornwall’s creative industries, which is what makes our sector stand out on a national and international stage. And beyond this - as Speth’s quote articulates, the challenge of environmental restoration isn’t necessarily that we don’t know the information, but that facts can leave us feeling disempowered and disengaged. To be motivated to change we need to feel compelled on an emotional level. It’s about compassion, humanity, and that is the materiality of artists. Is it important to consider the audience? I strongly believe that artistic practice can play a key part in identifying opportunities and removing barriers, enabling us to reach the widest possible audience. Our programmes are often developed in partnership with grass-root artists and storytellers. These are contributions towards a non-exclusive conversation. Diverse workforces, programmes and audiences are vital to artistic vibrancy at Eden. We can’t try to make everything appeal to everyone but we can always try to offer something for anyone, and in that way, we’re looking to use our cultural programming to create an entry point. I’m really interested to look at how we can create a better dialogue with our audiences, to offer agency and empowerment, and we’re testing new ways to do that at Eden.

BUSINESS CORNWALL | 33

CREATIVE

CORNWALL

BAIT (EARLY DAY FILMS)

THE CREATIVE RURAL ECONOMY

punch well above their weight. Theatre companies like Kneehigh and Wildworks have produced and performed critically acclaimed work across the globe.

to showcase our creatives to a national and international audience. Screen Cornwall has been established as an organisation to support these ambitions.

Britain is a global leader in Creative Industries and in 2018 the sector contributed £111 billion to the UK economy. But, historically, it has been urban centres where creative clusters have developed and boomed. Cornwall, however, is rewriting that story. Fuelled by its rich heritage and culture and accelerated in recent times by digital connectivity and resurgence of creativity.

Before that, it was the visual arts that carried Cornish cultural product across the globe. G7 world leaders will recognise the Barbara Hepworth that resides outside the United Nations in New York and as they congregate in the town in which the sculpture was forged, it is the Cornish screen industries that are going global.

2021 is due to be an important year for the Creative Industries in Cornwall. The Hall for Cornwall will open its doors after an extensive £20 million refurbishment and work will start on a brand new £6 million Creative Industries workspace in Penzance. This follows hot on the heels of the completion of a further 21 studios at Krowji in Redruth, which is now home to one of the largest clusters of creatives in the south west.

Cornwall is the leading rural creative region in the UK despite the challenges of developing rural creative economies. By nature, we are dispersed, and although 95% of the creative industries are small businesses employing less than ten people, in Cornwall they are predominantly made up of freelancers and micros. Although small, Cornwall’s creatives

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2021 is due to be an important year for the Creative Industries in Cornwall

The growth of the screen industry in Cornwall has been an example of how rurality is now an enabler, not a barrier. Cornwall has often been used as a film location, but now we are building a cluster where creative production, local talent and businesses can benefit directly, and with a move to more authentic storytelling, can create their own work. We have a breadth of skillsets that are collaborating as part of the industry, from animation to games to immersive content. Games studio, Triangular Pixels have won a breakthrough BAFTA for their work, and Mark Jenkin’s BAFTA triumph for Bait has helped

International visitors to Cornwall will recognise global attractions such as Tate St Ives and Leach Pottery and be fascinated by Cornwall’s global connections at Porthcurno Telegraph Musuem, but they will also see the emergence of a new generation of talent across a wide range of creative disciplines. So, what comes next? Cornwall’s new Creative Manifesto, published at the beginning of this year, outlines our strategy for accelerating the rise of that talent and making it more diverse than ever before.

CORNWALL

CREATIVE MANIFESTO – A TIME TO REBOOT Cornwall’s Creative Manifesto was borne out of a process of extensive consultation, resulting in a document that challenges all of us in the creative industries to do more to realise meaningful, positive change. That will mean looking beyond our existing roles, collaborating with very different partners and applying our creative talents to a new set of challenges.

Combined with our education, community and artist support programmes, Hall for Cornwall has a vital role to play in growing and strengthening Cornwall’s creative and cultural sector, and we look forward to being a key partner in the delivery of Cornwall’s Creative Manifesto.

CREATIVE

will help to articulate what we’re doing. There’s huge strength in a collective narrative that positions us as a place for business, collaboration and ideas.

Julien Boast, CEO and Creative Director at Hall for Cornwall

Tate St Ives tells the story of the local, national and international significance of a historic artist community, which is still as vibrant and vital today. From the small Cornish fishing town, artists changed the international landscape of art, and of homes, towns and cities through their influence on subsequent generations of artists, designers, architects and makers. Sharing this legacy with our local communities, to spark long term creativity, is a vital part of our role.

I don’t see this as a manifesto just for the creative sector. It’s much bigger than that and has the potential to enrich and improve the lives of all those that live, work, visit or do business in Cornwall. If this plan is to work, its impact must be felt in an enriched creative curriculum in classrooms across Cornwall; in regenerated town-centres, where emerging creative enterprises help transform our experiences of our highstreets, and in new, fulfilling creative careers, helping people realise their true potential. 2021 feels like a great moment to think in new ways about how the social and economic challenges we face can be addressed. It’s time for a reboot, and Cornwall’s Creative Manifesto provides the perfect framework for that. James Green, Director, Newlyn Art Gallery & The Exchange Cornwall is one of the UK’s leading creative regions and we’re hugely proud of the role that the transformed Hall for Cornwall will continue to play in supporting the sector. As well as our brand-new auditorium, our new co-working space, called Husa is a first for a UK rural regional theatre and will nurture Cornwall’s performance artists and creative industries in an inspiring and collaborative environment.

Cornwall is well known for its cultural heritage, its landscape, its historic international art scene, and we want to update this reputation. It’s important for people to know that we’ve built on these qualities and our creative, innovative region is a source of creative industries, ideas and possibility. You only have to look at the recent growth of our screen and games sector to see this in reality. Tamzyn Smith, Principal Lead for Culture and Creative at Cornwall Council

Cornwall’s Creative Manifesto highlights the importance of Cornwall’s cultural and creative sectors, and a recognition of the support and commitment required for them to grow and thrive. It shows recognition of the importance of setting up the conditions for creativity in the future, and feels more vital than ever. Anne Barlow, Director Tate St Ives One of the challenges and also the opportunities is how we profile Cornwall’s creative industries; the productivity of our sector is no less - in fact because we are smaller scale and more diverse and dispersed, we have got the agility to jump on board different projects, so it’s much easier to collaborate. We’ve got a lot of the right ingredients – we just need to be stronger and more confident in our narrative. Cornwall’s Creative Manifesto

POLDARK (MAMMOTH PICTURES)

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CORNWALL

OPTIMISM, PRIDE AND PARALLELS Cornwall has a long tradition of creativity and there is a deep-rooted cultural and creative energy here. Artists and makers have for generations come to Cornwall to create, joining us outside of the mainstream to be inspired by our environment, our culture of storytelling and the joy and necessity of collaboration. What our creative, heritage and cultural sectors mean to contemporary Cornwall is being explored through collaboration and celebration in a series of works that showcases Cornwall’s creativity, innovation and sustainability. The G7 Cultural Programme is being collectively delivered by the Hall for Cornwall, Cornwall Museums Partnership, Cornwall Council, Wildworks, Screen Cornwall and Creative Kernow. Each partner playing a key role in delivering a project that encapsulates real-life contemporary Cornwall, creating tangible opportunities for local communities, and promoting optimism and an interest in the world’s recovery. Behind the postcard A unique proclamation of Cornwall’s creative ecology, written by a diverse team of professional writers, reflect the ambitions and essence of real-life contemporary Cornwall. Responding to the narrative, a suite of workshops and performances will be created including land art by Wildworks Theatre Company. Community responses will be captured on film

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and edited together with music. Each local community that creates a performance will host a premiere of the piece, celebrating and showcasing their creative endeavours, screened on projection equipment gifted to the group as a legacy to the programme. Satellite events Kresen Kernow’s ‘my Cornwall, my Home’ exhibition celebrating the return of the Ordinalia Manuscripts, and the Leach 100 celebrations are two examples of satellite events taking place around Cornwall. This will be followed by small seed commissioning opportunities that will be overseen by the Hall for Cornwall and coordinated through FEAST and their open smaller grants stream. The aim will be to support creative and cultural responses to what is discussed and announced by the G7 Leaders and this activity will run throughout the rest of this year. In addition, Splanna! (Shine in Cornish) is working with five archive/ museum settings and is providing free access for young people 11+ and other isolated groups from across Cornwall. Using Cornwall’s collections to inspire creativity and problem solving, and promote connection and wellbeing they will explore climate, environmental action and nature and develop their digital, heritage and creative skills. This will run through to March 2022. This programme is made possible by investment from Cabinet Office, National Lottery Heritage Fund, Arts Council England and Cornwall Council.

Creative Kernow is the cultural and creative sector support organisation for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. They are a charity with a mission to enrich and energise creative communities of place and practice through the production, distribution and promotion of artistic work, networks and knowledge.

Screen Cornwall’s vision is to strengthen and grow the region’s screen sector into a leading rural cluster where creative production flourishes and local talent and businesses thrive. Run by industry professionals, it supports both incoming and indigenous production with location and crew services, nurtures emerging creative talent and encourages economic impact through active partnerships connecting with national and international opportunities. Finally, it champions content highlighting Cornwall’s distinctive language, culture and heritage.

Wildworks makes theatrical, site specific experiences and artworks. From beaches, clifftops and woodlands to carparks and disused quarries. They invite people to join on physical and emotional journeys, to widen horizons, conversations are started and memories are made. They will be working with communities groups to create land art in response to the Behind the Postcard poetry piece in six locations across Cornwall.

Hall for Cornwall is Cornwall’s largest independent theatre. After an ambitious transformation project, in Autumn 2021 a new three-tiered auditorium will bring large-scale shows to Cornwall as well as programmes nurturing young people, new work and best practice. The theatre will also incorporate the HUSA Business Hub, where creative digital businesses have the opportunity to connect and grow.

Cornwall Museums Partnership is a charity which exists to create positive social change with museums.

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BUSINESS CORNWALL | 37

SPACE

& DATA

The sky’s not the

limit

There is barely any part of our society today that is not touched by the power of space in some way, and it’s an industry that is growing in Cornwall thanks to space communications and satellite launch facilities. Space is helping to provide unique insights into some of the world’s biggest challenges like climate change, food production, poverty, healthcare and tackling inequality, all of which are high on the G7’s agenda. The cost of operating in space has fallen dramatically in recent years. Advances in technology have miniaturised satellites to the size of shoe boxes and access to space data has been transformed. Most of us are familiar with satellites being used

38 | BUSINESS CORNWALL

for things like weather forecasting, navigation (satnav) and communications. But new satellite services and applications are emerging all the time, whether that’s identifying disease hotspots, controlling driverless vehicles, telling farmers where to irrigate their crops or even apps to say you’ve had too much (or not enough) sun. They all rely on data derived from space. There are an estimated 160 satellites measuring climate change indicators alone, and over half of these variables can only be measured from space. Against this backdrop, the economic and societal benefits of satellite technology are enormous, and yet the UK does not have the ability to launch its own satellites.

Virgin Orbit and Goonhilly Earth Station to provide the UK with its first ever horizontal launch spaceport, and that’s going to be live from next year, early 2022. “Virgin Orbit are a small satellite launcher. It’s basically a 747 that has been modified to carry a 70-foot rocket under one wing. The aircraft will use our airport runway to take off in the usual way and once at altitude the rocket flies onwards into lower earth orbit to deliver critical satellite technology to space.

We’re really excited about the opportunities to grow a space cluster here in Cornwall

All that will change next year when Spaceport Cornwall goes live at Cornwall Airport Newquay. Melissa Thorpe, interim head of Spaceport Cornwall, explains: “Spaceport Cornwall is a consortium made up of Cornwall Council,

“We’re really excited about the opportunities to grow a space cluster here in Cornwall based around launch technologies, satellite infrastructure and environmental intelligence from space.”

Work is currently underway at Spaceport Cornwall on a new satellite integration facility which is being funded by the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership through the Government’s Getting Building

SPACE

Fund. The UK Space Agency is also investing more than £7 million to support satellite launches from Newquay. For Ian Jones, chief executive of Goonhilly Earth Station, launching satellites is just one aspect of what he would like to see Cornwall offer the space industry. He says: “Cornwall has a couple of incredible assets in terms of the space sector. We’ve got Goonhilly and all of our infrastructure, and now the horizontal Spaceport at Newquay. These are two key assets, being able to launch spacecraft into space, and to communicate with them.

