The National Innovation Centre for Rural Enterprise (NICRE) held a regional event for stakeholders last week which focused on the West Midlands and South West.
Organised by the NICRE teams at the Enterprise Research Centre (ERC) and Countryside and Community Research Institute (CCRI), it shone a spotlight on how businesses in rural areas are responding to the major challenges affecting the UK economy, and considered key priorities for further unlocking the potential of rural economies.
The event drew on evidence from NICRE’s State of Rural Enterprise Survey which demonstrates how firms are responding to rising costs, skills and labour availability and the climate emergency, alongside opportunities for growth, and shared business insights from Stroud Brewery in Gloucestershire.
‘The State of Rural Enterprise: Adapting and Innovating through Change’ also explored the role of identity, place and worker attraction and retention in rural businesses with findings detailed from research from the Universities of Derby and Newcastle in the Derbyshire Peak District.
Pictured (left to right) are Damian Maye, Janet Dwyer (CCRI), Kevin Mole, Panagiotis Kyriakopoulos (ERC) and Melanie Thompson-Glen, Head of Business and Innovation at NICRE.
