Developing a coherent support offer to enable our businesses to become more enterprising, innovative and productive, excelling in global markets.
Increase firm-level productivity
- Grow our capital investment programme to enable high-value business growth - commercial/ employment land and incubation centres/Enterprise Zones/Science Parks, continue to develop on the success of Oceansgate and deliver a Marine Business Technology Park;
- Support innovation and knowledge-based growth; develop the market around Innovation in Healthy Ageing & Health Technologies;
- Raise the proportion of businesses exporting;
- Increase digital absorption and adoption of digital technologies within our existing businesses (Digital/Connected Plymouth; Digital Utilisation project), and connect our key sectors with digital markets to explore new uses and improve products and processes;
- Increase investment in our competitive advantages and key sectors;
- Stimulating a culture of management excellence across our businesses;
- Develop clusters around our high-value, key sectors, with established status which businesses can identify with and can attract new business investment, and supply chains that local industries can support; continue to work in partnership with Maritime UK South West;
- Sector deals with Government around our high-value, key sectors – such as tourism;
- Support vulnerable sectors, such as our fishing industry, and enabling sectors such as construction through bespoke support.
Increase the number of start-ups and scale-ups, and extend survival rates
- Work with partners to facilitate an integrated and accessible business support offer for SMEs and scale-up, not only to improve business survival rates, but to support them to thrive, building on our successful Growth Hub resource and existing business representatives and partnerships across the city
- Work with partners to encourage entrepreneurship and provide start-up support, ensuring young businesses acquire the resilience to survive beyond the support programme that they receive
- Work to maintain working relationships with our key business players, to enable conversations to take place in situations where their success in the city is threatened by outside factors
- Work with partners to simplify access to finance: signposting and investor readiness
- Connect businesses with existing research and innovation capabilities
- Encourage business-to-business mentoring.
Attract and support new business investment and FDI
- High-value inward investment and FDI
- Develop clusters around our high-value, key sectors, with established status which businesses can identify with and can attract new business investment, and supply chains that local industries can support
- Sector deals with Government around our high-value, key sectors
Support our social enterprises
- Create an integrated and accessible business support offer tailored to the specific needs, e.g. around legal structures and social investment, of social enterprises
- Support and promote business excellence
- Co-ordinate innovative funding opportunities, targeted at local bottom up economic initiatives and social enterprises