Ian says: “There’s a big push now to go to the Moon and use the Moon as a stepping stone to go to Mars, and that’s both robotic missions and humans. “It means we’ll be able to participate from Goonhilly here in Cornwall but it also means we’ll be able to expand the business internationally and we’re now looking to set

& DATA

up offices and antennas around the world so that we can build a global enterprise.” In 2019 Goonhilly opened a new data centre with the aim of creating a UK hub for artificial intelligence and machine learning and meet the data-intensive needs of the space/aerospace, life sciences and automotive markets.

“What I see now as the next key part of the sector is to build spacecraft here, so you’ve got the ability to build them, launch them and communicate, and I think Cornwall is well on that journey.” Goonhilly has spent the last three years upgrading its facilities for deep space communications with the support of £8.4 million Local Growth Funding from the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly LEP, via the European Space Agency. This will enable it to track future missions to the Moon and Mars.

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SPACE

& DATA

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TANUVI ETHUNANDAN & ERIN MORRIS, DATA DUOPOLY

SPACE

IT’S ALL IN THE DATA Data Duopoly was created through the Launchpad business incubation programme at Falmouth University. A former chartered accountant, CEO Tanuvi Ethunandan leads in business strategy, while award-winning film director and fellow cofounder, Erin Morris, is CCO and and heads up product development at the company. We started with the problem of queuing; we had both witnessed first-hand the bottlenecks at visitor attractions, caused by the ‘turn left’ ‘turn right’ signs that mean you see the same family for your entire day out. We realised that whilst venues have good data on how many people have come through the doors that day, they don’t have any idea where those people are positioned within the venue.

for a dress, so the app could send them an alert stating, ‘Half price dresses at John Lewis’. Our XplorCAMPUS pilot with Falmouth University uses the same technology to help students identify busy areas. Those approaching the library might get a notification stating, ‘The library is very busy right now, why not go to the Daphne Du Maurier building – there’s no lecture on, so you can study there.’ Aerospace Cornwall has matched funded us for a project to create two new features – Crowd Tracker and Covid Reporter. We were already collecting data at five-minute intervals, but previously it was only the venue that had access to this data. Crowd Tracker gives the visitor themselves information about busy areas, via an interactive map. Covid Reporter allows visitors to report symptoms during their visit or once they have left, giving the venue the opportunity to make an informed decision on whether to contact everyone who visited that day, or just those who were in the same spaces as the individual at the same time.

A much more enjoyable day out for the visitor

We have developed technology which means that visitors approaching a busy area of an attraction receive an alert on their phone to let them know. They could be given suggestions for a quieter area or a talk happening, or even given an incentive to change their plans. Our system uses GPS technology to track the user’s phone at five-minute intervals. This data links back to our analytics dashboard. The algorithm is built out in such a way that as the area reaches a certain density threshold it will automatically send the user an alert. So not everyone at the attraction is being sent the alert; thanks to downstream satellite technology, it is just select visitor clusters who receive the message. All data is anonymised; we simply track a phone ID that’s a unique string within the geofence. We piloted with The Eden Project back in 2019, and our National Trust Cornish Tin Coast app will launch in time for summer 2021. Use of this technology means a much more enjoyable day out for the visitor – they avoid busy areas, get reminded about talks and workshops they had forgotten were happening, and perhaps even visit areas they had planned on missing out. From a business perspective, this technology can be revenue generating as well. If we take Eden as an example, ‘The link café is very busy at the moment, why not try the Med Terrace Restaurant and receive a half price dessert’. The visitor who was just going to have a sandwich actually ends up having a main meal, dessert and glass of wine. Similarly, in a busy shopping centre, those who visit Karen Millen and Coast might be looking

The Covid crisis has hit visitor attractions hard but using our technology they can encourage people to come back. We give visitors a safe way to make their own decisions about

& DATA

how they want to socially distance – we’re not telling anyone what to do, we can just give them the information they need to feel confident. The data is all there anyway and this is a way of using it for positive impact - not only helping businesses get back on track, but supporting the environment and a greener future as well. The National Trust Cornish Tin Coast Partnership could use the app to alert those approaching baby seals, to keep their distance. On a much larger scale we see our technology having the potential to go Cornwall wide, so that those heading to St Ives could be sent an alert with the suggestion to perhaps visit Carbis Bay or Penzance instead, because the town is very busy and pollution in that area is high. Cornwall is a fantastic place to be rolling out this technology. The local economy is driven by tourism and we can help local venues recover from the pandemic. We’ve got Goonhilly up the road, so the data doesn’t have to travel far to get to us! We’re lucky to have the space community here in Cornwall and input from this sector has opened up a number of opportunities for us to progress the technology and our business with global aspirations.

COMMERCIAL DRONE SERVICE FOR SCILLY A pioneering drone delivery service between Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly is set to take off this autumn with the start of a three-month commercial freight trial from Land’s End Airport to the islands, 30 miles away. The project is a collaboration between the Isles of Scilly Steamship Company, which for more than 100 years has provided transportation to the islands, and Hampshirebased UAS (unmanned aircraft systems) company Flylogix, experts in full-service over horizon operations. They use satellite data and a sophisticated autopilot to keep their aircraft accurate to within half a metre. The companies have entered into a partnership to develop with the local community what could be the UK’s first scheduled freight delivery service by drone, including plans to develop a larger, purposebuilt drone to meet islanders’ needs within two years. The project is being supported by

Cornwall Development Company’s AeroSpace Cornwall programme. The Isles of Scilly have a population of around 2,200 people who rely entirely on air and sea links for their supplies. Tourism accounts for around 85% of the local economy, with over 100,000 visitors every year. Stuart Reid, chief executive of the Isles of Scilly Steamship Company: “Together with our partners Flylogix we’re looking to use drones to deliver a service to the community to carry time sensitive cargo such as medical equipment, medicine and blood samples from the local hospital. “It follows a successful trial last December which was the first ever freight drone flight between two UK commercial airports.” BUSINESS CORNWALL | 41

SPACE

& DATA

THE OPPORTUNITY FOR SPACE Kelly Latimer has been chief test pilot with Virgin Orbit since the very outset of the LaucherOne development. As part of the team guiding the flight test programme and satellite carrier aircraft technology she has also played a leading role in developing the programme that will be deployed in Cornwall next year, seeing the first satellite launch from the UK. Glenn Caplin-Grey speaks with Kelly about the journey so far and the opportunity for space.

in Long Beach we can literally see other companies popping up. How hands on has the role of Chief Test Pilot in the evolution of Virgin Orbit technology been to this point? As far as changing the rocket itself, that’s up to the propulsion team and rocket team. As test pilots we look at impacts on the operation, which are things like our procedures, how we would handle the situation if systems don’t work, what we would do and what’s the plan. Questions such as, do we have to put some more software in to handle some of these problems versus trying to handle them manually with the launch engineers? Being at the beginning of it we have a lot of impact on the operations and the whole programme going forward.

What can Virgin Orbit contribute to the space sector? Virgin Orbit brings access to space for smaller companies, for universities, for environmental companies. Those which might not have had access before because it was very expensive. Our goal is to make it inexpensive and very flexible and responsible, so you can get small satellites in orbit – you don’t have to wait two years for a launch schedule to allow you to piggy back, we can say, okay we can put you up in two or three months.

It’s definitely been a career highlight so far

I think we’re at this inflection point for space both with the companies directly working with space and those supporting space access. From where we’re based 42 | BUSINESS CORNWALL

How important is the global network of spaceports for Virgin Orbit?

Yeah, it’s what sets us apart. Virgin Orbit could go anywhere as a horizontal launch – we can go anywhere you can take off and land a 747. That’s what makes us flexible and it also gives different countries the ability to launch easily off their soil without having to build an entire vertical launch structure. Through Spaceport Cornwall we’ve been able to speak to thousands of young people about space and future job opportunities for them. Are you able to speak with young people in your role? I speak with young people from elementary school up to college and even young professionals. Virgin Orbit does a great job of showcasing the variety of disciplines needed, so we’re able to show that you don’t have to spend 20 years in the military to work in the

space sector. You could be a technician, you could be a finance specialist, you could be in any number of roles to be part of this journey. I think the more people see it and see things happening, it’s a whole different thing to see it for real than theoretically talking about space. What’s been a career highlight for you so far? So far the last two launches with Virgin Orbit would be my highlight. On the first launch the rocket wasn’t successful but the launch operation was completely successful. We actually proved that we could fuel a rocket on the wing, taxi out, take off, and we dropped it right on the parameters. It was the first programme that I was able to run from the very beginning, from getting the airplane, it being modified, coming up with a couple of engineers with the test programme, flying the whole test programme, figuring it all out. It has been a culmination of five years of work, and the beauty has been that we were able to come back from that first launch, find out what happened, make some engineering changes and design changes and in January those proved successful during our second launch. It’s definitely been a career highlight so far. Will you be joining us in Cornwall for the launch from Spaceport Cornwall? It’s too early to say, but we have a new Chief Pilot, Eric Bippert taking over for Virgin Orbit so he’ll be pressing us forward to Cornwall and Guam and to other spaceports. I was originally employed with Virgin Galactic but I moved to Virgin Orbit to work on the test programme. I’m moving back to Virgin Galactic, to keep pursuing my goal of actually flying to space. Through our work so far with Cosmic Girl we’ve proven the concept so the next step is taking it operational. It would be my first time in Cornwall though so I really want to be there!

SPACE

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AEROSPACE

CORNWALL

A new

dawn

Space, satellites and data are driving a new era of growth in Cornwall.

Playing an important role in the national programme, Cornwall has recognised distinct opportunities in data and space; utilising its unique physical, digital and intellectual assets and harnessing the relationships between industries to overcome local and global challenges. As a result of Cornwall’s space capabilities, the region is leading the way on significant innovations across the data, AI and deep learning sectors - this is thanks to a wide range of businesses, from ground-breaking start-ups, to world leading pioneers. BRINGING LAUNCH HOME… From 2022, Cornwall Airport Newquay will be home of the UK’s first horizontal spaceport; Spaceport Cornwall. Delivering the operational environment to create a safe, and responsible, launch site for small satellites to reach Lower Earth Orbit. The Spaceport team are dedicated to engaging with the local community and businesses through job creation, economic growth and raising the profile of Cornwall on a global stage - further strengthening the space cluster and creating future opportunities. LEADING THE WAY IN SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS, DATA APPLICATION AND SPACE EXPLORATION Central to the region’s acceleration towards becoming the UK’s premier location for space

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related AI and deep learning are the expertise and facilities of Goonhilly Earth Station Ltd, whose Space AI Institute is one of only a few such institutions in the UK. The Institute provides a melting pot for technology vendors, industry, end users and academia to collaborate and create new business opportunities. Underlying the Institute, Goonhilly has built a state-of-the-art GPU-enabled data centre with the latest highperformance GPU solutions and designed to meet Tier 4 standards.

data to inform decision making. Cornwall based charity, Cool Earth, is using satellite data to support forest protection in tropical rainforests across the world. They have been applying innovative methods to satellite imagery and geospatial data to develop a system that monitors canopy cover, carbon stocks, and numerous other indicators of forest health and resilience, as well as providing a real-time forest change detection system based on high-quality satellite data to its partners on the ground to respond to emerging threats to their forests and livelihoods.

From 2022, Cornwall Airport Newquay will be home of the UK’s first horizontal spaceport

In today’s digital world, businesses require on demand access to realtime data, as well as the AI/ Machine Learning analytics, tools and techniques to create new business value from their data. Goonhilly’s data infrastructure readiness has enabled many companies to accelerate their offerings in this area.

Meet the businesses using satellite data to improve life on Earth COOL EARTH A key benefit of satellites are the unique insights earth observation offers in monitoring our environment for changes and collecting

GLAS DATA Helping champion a new era of responsible, smarter farming, Truro-based Glas Data aims to enhance farm management through data automation and easy aggregation. How much a harvest yields is never an exact science, but with the common data ecosystem from Glas Data positioned to unify the data, some of the guesswork can be taken away - allowing farmers to better prepare and plan. Their system also helps make informed on-farm decisions with data from renowned research institutes.

AEROSPACE

CARRAK CONSULTING Renewed interest in the mining sector to aid clean growth, coupled with investment in space enabled technologies, has sparked some exciting projects with a focus on georesources in the south west. Mining Consultancy, Carrak Consulting, is investigating the use of a novel remote sensing technique to help understand mining related pollution of river catchments. They have recently received funding to enable knowledge transfer between AI specialists, Jane Gallwey Surveying, for the analysis of hyperspectral drone data.

and to prioritise interventions. Their unique approach leverages the best elements of Geographic Information Systems, project management and business analytics to underpin a decision cycle that, in the hands of domain experts, can start with census data or a satellite photo and lead quickly to strategic impact. CLOUD DIGITAL On a mission to unlock the complex web of space data for business benefit, cloud computing company Cloud Digital has begun to build their Earth Vision platform with the help of Goonhilly Earth Station Ltd as their strategic partner. Experts in cloud strategy and digital transformation, Cloud Digital’s new endeavour

CORNWALL

intends to integrate the rich web of space data harvested from satellites into mainstream software offerings. Using such software could help with the prediction of consumer’s behavioural patterns in the retail industry for example, or future proofing in the construction industry based on historical data.

A WEALTH OF OPPORTUNITY If you are interested in exploring how your business can benefit from the unique cross over between space, satellite data, AI and deep learning in the south west, there is a dedicated team at AeroSpace Cornwall who can support an expansion into the region with a red carpet roll out. AeroSpace Cornwall exists to help bridge the gap between industries and have supported many of the businesses at the cutting edge of innovation, helping to solve both local and global problems from the heart of Cornwall. The team is ready to discuss your ideas to adapt your business or technologies. Get in touch with james@aerospacecornwall.co.uk to find out more.

REMEODY Remeody/Plan Spatial have built a platform for public health and reconstruction planning which uses spatial data to surface insights

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DIGITAL

& SKILLS

Where art meets

technology

Tanya Krzywinska is former director of Falmouth University’s Games Academy, having designed and convened a range of games courses that provide students with the experience, knowledge and skills needed for employment in the games industry. She is now Professor of Digital Games and supports undergraduate, postgraduate and PHD students in their research and development of games.

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DIGITAL “The games courses at Falmouth are primarily geared around the idea of doing things for real. Students come in with different skillsets and interests and we get them to work together in order to make games. Their interests and skills could be in anything from animation and art, through to script writing, programming, design, and business development – by that I mean gaining a more theoretical understanding of how games engage people. Our aim is for students to be able to release their games on the open market, so what we’re trying to do is give them choices about what they make and who they make them for. Some of our students do what we call ‘serious’ games, i.e. application of game technology, game design and game mechanics to an industrial context outside of the entertainment sphere. Others go for the more conventional gamer market. Certainly, in terms of the research we do at Falmouth, the focus is heavily on serious games. We work with other industries to see how game technology, design and mechanics can be applied - particularly in the heritage sector.

Virtual reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) are spaces in which the whole screen input exchange is becoming much more sophisticated and interesting. The divide between reality and virtual is being broken down and this has the potential to change the face of business. Covid has also moved things forward very quickly; we’ve all become used to remote working. If we can enable people to come together to work virtually in a more co-present way, it will change the way that we work.

Games can tell very powerful stories and change behaviour

What I’ve been interested in as a researcher is immersive experiences using games technology and game design. At Falmouth, we have an understanding of the strengths of games technologies and what they can do; we understand why it is that games can tell very powerful stories and change behaviour. Running apps, for example, have helped a lot of people get into fitness; the apps use game mechanics in order to encourage people to take up exercise practise. Games are a series of feedback arrays, giving the user achievements to encourage them along the way, and the presence of high degrees of feedback proves to be a very powerful learning mechanism. Our Immersive Business Project, in partnership with Exeter University, is designed to provide knowledge exchange and business assists for Cornish businesses, in order to help them either take the first step in using immersive technologies or understand more about what’s being developed on the market. There are significant developments taking place in technology at present; we’re breaking down the idea that we look at a screen to do things, and instead there’s much more of an interaction between objects and computing.

It’s all heading in the direction of holographic figures. The idea of everyone being in their own space – house or office, but each individual being able to see all of those people in their room without even having to wear an enclosed headset. It’s our job to find ways to make the tech work for us as human beings, to aid communication and bring people together from multiple spaces. It’s not a substitute for community, it’s actually about supporting community and enabling collaboration.

wAVE PROJECT The wAVE Immersive Experiences in Museums Project has been developed by Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), Cornwall Museums Partnership, and Falmouth University, and is funded by the Coastal Communities Fund. wAVE (AVE: Augmented and Virtual Experiences) brings together Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly’s coastal communities, heritage centres and academic experts to develop new and engaging virtual, augmented and immersive reality experiences within the five participating communities of Bude, Looe, St Agnes, Porthcurno and the Isles of Scilly.

& SKILLS

Through the wAVE project, where we are collaborating with Cornwall Museums Partnership and the LEP, we are helping museums incorporate immersive experiences. We are using the type of game-based tech experiences that encourage people to linger a bit longer - and in the case of museums, interpret some of the collections in novel and interesting ways. I think what we’re doing with the wAVE project will be a showcase to demonstrate to other sectors what they can do with immersive technology. Training is the obvious thing – VR and AR experiences could create very convincing situations, and also enable people to work together who are geographically far apart. It could work in retail, architecture, manufacturing, construction; the space could be realised architecturally in VR so that a person would have a very real sense of moving through the space. Imagine trying to choose a new kitchen and having the opportunity to move around the space before you commit to a design. Cornwall has the potential to be at the cutting edge of these technological and visualisation advances. The county has always been an innovator in both technology and art - and what is games if not bringing art and technology together? In a way it’s in the Cornish DNA to have innovative art practices and to attract people who are interested in exploring more forms, as well as exploring innovation in terms of both design and technology.” The project aims to use Cornwall’s distinctive heritage to support digital innovation and economic diversification in the five coastal communities by maximising Cornwall’s digital infrastructure, skills, and heritage for the benefit of the local economy. Through the use of VR headsets, augmented reality, haptics and other innovative technologies developed by Falmouth University’s research experts, visitors will be able to meet historical characters, see artefacts in their original settings, and explore heritage sites in new ways. As part of wAVE, local communities are involved in a programme of digital training, allowing wider tourism businesses to add value to their businesses through the futureproofing of their offer. coastaltimetripping.com

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DIGITAL

& SKILLS

THE SKILLS AGENDA Higher education in Cornwall was very limited before 2000, and the lack of opportunities to study in the region contributed to a brain drain of talented young people. It also meant that businesses in Cornwall were deprived of access to high level skills and applied research. Today the picture is very different. Cornwall has seen hundreds of millions of pounds invested into higher and further education in the last 20 years, increasing choices for young people and businesses alike. Institutions are gearing their courses and research to be more aligned to economic opportunities like the green and digital economy – areas in which Cornwall has unique opportunities to diversify and create more high skilled jobs, with better wages. The Penryn Campus, shared by Falmouth University 48 | BUSINESS CORNWALL

and the University of Exeter, has become an education powerhouse that is estimated to have contributed over half a billion pounds to the Cornish economy. Falmouth University is taking more than a century of teaching experience to apply creativity to some of the greatest challenges of our age, melding it with technology to drive new sectors like e-Health, agri-tech, fintech and immersive technology.

of research into the solutions to problems of environmental change. And its Renewable Engineering Facility teaches students about applying engineering to clean energy technologies. The Penryn campus is also home to the world-renowned Camborne School of Mines, exporting knowledge around the world and supporting the current resurgence in Cornish metal mining.

Working together to make sure that education and skills are meeting the needs of a modern economy

Its own venture studio, Launchpad, is designed to retain talent in Cornwall, boost the economy and create global opportunities by helping students to launch their own start-up businesses that solve real industry challenges in an entrepreneurial ecosystem. Falmouth University is at the heart of the drive to develop the creative sector in Cornwall and contributes £100 million and over 2,000 jobs to Cornwall’s economy.

The University of Exeter has developed an international reputation for its research in Cornwall addressing scientific, medical and social concerns. Its £30 million Environment and Sustainability Institute at Penryn puts the University and Cornwall at the forefront

None of this has happened by accident. It’s a response to an economy in transition that needs new skills so that people can do new types of jobs. And it’s not just universities. To create a world-class workforce takes the combined efforts of employers, schools, colleges, universities and other training providers all working together to make sure that education and skills are meeting the needs of a modern economy. In Cornwall, that co-ordination is led by the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Employment and Skills Board. It’s made up of people from across business and education whose job it is to inspire young people, create opportunity, and ensure that employers are getting the skills they need.

DIGITAL

& SKILLS

TAKING ACTION That’s why a new £6.3 million STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) and Health Skills Centre for North and East Cornwall is currently being built in Bodmin. The Truro and Penwith College project is being backed with almost £3.8m of Getting Building Fund investment from the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership. The centre will offer engineering, manufacturing and digital skills for the aerospace, space, creative, energy and mining sectors, as well as providing a range of locally delivered nursing and care apprentices. It will provide 120 apprenticeships per year and is expected to help 300 people annually into further learning, leading to higher level vocational qualifications. Meanwhile Cornwall College heard in April that it is one of just 16 colleges in England to receive a share of the government’s £1.5 billion transformation fund which it will use to create a new campus in St Austell. The College uses employer advisory groups to make sure that what it teaches is what employers need, and this interaction between education and business has become increasingly common. For example, opportunities in the space industry are fast becoming a reality for young people in Cornwall. Spaceport Cornwall’s outreach programme aims to engage with every primary and secondary school in the Duchy. And it’s working with Truro & Penwith College, Cornwall College and University of Exeter to secure courses and training for those aspiring to a career in the space industry. Goonhilly Earth Station also offers STEM outreach programmes, including space mission operations training for university students and professionals, a year 12 summer school, and placements for students in secondary and tertiary education.

FIBREPARK Toby Parkins is founding Director of Headforwards, an outsource software development company employing over 110 people in Cornwall on an average wage of £40k per year, nearly double the Cornish average. With co-founder Craig Girvan, he has set up FibreHub, a space for digital, software and tech organisations that will provide lettable office space, co-working facilities, an eat-in or takeaway café and access to networking and events taking place in the building.

many tech companies are marketing to niche markets globally – not advertising in the local newspaper where they would be seen by local people. This means that the local population may not realise what’s happening on their doorstep, and consequently young people aren’t pursuing those careers. “The FibrePark creates a physical space that people can recognise as ‘the place where there are lots of tech jobs’. Through this site we can start changing the story to communicate the fact that actually, there are some really brilliant high paid jobs in Cornwall and that’s what people here can aspire to.

The plan is for FibreHub to extend into FibrePark, a business campus large enough to house the many forward-thinking tech professionals in Cornwall, and part of Camborne’s £25 million Town Deal plan with Government.

“We’ll be working with Software Cornwall to carry out a wide range of school engagement programmes where young people can try out programming and other digital skills to get a real life understanding of what people do in those sorts of jobs.

Toby says: “When I go and give a talk at a parents’ evening, a lot of parents say to me ‘it’s all very well learning all of these skills but where are the jobs?’ The physical footprint of a tech business is very small compared to many other businesses, and

“The third stage of the project is working with Cornwall College to create courses that actually take place within the FibrePark, so the idea is that the actual learning experience that the young people will have occurs within a real-life tech environment.”

Geothermal Engineering Ltd (GEL) has worked with a number of primary and secondary schools, and universities and held careers events to share information about its United Downs Geothermal Power Project. And Software Cornwall, founded by local tech companies, is inspiring young people through its coding clubs and work experience. But there are still gaps. For example, a recent survey by Tech South West showed that the biggest challenge for tech businesses right now is finding people with the right skills. BUSINESS CORNWALL | 49

DIGITAL

& SKILLS

THE GROWING ROLE OF AGRI-TECH By Clare Parnell, farmer & agri-food specialist. Cornwall is well known for its high-quality food, drink and produce but there is so much more to this important economic sector. The region has set itself the ambitious target of ensuring that it is net zero carbon by 2030 with a naturally diverse environment which is beautiful and healthy, supporting a thriving society, prosperous economy and abundance of wildlife. An important challenge for the industry is how to contribute to this vision while still producing food for its residents, visitors, the wider UK and export market in a sustainable way. Agriculture covers around 80% of Cornwall’s land mass and the agri-food sector accounts for almost 33,000 or 14% of all jobs and £1.4 billion, or 15.5%, of GVA. The industry recognises the need for change, moving its practices away from being a major contributor to carbon emissions, with the aim of achieving a net positive impact. It is working hard with partner organisations to deliver the environmental benefits and green economy that the region is working towards. These changes will largely be achieved through the integration of new technologies that will provide greener solutions to agricultural processes. There is much going on in Cornwall to create a low carbon food economy. From the use of research and technology to reduce inputs and improve efficiency, to community-led projects that cut food miles and encourage people to buy local.

The facility has been supported by the European Regional Development Fund, Department for Education, Cornwall Council, the Council for the Isles of Scilly, and the national Centre for Innovation Excellence in Livestock (CIEL). It is the culmination of the Agri-tech Cornwall Project working in collaboration with Rothamsted Research, the Universities of Exeter and Plymouth, and CIEL. Future Farm provides a platform for progressive scientists, students and entrepreneurs to drive improvements in the efficiency and sustainability of dairy farmers. It will play a key part in helping the dairy sector take advantage of the opportunities presented by – and tackle the challenges of – the 21st century.

CARBON NEUTRAL FARMING SYSTEMS Riviera Produce grows over 7,500 acres of cauliflowers, broccoli, cabbages and courgettes in mid and west Cornwall supplying national supermarkets for 12 months of the year. It is working towards a carbon-neutral farming system, reducing emissions by running tractors on HVO (Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil) instead of diesel, and using automatic planters.

There is much going on in Cornwall to create a low carbon food economy

Future Farm is helping to address the urgent requirement to increase the competitiveness of businesses within the dairy industry. Home to 225 cows, Future Farm is a £3.6 million leading-

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edge research and knowledge transfer facility at Duchy College driving improvements in efficiency, technology, animal health and welfare and environmental best practice.

It is also maximising the amount of carbon they sequester in the soil by concentrating on soil health and making the most of organic matter. By moving from ploughing the ground to minimum tillage when planting it is making sure more carbon stays locked in the soil and is not released into the atmosphere. Instead of having bare earth between crops, Riviera Produce is planting cover crops such as Phacelia, which is also attractive to bees. Its roots help to bind the soil, increasing its ability to absorb water, preventing soil-run off into streams and ensuring nutrients remain in the ground to feed the next crop. When it is time for a new crop, the cover

crop is worked over but not removed and the new crop is planted in strips amongst it. This has reduced labour by 60% at planting and has meant the use of herbicides has been stopped altogether, with pesticide use now only needed in extreme circumstances. Crops and soils are healthier, worms are more plentiful, soil biodiversity increases enormously, and costs are reduced - all while continuing to produce quality produce to feed the nation.

REDUCING FOOD MILES AND BUILDING RESILIENCE There are an increasing number of food hubs and networks enabling growers to sell locally in Cornwall, many of which have benefited from consumers choosing to buy local during the pandemic. Tamar Grow Local a prime example. Originally set up by a community allotment group in Calstock in 2007, the project evolved into a not-for-profit Community Interest Company based on cooperative principles and in 2013 established an online farmer’s market for local producers called the Tamar Valley Food Hubs. Farmers set their own prices and the ‘hub’ adds a margin to cover admin, deliveries and marketing. Tamar Grow Local now has 14 employees and runs a Farmstart project that sublets land to growers who have struggled to rent land previously. Over the past year they have also taken on extra staff as they grew 300%, from 60 orders per week each averaging £30, to 180 orders averaging £40. Another example is Bosavern Community Farm, near St Just in the far West of Cornwall. Through a large donation and the sale of community shares, the community bought a small beef farm which now houses a substantial market garden, chickens, beehives, allotments and a farm shop, providing food and learning experiences to the local community. While sales dropped from farmers markets, schools and restaurants during lockdown, sales in veg boxes increased from 40 a week to over 100. Bosavern was set up as a Community Supported Agriculture scheme, (CSAs) of which there are now twelve in Cornwall. CSAs help growers plan in advance how much they need to produce, giving them a stable income stream.

DIGITAL

AGRICULTURAL INNOVATION Cornwall has become a focus for innovation in agriculture. According to the Agri-tech Cornwall Project, agricultural technologies can be any innovation that makes agriculture more efficient and productive, more resilient and secure, more profitable, and better able to enhance and

protect the natural environment. It’s an essential component in the move towards a greener, more sustainable future and this year’s G7 summit is seen as a crucial year to accelerate the international agenda on climate and environment, particularly with the UK hosted UN climate conference, COP26 later in the year. Agri-Tech Cornwall is working with more than 90 companies and a similar number of farmers to research and develop solutions

& SKILLS

for the sector, with projects spanning robotics and automation, sensors and data, new crops and how to cultivate them, animal health and welfare, to soil carbon and natural capital. The project is led by Duchy College Rural Business School and is an opportunity for the agricultural sector to develop and apply new technologies assisted by leading research institutions, research grants and graduate placements.

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DEPRIVATION

AND REGENERATION

Innovate

to regenerate

For me, growing up in Cornwall, the focus was on learning to drive as soon as you were legally able, so that you could get out. I didn’t for one minute consider staying in Cornwall - I couldn’t see any kind of opportunity here. At no point did I receive any careers advice that made me feel excited or suggest that there was any kind of option to stay in Cornwall. I didn’t really know what a university looked like, and there was a complete lack of visibility of jobs and career options locally. The only advice we did get was that we should all sign up to what was at that

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time, a young person’s training scheme, and do a secretarial course. This was the 80s, when the news was filled with stories of wealth being generated; a time of excess, images of city bankers drinking champagne. I just remember thinking that it was a different world; there was nothing about it that I could recognise in terms of my life in Cornwall.

Unfortunately, in the deprived areas of Cornwall, 30 years on things aren’t much different. Too many Cornish young people have the philosophy that good things can’t happen where they live, and the older generations often respond to innovative ideas with, ‘that won’t work here’.

We need to ensure we still welcome visitors but have a model that respects people and planet

As a Cornish teenager, I only saw the bleak 80s – Camborne/ Redruth played out the decline of industry at that time. There were many factory closures in the area, including the huge Holman’s factory in Camborne. It felt like the few opportunities that had been available to us, were becoming fewer.

As a teenager, if we wanted to go and see bands or go to a festival, we had to get somebody to drive us out of Cornwall. There was a sense that all the good stuff was happening elsewhere. Whilst some things have changed, the barriers to getting involved in things that can broaden horizons still exist in Cornwall today for too many young people due to cost, insufficient and unaffordable public transport, and the visibility and availability of activities. Sorting out basic infrastructure like

DEPRIVATION AND

REGENERATION

Emmie Kell is CEO of Cornwall Museums Partnership. She grew up in Cornwall, attending primary school in Camborne, and secondary school in Pool – two of the Duchy’s most deprived areas. On completing her A-Levels at Cornwall College she left Cornwall to study English at Royal Holloway, University of London. The plan was to move back to Cornwall in retirement, but the arrival of her son prompted a move ‘home’ to be closer to family. With no job to go to, Emmie began working as a consultant in Cornwall and eventually set up Cornwall Museums Partnership (CMP) in 2015. CMP is an independent charity that exists to create positive social change with museums.

affordable housing and public transport is really important but so is investment in communities that makes places liveable - investment that creates confidence, self-worth and aspiration. People living in some parts of Cornwall have grown up (or are growing up) surrounded by signs of industrial decline; if your environment hasn’t been invested in for years it’s hard to feel positive about the ability to create change. Too much of the investment in Cornwall has been ‘done to’ communities and hasn’t enabled people to have agency in shaping the future. Whilst mining heritage has many positives in the form of the World Heritage Site and the incredible things being done with lithium and geothermal that will be instrumental in Cornwall’s sustainability, people have told me that sometimes the focus on the region’s mining heritage is dispiriting, driving home the collapse of industry in Camborne/Redruth for example. We need to use opportunities like geothermal and lithium to move our georesources story forwards rather than backwards and really engage with the next generation. Kresen Kernow is a great example of a heritage project that has made a tangible difference to the local environment, transforming a derelict site and enabling people to explore their past. We need more like this – projects developed in partnership with communities, that make a visible difference to the local environment and promote a sense of distinctiveness and local pride. At Cornwall Museums Partnership, we have got involved with an amazing project spearheaded by local artist, Jonty Lees. He has worked with young people at Pool Academy to build a fantastic art gallery on the school premises.

Students programme and curate this high quality facility and are working with brilliant nationally and internationally recognised artists who want to know more about the community. It’s all done in a very respectful, collaborative, generous way, recognising and valuing the expertise of the local area. Despite lockdown, Jonty and his team have continued to work with the community sharing and promoting creative skills. This work builds confidence in young people, helping them to think about their environment differently and consider what the opportunities might be.

emergency, now is the time to rethink our approach. We need to ensure we still welcome visitors but have a model that respects people and planet. Much of the Cornish culture and tradition is not valued – it’s not present in anything. I think there’s a real opportunity for Cornwall to think about how it can position itself as a leader in sustainable tourism and this includes working out how we can we use culture to help visitors engage with a more authentic version of Cornwall that puts communities in the driving seat as hosts.

Of course, we need investment, but we also need creative thinkers

If we want to create thriving and sustainable communities, then a place that feels like it’s got activity, opportunities for people to enjoy themselves – culture, is as important as things like roads and housing. Otherwise places just have no soul – they don’t feel liveable, and they won’t change. Pool School Gallery is a great example of how artists and creative people can start to instil a feeling of change in a community. Once positivity gains momentum, it can snowball. Much of what I’ve said would leave visitors holidaying in Cornwall baffled; they are spoon fed a version of life here that’s not recognisable to a lot of the Duchy’s residents. In 2020, many Cornish people cheered from their living rooms as Simon Reeve featured the ‘real’ Cornwall in a BBC 2 documentary. Tourism is a big part of the Cornish economy, but I think that with the G7 here and its themes around the climate

The problems we’re facing in Cornwall - housing, infrastructure, climate, inequality, are huge structural problems. Of course, we need investment, but we also need creative thinkers who can come at the problems from a completely different direction to shake things up. Another reason that culture is part of the solution is that our cultural organisations attract and support an ecosystem of creative people and businesses. The vast majority of people here don’t know about the amazing things that are happening in Cornwall because the dominant narrative is all about beaches and Poldark. We need to start telling the story back to Cornwall, take a more holistic view of sustainability which includes culture and creativity, put Cornish residents in the driving seat and focus on connection and aspiration. This is what culture is good at and why smart places know that culture is the rocket fuel of regeneration.

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CORNWALL

WILDLIFE TRUST

Nature recovery “Cornwall’s beauty hides many of our challenges, both social and environmental. Communities, businesses and organisations have been motivated to respond to protect our surroundings, build sustainability into how we live and work and make a dent in Cornwall’s ambitious target of becoming carbon neutral by 2030. Many of us in Cornwall work reasonably close to where we live. It means we’re part of the communities affected by the work we might do, forced to justify poor decisions to neighbours and sharing positive impact along with them. There are many layers to unravel in protecting our environment, and smaller projects solving specific problems can create marginal gains, together having a significant overall impact.” Carolyn Cadman, CEO of Cornwall Wildlife Trust

CORNWALL BEAVER PROJECT Beavers were hunted to extinction in the UK over 400 years ago. In the summer of 2017, a partnership between Cornwall Wildlife Trust, the Beaver Trust and the University of Exeter enabled a pair of beavers to be introduced to a five-acre area along a stream at Woodland Valley Farm at Ladock, near Truro. Known to be a keystone species of wetland habitats, the beavers have been closely monitored by University of Exeter scientists to see how their presence benefits and stimulates other wildlife, and how their dams have reduced flooding and improve water quality. The beavers’ work is moderating both high and low extremes of stream flow, creating resilience to the effects of climate change. Resilience to drought is likely to become ever more important. 54 | BUSINESS CORNWALL

CORNWALL

Since 2015, the Good Seafood Guide has been working with fishermen, retailers and consumers, providing detailed information on seafood sustainability, helping us to all make good seafood choices. Cornwall Wildlife Trust have worked closely with the fishing industry and Marine Conservation Society to present detailed information on all of Cornwall’s seafood, wild caught and farmed, using the MCS’s Good Fish Guide methodology. The guide assesses sustainability to ensure that when labelling a fish ‘sustainably caught’, consideration is given to fish stocks, how well managed the fishery is, how the fish is caught, risk of accidental bycatch and impact on the seabed.

UPSTREAM THINKING Upstream Thinking is a project funded by South West Water and delivered in Cornwall by Cornwall Wildlife Trust and the Westcountry Rivers Trust. Through the scheme we work with farmers and landowners across four drinking water catchments in West Cornwall, building strong relationships with farmers to find solutions that benefit farms as well as wildlife and the wider environment.

FOREST FOR CORNWALL

WILDLIFE TRUST

it to be tackled alongside the climate crisis. Cornwall Wildlife Trust wanted to know if the same was true in Cornwall, so teamed up with Cornwall Council and the University of Exeter to analyse a huge volume of local species and habitat data collected largely by volunteer ‘citizen scientists’. Our report indicated similar declines, showing a 30% decrease in farmland birds and 57% decline in kittiwakes, likely caused by our altering climate. It also showed more than double the human disturbance to seals in the last nine years, and 152km of hedgerows lost. There is good news as well. Cornish choughs have been successfully brought back from the brink of extinction, beavers and water voles have been reintroduced and reports suggest 75% of people value nature more now than pre-covid.

The aim is to encourage clean water through reducing the risk of soil, nutrients and pesticides entering rivers and streams, enhance wildlife habitats and ensure better resilience to extreme weather brought about by climate change.

cornwallwildlifetrust.org.uk

The Forest for Cornwall is an ambitious tree planting project initiated by Cornwall Council. Once complete, the forest is expected to cover about 2% of Cornwall’s land area, approximately 8,000 hectares. Rather than a single area of new forest, the ambition is to increase canopy cover throughout Cornwall, as well as protecting existing woodlands and hedges.

GOOD SEAFOOD GUIDE Fishing and seafood has had a good deal of bad press lately thanks mainly to the much discussed Netflix documentary. But fishing is a complex subject, it’s certainly not all bad and there are many examples of sustainable local seafood, produced with a very low carbon footprint that we should all be continuing to support.

In autumn, Cornwall Wildlife Trust ran a Grow More Trees campaign with Cornwall Council, encouraging children to collect seeds like acorns, plant them in pots until they became seedlings and strong enough to ultimately be planted as part of Forest for Cornwall.

STATE OF NATURE The 2019 National State of Nature report makes grim reading. It reported that since 1970, 41% of species have declined in abundance across the UK, leading to talk of an ‘ecological emergency’ and calls for

Cornwall’s ambitious target of becoming carbon neutral by 2030

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Honoured by the Queen We are delighted to be honoured with a prestigious Queen’s Award for Sustainable Development. Our ethos has always been to tread softly on the Earth; artisan craftmanship and minimising our environmental impact, so to have our efforts recognised in this way is a pivotal moment in our company’s history.

The art of beautiful candles

01841 540 850 | info@st-eval.com | www.st-eval.com

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SUSTAINABLE

TOURISM

Putting sustainability

first

The focus for Visit Cornwall and its partners is to make sure that Cornwall’s tourism is more sustainable and will deliver on the wider goals and ambitions for Cornwall.

Tourism is far from being an insignificant part of Cornwall’s economy, currently sitting at 20% of all employment here.

year. Equally, how visitors get around is important while they’re here, and improvements to our infrastructure through public transport, cycle ways and walkways are all considered, along with encouraging visitors to support local businesses during their stay. “Cornwall is proud to play host to its visitors and our work to protect our environment, economy and culture will keep tourism sustainable in the long-term.” Evolving tourism in Cornwall into a place where it can be considered more sustainable is not a simple challenge. Course leader for Sustainable Tourism Management and Sustainable Festival Management at Falmouth University, Paul Russell, says it’s important that Cornwall shifts towards a higher value tourism offer.

Visit Cornwall chair and co-owner of Rick Stein Group, Jill Stein, explains: “Our strategy for achieving a more sustainable tourism sector takes a whole system approach to change. We need to develop tourism outside of the main peak weeks and enhance and improve the jobs that already exist for local people. But at the same time, we must integrate regenerative development, and environmental projects, such as rewilding. Reassuringly, there is also increasing demand from the market for more sustainable, low carbon holidays.

“Sustainable tourism for Cornwall is about maximising economic impact of the tourists we already have,” says Paul. “That doesn’t mean gentrification of our tourism sector, it means encouraging experience and activity-based tourism to increase spend.

Extend the shoulder seasons and make tourism a more year-round attraction

One of the key tasks, says Jill, is to extend the shoulder seasons and make tourism a more year-round attraction. “We have huge visitor peaks in Cornwall, with 20% of overnight stays taking place in July and 26% in August, compared with only 8% each in April and September. We want to encourage visitors to Cornwall outside of the peak season, with a much more level spread throughout the

“What people do when they’re here makes a difference, creating an experience culture would help balance demand throughout the year, a challenge for Cornwall.”

‘Blue mind tourism’ is another area which Paul thinks could be an opportunity for Cornwall. “There is increasing evidence to suggest that association and connection with the water is hugely beneficial for wellness and mental health. Whether the offer as part of their visit is stand up paddle boarding, swimming, sailing or surfing, it’s about creating experiences for people which add value and support local businesses.”

SUSTAINABLE SOURCING

Cornwall’s food and drink is well known for being exceptionally high quality, which in turn helps local restaurants and chefs build their reputations. Former Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen Cornwall head chef, and now freelance, Adam Banks, believes buying from local suppliers in essence means the quality is better. “Sourcing from local producers, I know the quality will be good and I’m supporting local businesses,” he says. “The relationship between chef and producer when you’re buying locally can be really strong, so you’re seeing what they’re growing, sometimes influencing what they’re growing and seeing how they’re taking care and rearing animals in a sustainable and high welfare way. “The great restaurants in Cornwall like Appletons in Fowey and the Seafood Restaurant in Padstow are sourcing as locally as they can, and if they can’t source locally, they’re making sure the produce is sustainable. Places like Coombeshead Farm are even growing and using a lot of their own produce.” adambanks.uk

ADAM BANKS (PHOTO BY: JOHN HERSEY)

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under thirty

As the world’s eyes fall on Cornwall for the summit meeting of the G7 nations, we turn the spotlight on to some of the bright young business talent here in the Duchy. The sixth annual 30 under 30 awards, organised in collaboration with the Cornwall Chamber of Commerce and sponsored by Truro and Penwith College and supported by Pirate FM, are a celebration of Cornwall’s most innovative young businesspeople, under the age of 30 on June 1, 2021. Judging this year proved to be as rewarding as it was challenging. The past year has not been easy for

anyone, but how these young entrepreneurs have stepped up to the plate has been truly inspiring. It was particularly remarkable how many of them set up a new business during lockdown. The judges, Toni Eyriey (Business Cornwall), Kim Conchie (Cornwall Chamber), Prasanth Panicker (Truro & Penwith College) and Mark Peters (Pirate FM) met last month to run through a raft of entries from a wide range of sectors – from car mechanics to software developers – and are proud to present this year’s 30 under 30.

THEO DAVEY PANSENSIC LTD Theo Davey joined Bude-based software company Pansensic in August 2018 as CEO assistant and within two years had been promoted to MD. He created a new business plan, led organisational restructuring and global partnering which resulted in increased revenue, improved multi-market positioning, ongoing growth, and investment readiness despite a challenging global period.

THEO DAVEY PANSENSIC LTD

HARRY DEACON CULTIVATE CORNWALL

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Harry Deacon co-founded Cultivate Cornwall, a grassroots community group helping people and organisations across Cornwall. Over the past five years Harry has helped around 60 community groups to set up and find funding including Bugle Library of Things, Lighthouse CIC in Liskeard and The Old Bank CIC in Camelford.

30 UNDER

NATALIE CROUCH PEAKY DIGITAL As a successful digital marketing manager, in 2016 Natalie Crouch made the leap to set up Peaky Digital. Initially working as a freelancer, the business went from strength to strength. Over the past year under her leadership and despite the challenges of Covid, the business has tripled from three team members to nine, with plans for further recruitment. Team wellbeing and workplace culture are important to Natalie, which is why she invested in five Peaky paddleboards which are free for the team to use with their families.

ANTHONY DANN PENTIRE GROUP “Great at turning ideas into reality”, Anthony Dann is the co-founder of the Pentire Group, which last year went from being an idea in a pub to a successful recruitment company, with operations in the UK, Europe and the US from its base in Newquay. The Pentire Group also raised £1 million to purchase and redevelop a former restaurant in the town centre into Pentire House, a successful co-work and innovation hub, housing 40+ freelancers and businesses in the heart of Newquay.

ASHLEIGH GLANVILLE ASHLEIGH MORGAN HAIRSTYLIST Like so many of this year’s 30 under 30 winners, Ashleigh Glanville set up a business during the pandemic and despite the challenges, has made it a storming success. She used the time at the end of the first lockdown to turn a storeroom/utility into a salon ready to open when given the go ahead. She researched various products, contacted organisations and secured funding which helped with external decoration and a sign. She transformed the room into a modern salon.

“A fantastic manager who leads by example”. High praise indeed and since joining Vision five years ago as an admin assistant, Jenifer Hall has worked her way up to network support manager, managing apprenticeships and teams of 12 people. In fact, taking on apprentices in the first place was on Jen’s suggestion and it has proved an inspired decision with the company receiving a Highly Commended Apprentice Employer of the Year award in 2018.

NATALIE CROUCH PEAKY DIGITAL

JENIFER HALL VISION INDEPENDENT FINANCIAL PLANNING

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JESSICA CROOK WHYFIELD

JACK BAINES HARD PRESSED CORNWALL

JESSICA CROOK WHYFIELD

Two years ago, Jack Baines swapped the high pressure of life working as a chef and began handcrafting pure, cuisine oils. Jack’s ethos has always been guided by minimising the environmental impact of his business and cutting food miles led to the creation of his own rapeseed oil, grown in Cornwall last year, following a chance meeting at a plastic free market with St Erme farmer Nick Dymond. The pair grew 18 acres of sunflower seeds in a joint venture. It was the first commercial crop grown in the UK to produce high quality sunflower oil.

Throughout the pandemic, Jessica Crook has been an integral part of Whyfield’s success, along with the survival of its clients. Her support has gone above and beyond and has been praised by clients on several occasions, with many taking to social media to express their gratitude. She has found her feet as a manager and is valued by her team for always being on hand to support and help them to flourish in their own careers.

MACHAELA O’BRIEN THE FAMILY LAW COMPANY

In what has been a busy year, Machaela O’Brien took the next step in her career and completed her level 6 professional higher diploma in law and practice, becoming a trainee legal executive specialising in private law children and domestic abuse cases. Taking her commitment even further, she has provided free talks about domestic abuse, contributed topical website blogs and also wrote for national title Today’s Family Lawyer. This year she hopes to qualify as a lawyer.

JUSTIN LIPKIN HIYIELD Justin Lipkin joined St Austellbased software company Hiyield two years ago as an apprentice, but has since been promoted to junior developer, leading on a number of high-profile projects for 60 | BUSINESS CORNWALL

the likes of Cornwall Wildlife Trust and Defra. This year alone, Justin has been responsible for over £46k worth of projects, each one of them earning him glowing reviews. Now he spends his time exploring robotics, 3D printing, VR, game development and website development.

DEAN DARK DARK PERFORMANCE GYM In the current climate, physical and mental health and wellbeing are so important and Dean is one of the young, passionate leaders in the Cornish fitness industry. Last year he became the business owner of Dark Performance Gym in Saltash and despite pandemic, still managed to increase membership numbers and make the Dark Performance Gym one of the go-to gyms in east Cornwall. And not stopping there, Dean and a business partner have just opened a second gym, in Liskeard.

SARAH MURRAY ALIGN CHIROPRACTIC CORNWALL After five years of professional development working as a fully qualified chiropractor, Sarah Murray founded her own Chiropractic business during Covid-19 pandemic. During the lockdown, the company has seen rapid growth, interest and interaction within the community providing health care services from new-born babies to the elderly. Sarah has become a genuine asset to the county providing high quality health care services, dedicated to the non-surgical treatment of disorders of the nervous system and/or musculoskeletal system.

Where you live matters contact@shorepartnership.com | 01872 484484 | shorepartnership.com

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OLIVIA FRENCH WARD WILLIAMS ASSOCIATES Returning to Cornwall after spending two years working in the Middle East, Olivia French has been forging a successful career with Truro-based construction consultancy WWA. She has worked on many high-profile projects including several major housing development schemes. In addition to her role as a project manager, and with a keen interest in reducing the impact of the built environment, Olivia has become WWA’s leading BREEAM Assessor. She also works closely with local schools and colleges as a construction ambassador encouraging younger people into the industry.

WILL EYRES MILLENNIUM MECHANICS Will Eyres is another fine example of turning adversity into opportunity. The garage mechanic was in the middle of a level 3 apprenticeship when the pandemic hit, ultimately losing his job. But rather than moping around, he decided to set up his own mobile mechanics business working out of the back of a van. Building a reliable reputation, he soon won a contract

with a local car sales business on a selfemployed basis. He has now moved into a unit near Truro where he can work on vehicles in the dry, while still continuing the mobile part of the business.

AMY SHAKESPEARE CORNWALL MUSEUMS PARTNERSHIP Amy Shakespeare has dedicated her career to supporting and increasing access to Cornwall’s heritage, first working at the National Trust managing iconic sites such as Botallack and Cape Cornwall. After just eight months at CMP, she was seconded to project manage the 2019 Cornwall Heritage Awards. She then secured the role of wAVE Community Project Manager – managing an £800k investment in immersive technology in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. She also set up the ‘You Better Werk’ YouTube channel, to amplify the ambition of women, trans women, and non-binary people.

JAMES LAWRENCE ENGLISH SPIRIT

James Lawrence started at English Spirit expecting to manage the new distillery and visitors centre in a customer focused role. However, he has since managed every aspect of the build, from gaining planning permission to overcoming the trials and tribulations that Covid-19 brought. He also developed the business’ digital presence, worked tirelessly to build relationships with suppliers within the south west, as well as recruiting a team of staff, to bring English Spirit to the next level.

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BETHANY HARRINGTON TRULY CORNISH CUPCAKES

BETHANY HARRINGTON TRULY CORNISH CUPCAKES 28-year old Bethany Harrington set up Truly Cornish four years ago, selling her cupcakes and baked creations initially as a pop-up venture from a gazebo on Porthleven Harbour Head. She did this alongside two jobs, but when the pandemic struck she lost both jobs overnight. Showing true entrepreneurial spirit, rather than get downhearted, Bethany saw it as an opportunity to realise her dream. She developed her business plan and seized a rare opportunity to take on a shop lease in Porthleven, expanding her kitchen, and launching as a proper bakery and café.

KAY BREWER PORT & STARBOARD Kay Brewer is certainly one to watch in the hospitality sector. After starting her career as an apprentice for Rick Stein, by the age of 19 she was running kitchen shifts at Stein’s restaurant in Winchester. Then in 2017, she spotted the Port & Starboard fish & chip shop in St Columb was up for sale and with the help of her family, bought it a year later and has been running it ever since, employing 14 full and part time staff. This year she introduced a vegetarian menu and is now also providing beef burgers from beef raised on the family farm. “From field to fork is our motto,” she says.

30 UNDER

AMY JONES AMY JONES MAKEUP & BEAUTY

SAMANTHA LILLEY CORNWALL APPRENTICESHIP AGENCY LTD After completing a Level 2 & 3 Customer Service Apprenticeship, Samantha Lilley gained key experience in successive roles supporting young people and long-term unemployed back into work, working across Job Centres for the Welfare to Work programme and the National Careers Service. In 18 months, Samantha drove the number of candidates applying for vacancies advertised by the Cornwall Apprenticeship Agency up by 275%.

GEORGIA HORSLEY FLINT HOLIDAY HOME MANAGEMENT CORNWALL From humble beginnings running the business from her living room, over the past eight years Georgia Horsley has grown Flint into a thriving holiday home management business. Flint also assembles and distributes a range of complimentary toiletries, gifts and welcome packs from its offices as an added service for clients. Georgia started all of this with no prior experience yet has managed to attract business through her attention to detail and comprehensive range of services which owners of remote holiday homes really seem to appreciate.

KIERAN KITE FLEXI-HEX Business development manager Kieran Kite has played a crucial role in Flexi-Hex’s growth. In the last year, his sales have increased nearly 2000%. In context, he has converted 318 companies to plasticfree packaging in just 18 months, preventing 250 miles of plastic from use (roughly the distance of Porthleven to Reading). Described as “a team player who inspires brands to achieve sustainability targets”, Kieran has been a key pleyer with Flexi-Hex since the business’ early days.

RACHEAL WALTON GRAHAM SMITH CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS Racheal has led Graham Smith’s VAT and payroll departments since joining the firm. In her first month of employment, she helped clients to become Making Tax Digital compliant. At only 25, Racheal has navigated the complex furlough rules for numerous clients, reclaiming in excess of £480k. Racheal is said to be a credit to the firm, and one to watch in the accountancy world over the coming years.

LOU QUINTON LOU QUINTON Bude-based Lou Quinton started her professional life aged 19 as a self-taught web designer while studying business at the University of Exeter and now runs her own digital marketing and social media agency. Lou is a dedicated and fully-paid up member of her local community, creating a group for local creatives to help share skills in Bude and last month even ran for town councillor in the local elections.

KIERAN KITE FLEXI-HEX

Aged just 21, Amy Jones used her savings to move to Essex to train in the beauty industry. A year later she was back in Cornwall, opening up her first business. Amy initially worked on a mobile basis and leased her first premises in Falmouth just as the pandemic hit. She took the ensuing lockdowns in her stride, investing in her salon and now renting out space to support other self-employed technicians to offer their services.

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ELSIE SMITH SEASMITHS FISH AND CHIPS

JOE TURNBULL BULL & WOLF FILM CO

FLORENCE BATE FLORENCE BATE COMMUNICATIONS

Along with her partner Connor Donnithorne, Elsie Flora Smith opened Porthleven fish & chip shop Seasmiths just two days before the first lockdown and it went on to be named among the top 50 in the UK. Elsie is the designer behind the shop and has worked incredibly hard to make it a destination, focusing on doing something simply and really well, with well-sourced local produce and customer service at her heart.

A highly ambitious young business person, leading Bull & Wolf Film Co through the pandemic has been no mean feat. But the video production company has not merely survived, it has thrived, bringing in work from all over the UK, creating jobs for local creatives. He has big plans for the future, with the aim of hitting the £250k turnover mark in the next two years. A conscientious business leader, Joe also plans to gain the social and environmental B-Corp certification by 2022.

Following redundancy, Florence Bate embarked on her freelance PR career last September. Since then, she has won a number of contracts with businesses in diverse sectors across the UK, from leading national accountancy firm, Azets, to Cornwallbased Drinks By Post. Alongside her core clients, Florence is working on projects with M&S and HSBC. Notable achievements include securing over 60 pieces of coverage for Azets within the first three months of the campaign, as well as placing Jarrang in a top tier international trade publication.

BRITTANY ALLEN STEPHENS SCOWN LLP With a 1st class law degree & LPC distinction, Brittany Allen has always had an interest in law, the desire for fairness and to help people. She focused on social housing while working as a paralegal and now specialises in rural property work. She has been involved in a number of complex transactions, including executor sale of a 100-acre farm, where the beneficiary of the sale proceeds was Cornwall Air Ambulance. She has also been chair of Stephens Scown’s Cornwall Charity Committee.

JOVIAN STONE MOREK ENGINEERING

After completing an MSci in Natural Sciences, Aisling Elmer joined TFP Hydrogen on an internship to work on battery materials; successfully collaborating with leading academics to establish TFP Hydrogen within the UK’s battery community. Aisling rapidly gained knowledge across TFP Hydrogen’s product range and was the obvious choice for a new role to manage customer trials. She has seamlessly transitioned from science to a customer-facing role, securing sales within weeks and bringing new business to TFP Hydrogen and Cornwall.

JOVIAN STONE MOREK ENGINEERING

FLORENCE BATE FLORENCE BATE COMMUNICATIONS

Described as a “leading light” in the technical development of advanced mooring systems, Jovian Stone has played a key role in the startup and growth of Cornish subsea engineering company, Morek. Jovie is credited with displaying an “unprecedented” level of understanding, knowledge and insight to tackle challenging technical problems. He regularly “defies his years” and has been pivotal in the construction of a globally reaching business from a very early stage.

AISLING ELMER TFP HYDROGEN PRODUCTS LTD

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GROWTH

PROGRAMME

Investing in a low carbon

future

With many natural resources readily available, Cornwall has become a fertile ground for pioneering technologies supporting the low carbon agenda. Over £50 million funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) has been invested, through the 2014-2020 Cornwall and Isles of Scilly (Cornwall & IoS) Growth Programme, to support projects developing the renewable energy sector, low carbon transport and helping the local community meet Cornwall Council’s net zero carbon ambition by 2030. Here is a whistle-stop tour of what has been achieved so far by some of the projects funded through the Growth Programme.

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GROWTH

Championing sustainable business practices Supported by £3.4 million ERDF funding, the Tevi project led by the University of Exeter with Cornwall Council, Cornwall Wildlife Trust and Cornwall Development Company, has helped over 500 businesses improve their processes, save money and benefit Cornwall’s natural environment, since its inception in 2018. Ben Rowswell, Tevi’s impact and partnership development manager, says: “It’s not always easy for businesses to find the time, investment or partners needed to improve their processes. Tevi have a team of experts to help businesses overcome those challenges and make positive changes.”

Harnessing the power of geothermal energy Thanks to its heat-producing granite, Cornwall has the opportunity to access geothermal energy for both heat and power. The ERDF has provided £21 million funding from the Growth Programme to explore this resource and it’s beginning to pay off. In 2020, the United Downs project led by Geothermal Engineering Limited (GEL) saw the drilling of a 5,275m deep well, the deepest and hottest well ever drilled on land in the UK, with temperatures at the bottom reaching approximately 190℃. The United Downs power plant will supply up to 3MW of electricity and provide commercial opportunities through using the heat generated in the process. GEL’s geothermal technology was also instrumental in heating a section of Penzance’s Jubilee pool, leading

to new commercial opportunities for the community run outdoor lido. This year geothermal energy is about to take another leap forward with the imminent drilling of the first 4.5km well on the Eden project site, bringing Eden a step closer to supplying a district heating system for its Biomes, offices and greenhouses.

Pioneering the green economy through innovation Last month, the Cornwall Floating Offshore Wind (FLOW) project, was given the go-ahead after securing £4.8 million ERDF investment to help fast track the development of floating offshore wind farms in the Celtic Sea in Cornwall and south west England. Estimated to create thousands of jobs in the region and generate hundreds of millions of pounds for local economies, the project carried through a partnership between Wave Hub Services Limited, University of Plymouth, University of Exeter and the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult, aims to encourage investment in the offshore wind industry.

PROGRAMME

of nearly 10,000 tonnes a year, as well as Cornwall’s first, smart grid-connected wind turbine in partnership with Cornwall Council.

Transitioning to low carbon transport in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly Tackling the reduction of carbon emission sources, the Growth Programme has invested over £5 million ERDF funding in low carbon transport projects across the region. On the Isles of Scilly, the GO-EV project saw the installation of 27 electric charging points and set up an electric car sharing scheme. Whilst on the peninsula, Cornwall Council is rolling out the Drive EV2 programme, expected to deploy an additional 150 fast electric vehicle charge points across Cornwall. To alleviate road congestion and improve air quality, Cornwall Council also received £5.4 million ERDF funding for the development of the Multimodal Hub around St Erth railway station and encourage the use of public transport around west Cornwall.

Another ground-breaking green energy programme supported through £12 million ERDF funding, led to the UK’s biggest trial of flexible energy demand, generation and storage across nearly 200 Cornish homes and businesses. Spearheaded by British multinational Energy Company Centrica, the Local Energy market project saw 310MWh of power traded, with greenhouse gas savings

For more information about the projects funded through the Growth Programme visit: www.cornwallislesofscillygrowthprogramme.org.uk BUSINESS CORNWALL | 67

BUSINESS

SUPPORT

the only way is Unlocking Potential in Cornwall for more than 20 years To offer a wide-ranging business support programme anywhere for over 20 years is quite a challenge. To do so in Cornwall adds layers of complexity you wouldn’t find elsewhere. This is what Unlocking Potential does. That it has been doing it for so long is evidence of the need, and quality of its work. On the upside, Unlocking Potential works in an entrepreneurial region. That I’ll-do-it-myself spirit equates to 15.9% of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly’s working-age self-employed population; the English average is 10.4%. This is Unlocking Potential’s backdrop. It has evolved and adapted over the years. One lesson it’s learnt (apart from never standing still) is that Cornwall’s diversity of business types and sizes demands listening and flexibility, not fixed ideas. Clearly, businesses at different stages all need

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bespoke, appropriate input. Its ERDF-funded programmes – Breakthrough, InFocus, Future Focus and Digital Transformation – have remits aligned to companies who may be starting, at a crossroads, or already mature and established. Expressed as figures, its success is compelling, but numbers don’t communicate human impact: the jobs created, skills acquired, confidence boosted, innovations fostered, opportunities seized and lives transformed.

Jack says: “You are unlikely to be perfect at every element of your business, so identify and accept your weaknesses and ask for help ... In my experience, your strongest support will come from other producers and businesses. Breakthrough was a fantastic platform in which to make contact with like-minded individuals and businesses.”

Cornwall’s diversity of business types and sizes demands listening and flexibility, not fixed ideas

Take Jack Baines, who founded Hard Pressed Cornwall in 2018. He was still in the research stages when he found Breakthrough. A two-day workshop helped with business plan, finances and ethos.

Laura Whyte also benefitted, in spite of already running successful accountants, Whyfield. She’d previously recruited 15 people, but in accountancy-related roles. When she needed a marketing specialist she turned to Unlocking Potential. It helped her advertise, shortlist, interview and appoint. Its input eased Laura’s headache and also helped the successful candidate with nine months’ mentoring and development.

Kathryn Timmins, his Business Development Manager (BDM) advised on lowering production costs, and helped him streamline his e-commerce. When 2020’s lockdown hit, she was among the first to get in touch, to reassure him, and help him see lockdown as an opportunity. Hard Pressed Cornwall ended 2020 with increased trading and profits.

If cold-pressed oils and accountancy show the range of Breakthrough businesses, the InFocus programme is no less diverse, recently helping a design business and the definition of a niche outfit: a company selling shower door-rollers. Showerpart’s owner Indre Bass grew the company from undergraduate side-hustle to sole trader, to

BUSINESS

limited company, adding employees every couple of years or so. Her BDM helped her to relocate to Lithuania, appoint a UK manager, and resolve a potentially tricky dilemma with new Chinese suppliers. A recurring theme is the importance of spending proper time working on, not in, the business, as Andrew Stone found when his company, Oracle Design, was at a crossroads. He was a designer who had done it all for years, with collaborators, but always with himself as owner, doer-in-chief and head-of-everything.

might be available, and was pointed towards Future Focus, a programme delivered in partnership with the University of Exeter. She attended workshops exploring questions like: “What does success look like to you? Where do you see your future, personally and in business?”

You are unlikely to be perfect at every element of your business, so identify and accept your weaknesses and ask for help

This worked, but also led to no holiday for 11 years, stagnation, and flat profits and losses. InFocus changed that.

“My BDM has been really good looking at everything, helping me take that big step back for an overview,” says Andrew. “I met a lot of people, they all had valuable advice. Finance, marketing, sales, everything: things I hadn’t had time to think about.”

Apart from the benefits of taking time to think hard and plan, being with peers was useful too:

“It was great to be there with other businesses and learn from others’ experiences, even if they weren’t in the same sector … When you’re always busy you never have time to focus on anything strategic, on what the medium and longterm future might look like, how you can actually shape them if you make time and do that work. It’s been incredibly useful.” Grants, recruitment, big-picture thinking, advice, close-up examination, insights from the leading-edge, and bespoke help with

SUPPORT

all business disciplines: Unlocking Potential have been making the success of Cornish business their business for two decades. Looking to the future yet again, Unlocking Potential has recently launched Digital Transformation – another ERDF-funded programme in partnership with Software Cornwall to help transform Cornish businesses through planned and strategic change, enabled by technology. If there were any doubts about the need for digital transformation to facilitate business longevity, the global pandemic has silenced them. In a world where everyone is remote, the vast majority of interactions with customers and employees must now take place virtually. With rare exception, operating digitally, now and in the future, is the only way to stay in business. This brand new programme for the county will connect those businesses with the regions digital trailblazers through a melting pot of activity tailored with the most up-to-date developments in the digital world. Great news for Cornish businesses, great news for Cornwall. unlocking-potential.co.uk

The same applied to Becki Osborne, who some might call ‘time-poor’ and others ‘rushed off her feet’. She and her husband run Polmanter Touring Park: a large, luxury, five-star destination and full-time commitment. They also have two children. And Becki’s a doctor. They’d had support from Unlocking Potential before, but Becki made contact in 2020 to see what further support

BUSINESS CORNWALL | 69

Data Duopoly collect their Pitch to the Primes competition award from astronaut Tim Peake at the UK Space Conference

Launchpad studios

Indie game makers, Waving Bear Studio

Building a launchpad for Cornish businesses

Rob and Colin, Directors of Glas Data, an agritech data company

Find out how Falmouth could support your business

Dedicated to driving the growth of Cornwall’s economy, Launchpad is a venture studio embedded within Falmouth University. It gives entrepreneurial candidates an opportunity to work on building the companies of tomorrow with leading strategic partners supported by experienced coaches and mentors to help create in-demand, cutting-edge investible companies for positive global impact. In addition, our Launchpad Outreach programme supports existing Cornish SMEs to harness the resources and expertise at Falmouth University to develop their potential.

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A LITTLE BIT OF HELP OPEN TO ALL… as they seek to reopen and get the economy moving again.” The Government has pledged to support job creation. The FSB now wants to see action: restoring the lost jobs retention bonus or reducing the jobs tax that is employer national insurance contributions as the option to furlough staff is removed will help to stem a wave of unemployment.

MIKE CHERRY Firms are calling for small business-led levelling-up, urging action on late payment, costs and infrastructure. Responding to last month’s Queen’s Speech in Parliament, the FSB says that the success of much-needed levelling-up initiatives will hinge on Government ability to reach and fully understand the 5.9 small businesses and sole traders that drive our economy forward and are at the heart of local communities. National chairman, Mike Cherry, said: “From commitments to transport and broadband infrastructure, to a lifetime skills guarantee, to bringing more small businesses into public procurement processes, there’s a lot to welcome in the Queen’s address. “Delivering on the measures outlined, in a manner that facilitates a small business-led levelling-up, will be critical to our economic recovery. So too will be renewed action to tackle the wider challenges facing small firms

Nine in ten people moving from being out of work into employment after the last recession did so via a small business or self-employment. To see a similar trend over the coming months, bringing down the non-wage costs of employment and facilitating the right support for start-ups will be key in the FSB’s view. Other important measures would be some genuine, practical support to help businesses get to net zero for a truly sustainable economy and ambitious commitment to research & development. All of which will be fundamental to a green recovery and closing our productivity gap. Many small firms will have wanted to hear an update on the Government’s efforts to protect access to cash after a clear commitment to legislate in this space more than a year ago. Giving a regulator clear responsibility for this area is critical, particularly as the pandemic accelerates the shift to contactless and card providers up their fees. Also, in the realms of finance to focus on cashflow and assist businesses further by legislating to put an end to the current debilitating late payment crisis. The FSB says it looks forward to a comprehensive update and will of course be pressing Government on delivery of remedies to these issues as soon as possible.

NEW SUSTAINABILITY HUB LAUNCHED As governments, cities and businesses across the globe work towards carbon neutrality and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the FSB is supporting small business owners and the self-employed to understand how you can play your part and get started. Our dedicated sustainability hub will be regularly updated with the latest resources, tools and information to help your small business prepare for changes, go green and be more sustainable. You can also let us know the common challenges that you face and what you need to help you to be a cleaner, greener business. This will help to build a small business friendly portfolio of advice and support at your fingertips. Remember, you are never too small to make a difference! fsb.org.uk/ sustainability

FSB Offer for Business Cornwall Magazine Readers at www.fsb.org.uk/join If you want to join FSB after reading this page then please quote BCM30 when you join and save £30! BUSINESS CORNWALL | 71

EDUCATION

AND TRAINING

INSPIRING A GENERATION Cornwall Council’s Inspire a Generation G7 Programme for young people has given thousands of children across Cornwall the opportunity to share their vision and fears for the future in the lead up to this month’s G7 Summit. The project is using the opportunity of hosting the world leaders in Cornwall to send

SMART SPACE MOVE Cornwall will soon have training delivery for a range of careers in the space sector to rival the world’s best with the launch of an innovative Space Technology Training project. Truro and Penwith College is delivering on the collaboration in partnership with the University of Exeter as part of the ESFfunded Smart Specialisation project. The project officially started last month and will provide the opportunity for a team of experts in space and satellite technology, engineering, physics and astronomy to work with employers in Cornwall in identifying appropriate training to help boost their 72 | BUSINESS CORNWALL

SPONSORED BY a powerful message seeking commitment to real change, to making the lives of all children in the world better, with the same opportunities no matter where they live. Rachel Delourme, from the Cornwall Council education team, said: “We wanted to take the opportunity that the G7 presents to make sure young people were a big part of the conversation. “With an agenda that’s focused around climate change and transitioning to a low carbon economy, the discussions and decisions are hugely impactful on children’s future and these are matters they really care about.”

development and the development of the sector as a whole. Guided by experts in the sector based at the University of Leicester and the Open University and, in Cornwall, at Goonhilly Earth Station, Spaceport Cornwall and Aerospace Cornwall, the team will develop a suite of courses to support new and existing businesses linked to the space industry. Further expert delivery will support the CPD of post-graduate staff employed within the sector and provide additional training for those involved in developing projects and businesses. Heading up the team as space technology training project manager is Heidi Thiemann, an experienced space sector educationalist who has worked in the space skills domain for over five years.

www.truro-penwith.ac.uk

Young people aged 12-25 with an interest in world news are getting the chance to work with Leo Devine, former head of BBC South West, journalist and writer Rebecca Gregson, and a team of young professional writers and students in their 20s. The Writers’ Block project will see the young people participate as a news team within the international media centre in Falmouth during the summit. Other projects include the One Minute Message for the Prime Minister and G7 leaders and school conferences for children to come together online with their peers in other countries for talks, panel discussions and hands on activities.

Thiemann launched the Space Skills Alliance to tackle skill shortages in the sector, where she worked on analysing skills demands and the quality of space job adverts, creating skills taxonomies, and running the first national census of the UK space sector. She co-founded SpaceCareers.uk in 2015, a careers website for young people, which has since become the go-to resource for the space sector. She also mentors young people at Space School UK and is completing a PhD in astrophysics at The Open University. “With the long history of Goonhilly Earth Station and the exciting future of Spaceport Cornwall, it’s the new place to be for space in the UK, and I’m thrilled to be part of it,” she said.

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ENSURING CORNWALL SHINES ON THE WORLD STAGE When the Corserv Group was asked to support the G7 Summit with logistical arrangements to welcome international leaders to Cornwall this summer, we jumped at the chance to shine a light on our beautiful Duchy. world leaders can arrive on Cornish soil to attend the G7 Summit. Without doubt this will be pivotal to welcoming future new business growth and investment at the Airport and provides a real legacy benefit to Cornwall.

Colleagues from across the Corserv Group, including Cormac Highways, Environment and Civil Engineering, Facilities Management, Cornwall Airport Newquay and the Cornwall Development Company, are working together to unlock long-term benefits for Cornwall, create job opportunities and give back to local communities. We’re incredibly proud to deliver wide-ranging infrastructure improvements worth £7.1 million at Cornwall Airport Newquay to ensure

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Our environment teams have been pulling out all the stops to keep our green spaces looking fresh. Over 2,500 square meters of wildflower turf is being planted on verges, around towns and in play areas ready to bloom in a few weeks for everyone to enjoy. The bees will thrive here too. We have also completed extensive resurfacing work in Carbis Bay and St Ives. The Cornwall Development Company is collaborating with partners to secure a lasting legacy in terms of inward investment. We’re hosting a ‘Cornwall House’ exhibition and events space at Falmouth University’s campus. This is a great opportunity to showcase some of the environmental and economic

programmes taking place in Cornwall and supported by the Cornwall Development Company teams. We look forward to seeing you there. Peter Andrew, chair of Corserv Group, has this to say about the Cornish team effort: “We’re delighted to have been asked to support the logistical arrangements to welcome the G7 Summit to Cornwall – a fantastic opportunity to raise the profile of our beautiful Duchy. We are committed to ensuring that the event is a great success for Cornwall and see it shine on the world stage.” You can find out more about the Corserv Group and how we contribute to Cornwall on our website www.corservltd.co.uk

CHAMBER

SPONSORED BY

cornwallchamber.co.uk

READY TO BLOSSOM

NEWS

G7 EVENTS G7 Fringe events have been curated by Cornwall Chamber of Commerce to encourage Cornwall’s businesses to explore the summit’s themes in relation to their own operations. On May 27, Dr Adam Marshall, the outgoing Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce, will host a discussion with some of his opposite numbers from G7 countries. Our Sustainable Growth Conference on June 8 focuses on what businesses in Cornwall can do to become more sustainable and positions the Duchy as a model for achieving G7’s objectives.

CORNWALL CHAMBER CEO, KIM CONCHIE, IS LOOKING FORWARD TO BRIGHTER DAYS After many months of uncertainty and the most challenging business conditions I have ever witnessed, it finally feels like the closed flower is starting to burst open again. The G7 summit coincides with a country poised for a return to an existence free from distancing measures and protocol; for Cornwall, it feels like the start of something new and exciting. My focus is on harnessing the energy around the summit, ensuring our businesses are aware of and can benefit from opportunities in the emerging sectors. It’s also important that we take the opportunity to change the way people think about Cornwall, and that we keep momentum going, working towards a greener, more prosperous future well beyond G7, COP26 and Eden’s event in March. With opportunity comes challenges, and one of our main priorities at Cornwall Chamber of Commerce is to alleviate the Duchy’s skills deficit so that jobs in the emerging sectors will be accessible to the next generation. The Government plans to create more jobs by boosting investment in infrastructure, healthcare and green technology. The British Chambers of Commerce will continue to lobby on our behalf for investment in skills as well, so that we have the people to do the jobs.

Chambers of Commerce are the only body to have been included in the government’s further education white paper, ‘Skills for Jobs’, which sets out reforms to post-16 technical education and training, supporting people to develop the skills they need to get good jobs. Cornwall Chamber of Commerce will be working very closely with Cornwall Council and our wonderful FE colleges to make sure this white paper delivers on what it sets out to do. On a day-to-day basis we are giving more focus than ever before to our young businesspeople and graduates. Our 30 under 30 awards (run in collaboration with Business Cornwall and Pirate FM and sponsored by Truro & Penwith College) have been a huge success and provide a fantastic opportunity for businesspeople under the age of 30 to be put in the spotlight. The success of the awards has led to the launch of Cornwall Surge of Entrepreneurs: a new member group within Cornwall Chamber of Commerce, specifically for businesspeople under the age of 30. It’s really important that the Chamber keeps communication channels flowing with these younger businesspeople who perhaps don’t get to attend networking events or access training. There is a huge amount of learning to be done from simply mixing with peers and sharing

Between June 7 and 13, businesses throughout Cornwall and Isles of Scilly can visit their local G7 hub to take part in discussions and watch live streams of the summit. In July, British businessman and politician, Baron Paul Myners of Truro CBE, Patron of Cornwall Chamber of Commerce, will chair a panel session addressing the legacy G7 will leave. We will be running a series of events around G7 and COP26 themes throughout the year. See our website for details.

experiences. For members of Surge, physical events will provide a great opportunity for them to develop their communication skills, make connections and broaden their knowledge in an informal way. I’m hoping this group can really help us as a Chamber identify gaps in career development within Cornish businesses as well. A key element of the skills campaign is to encourage businesses here to identify the skills they need and have an awareness of what is available to them as far as training and recruitment is concerned. Cornwall’s business landscape features a very high percentage of micro and SME businesses. It means that often we’re all too busy spinning multiple plates to look at the bigger picture – that being what we could achieve if we upskilled staff or recruited to bring in different skills. We may have lost a year, but I have a feeling that once we’re back up and running, things are going to move very, very quickly…

Email: hello@cornwallchamber.co.uk Call: 01209 216006 Online: www.cornwallchamber.co.uk BUSINESS CORNWALL | 75

TEST DRIVE

CUPRA LEON HYBRID

CUPRA

WORDS BY MORVETH WARD

LEON HYBRID Business Cornwall’s Morveth Ward has been back out in the latest Cupra Leon and this time Dales have given him the potent e-Hybrid. A multi-faceted car that can probably get you to work and back on electric only, yet deliver 242bhp combined, for when you’re in the mood for eating up tarmac.

76 | BUSINESS CORNWALL

A couple of months back I test drove the Cupra Formentor, which is built from the ground up for the stand-alone Cupra brand (i.e. not SEAT). The Leon is taken from SEAT, however Cupra has worked their magic on it, cosmetically and mechanically to create a hot-hatch that looks individual, puts a smile on your face and possesses eco-credentials. I’ve always been a massive fan of the hot-hatch practical, fast and fun, yet understated. Cupra have a history of producing great hot-hatches and this shares similarities with the elite and comparable Golf GTI, or in this case, more the GTE (hybrid). The Leon has often been cited as the ‘thinking persons’ Golf and I agree. And in this case I think the Curpra is a little more exciting, the copper detailing looks great and it’s more aggressive than most. I’m a particular fan of the petroleum blue interior option – it contrasts beautifully with the copper.

running costs and greater emissions. One small critical point: I don’t like the synthesized engine noise – sorry. So, establishing that the Cupra Leon is a fantastic car as a whole, what about the e-Hybrid? The best of both worlds, with performance and low running costs? Well, it depends… This iteration is a plug-in hybrid (PHEV), therefore you’d typically charge it from a charging point at your home, work or service station. And the salient point is that to get the greatest benefit your energy supply should be renewable. A hybrid is essentially the bridge in the gap between all-electric and combustion. Whether it works for you is entirely subject. This is perfect for those who regularly travel short distances and can utilize volts alone for this part, but then still do the occasional long journey, where there’s no risk of running out of range. This way you get the benefit of the best of both worlds. When I picked the Leon up it quoted a 25 mile range from a battery that was 92% charged. For the first 20 miles I was on all electric, at which point the petrol engine kicked in – now I hear you sigh – however, speaking personally, I could typically do all but one of my weekly journeys on electric only. I have a 16 mile commute with a charging point at work, so it’s prefect. Then if I want to travel

This way you get the benefit of the best of both worlds

The Leon is a brilliant car with everything you look for, including superb build quality and equally as good to drive – very solid feeling and gives the ride quality of a bigger more luxury car – hard enough to eliminate body-roll but supple enough to allow you to relax in comfort . The handling is planted, poised and confidence inspiring – you can push it through the corners with ease. Everyone is so obsessed with SUVs, but a good hatch back like this, with its lower centre of gravity, is undeniably better to drive, especially around Cornish B-roads. In this you can have fun embarrassing the big SUVs on the windy roads. The chassis, which by the way is available in 5 door hatch and estate, is married to a combo of a 1.4-litre TSI petrol engine producing 148bhp and an electric motor developing 113bhp. When combined, you get 242bhp and 295lb ft of torque. Therefore, when both are working together, it does go well. The petrol only 2.0-litre TSI has 300bhp + and is faster, but of course you can expect higher

500 miles on a weekend, I can do so on petrol/ electric without a hint of range anxiety. You can also alternate between petrol and electric to optimize energy saving – it is claimed that it will achieve 201.8-217.3 mpg. However, if you’re doing regular long journeys then it’ll be much less. Therefore, it could prove hugely advantageous or barely – it all depends on your journeys. If you fall into the former bracket then get in touch with Dales, Summercourt and give it a go.

Contact: Dales, CUPRA Summercourt 01872 511600

BUSINESS CORNWALL | 77

OPINION

JUST A THOUGHT

GLOBAL OUTLOOK Cornwall’s towns and city have always been a melting pot of ideas and influence; places of enterprise and innovation, as well as resilience. And we’ve always had a global outlook. My ‘home patch’ of Falmouth for example, has been a key maritime port since the 1600s, when the Falmouth Packet Ships carried mail and messages to and from the far-flung reaches of the expanding British Empire. Today, across Cornwall, our independent businesses come from a range of established and emerging sectors alongside nationally recognised outlets. These businesses operate, collaborate and draw inspiration from the creative landscape and form close-knit business and social communities that they are integral to. With an increasing number of newspaper column inches dedicated to the ‘high streets are changing’ rhetoric, it’s worth exploring what it is that makes Cornwall’s ‘urban’ places so intriguing. How are they adapting to change, challenge and opportunity? And what can we all do to support their ongoing evolution, and in many cases, re-invention, to ensure they continue to be vibrant, relevant and successful in the future?

seam of creative thinking. All of which gives rise to an unparalleled pride of place, with communities that champion local business, authenticity and provenance. This is a place clearly aligned with the small, micro business; like the Westerly ‘blow’ as the breeze is called here, it’s the prevailing force within our business landscape. But as is the case up and down the country, the small business, so often at the heart of our high streets, exists within a fragile environment. Whether due to the shifting sands of consumer attitudes, trends and behaviours, the wave of digital influence, or how high streets are perceived and experienced, the pressures and external forces currently at play, are extreme. And the pandemic has rapidly accelerated the challenges. But Cornwall and its businesses are up for the fight.

A fiercely independent and entrepreneurial spirit resides here

Cornwall’s towns and communities stand apart but why? Geography and location are key to answering that question – the ‘granite-rock’ distinctiveness, geologically and metaphorically, and our ever-present connection to the sea, clearly helping to forge the Cornish identity. A land apart. Within every high street and smugglers’ opeway, a fiercely independent and entrepreneurial spirit resides, allied to a rich

78 | BUSINESS CORNWALL

We are witnessing a steely determination and resourcefulness to refocus and reinvent at all levels – whether that be business, town or cross region. Numerous examples of high street partnerships and Town Teams now exist, from Launceston in the north to Penzance in the west, Camborne in the mining heritage heartlands, to Falmouth on the south coast. Innovative repurposing of public arenas into greener, healthier and more connected spaces are being mapped out. Designs for new social hubs embracing the interplay between residents, businesses and visitors realised. Multi-million-pound investments in place and people, united behind a purpose. This is about tapping into new ways of

These are challenging times for Britain’s high streets, but Cornwall is up for the fight, says Richard Willcox, chairman of South West BIDs

thinking, working, living and doing things – pioneering circular local Cornish economies that all can engage in, benefit from and ultimately enjoy. Because, whether located at the coast or in the countryside, each Cornish town has its own story to tell. Skills are transferrable, places aren’t. Like a fingerprint, each is unique. Thus, it is about physically bringing to fruition, the tapestry of human experiences and imaginings when it comes to mapping out how a town should look, feel and project itself onto the world. We must go beyond that which is laid down in a building control manifesto to harness Cornwall’s ‘community capital’ and our collective creativity, to help shape the future of each local high street. And, by doing so, create a potential blueprint for the rest of the UK. Our role must be to enable businesses across the sectoral landscape to not just exist but to flourish, and empowered communities to thrive. We should commit to Inspiring spaces where the digital sits alongside the creative and where social entrepreneurs naturally collaborate with climate innovators. Wellcurated, cultural and events programmes then should aim to further elevate the offer, striving to make our places and spaces even more desirable to experience, invest, work and live in. South West BIDs is an influential, professional partnership that champions place across the south west of England. The 5000+ businesses they support, employ thousands of people across numerous sectors. Collectively, the group instigate many schemes in areas such as public realm, festivals and destination marketing that help attract millions of visitors, encourage investment and stimulate economic growth. www.southwestbids.co.uk

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THE LAST

WORD

LAURA GILES

Managing director of Screen Cornwall screencornwall.com

WHAT DID YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU WERE YOUNG?

As an events and corporate video production assistant working on projects for international corporate brands.

industry and to audiences, but with Mark Jenkin’s BAFTA and an overall move towards authentic regional storytelling across the UK, now is the opportunity to showcase our creatives on a national and international stage. Schemes we have been involved with such as BBC New Creatives and BFI NETWORK make the future look very exciting!

HOW DID YOU GET INTO THE SCREEN INDUSTRY?

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE FILM SHOT IN CORNWALL?

A TV producer for the BBC.

WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST FULL TIME JOB?

Despite my early ambitions, I took a meandering path towards the screen industry, producing my first short films in my late 20s and getting my first industry role at the British Film Institute in my mid 30s. It’s definitely much harder to progress in this sector with a young family in tow, but it’s also forced me to be creative in the path I’ve taken and I’ve learnt from every role along the way, which have all contributed to me being able to do the job I do today.

WHAT IS SCREEN CORNWALL ALL ABOUT?

This is probably cheating as I worked on it, however I think 2019’s debut feature Make Up by Claire Oakley really captures the wild beauty of Cornwall out of the main holiday season.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE GENRE OF FILM? Variety is the spice of life…

WHICH SCREEN CHARACTER WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE FOR A DAY?

We’re here to bring together, strengthen and grow the screen sector, which is not only dispersed geographically but also across a wide range of practice – from animation to experimental film, drama to games, immersive content production to authored documentary and everything in between. It’s the blurring of lines between these which can lead to the most interesting collaborations.

It would be nice to have a single day being as carefree as Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

WHY DO YOU THINK THE SCREEN SECTOR IS SUCH AN OPPORTUNITY FOR CORNWALL?

WHAT’S THE BEST PIECE OF ADVICE YOU EVER HAD?

The talent here has, until recently, been less visible to the wider

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WHAT’S THE BEST THING ABOUT CORNWALL?

Having the opportunity to connect with nature on your doorstep so the transition from a busy week into family time is almost instant.

You can reach anyone in the world through six degrees of separation.

Thanks for making Cornwall the launchpad for a greener world. If the G7 need an eco-friendly printer, you know where we are – www.nationwideprint.co.uk