The Eastern Powerhouse is delighted to hear the announcement that upgrades to both Ely North and Haughley Junctions have been funded by the Department for Transport. Since our launch in March 2022, the Eastern Powerhouse has identified these two rail bottlenecks as key infrastructure improvements for our region. These upgrades will allow more regular and faster passenger services from Peterborough, Kings Lynn Norwich Ipswich and Cambridge, having a positive impact on rail users across the region. Freight services from Felixstowe to the midlands will be able to take a direct route through Ely, rather than be directed through London, making the rail network in the east far more efficient. Following our letters to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak MP and to Secretary of State for Transport Mark Harper MP, which were backed by many Eastern Region MPs, the Eastern Powerhouse met with Mark Harper on 5th September and discussed the importance of Ely and Haughley to both the regional and national economy. Clearly Mr Harper was listening as just under a month later, government have changed policy and funded these key projects. The Eastern Powerhouse would like to thank the Department for Transport and The Rt Hon Mark Harper MP for listening to our concerns, and for helping to remove these terrible constraints on growth in the East. The Eastern Powerhouse will continue to promote investment into the East of England and collaborate closely with the East of England APPG, Transport East, the Economic Heartland and may others who have been campaigning about transport infrastructure improvements in our region.

On 12th September we hosted our Annual Westminster Dinner, attended by Eastern Region MPs, Peers, and Business Leaders. Discussions concentrated around the clear need to have a strategic vision for the whole of the East and how we can help drive this agenda forward. Both Daniel Zeichner MP and Matt Warman MP delivered remarks and we are truly grateful for their continuous support: Daniel Zeichner MP said: "One of the problems we had in the East is that the destruction of the regional structures back in 2010 left a gap between Whitehall and the localities. There is a real thirst across the region for something in-between the two; and I am very pleased that the Eastern Powerhouse has brought together so many people in business and industry." Matt Warman MP said: "[...] as Daniel said, there is genuine cross-party consensus on the huge value of the East to the broader economy. The East can be a Powerhouse and I am very happy to be here tonight, supporting this vision."

The Eastern Powerhouse is delighted to announce Steven Lynch has been appointed as Executive Director of the Eastern Powerhouse effective September 2023. Steven has just returned to the UK after 12 years abroad, where he served as Managing Director of the British Chamber of Commerce in China. During his time with the Chamber, he led through major milestones such as Brexit, significant transformation in the UK-China relationship and the challenges of the pandemic. He expanded the Chamber’s influence, reach and impact among the business and government community, both in Asia and in the UK. The Eastern Powerhouse aims to showcase the region’s untapped potential and unlock the many opportunities for growth, to convince businesses and government to invest in this burgeoning economic powerhouse. Steven Lynch, Executive Director of the Eastern Powerhouse, said: ‘I am honoured to have this opportunity to lead the Eastern Powerhouse – My vision for the role is to champion the East of England through a unified voice. The Eastern Powerhouse should act as the catalyst that drives growth and investment by bringing together the combined resources of the public and private sector; large companies, local authorities, universities, NHS trusts, housing and infrastructure planners and local businesses all working in lockstep to propel economic growth and raise the voice of the East of England. Looking forward, I believe the exceptional strength of the Eastern Powerhouse is understanding that business is local, but the reach is global. If you are a business in the East and this mission resonates with you, please get in contact – we need you to drive the East forward!’ For ‘Global Britain’ to truly thrive we need world class programmes to help boost our competitiveness. High-quality skills and infrastructure are fundamental to driving our country forward from society to business to government, this is the bedrock of success. Advanced skills, better healthcare systems, improved transportation links, more houses will drive investment to an area, which will drive better decisions, improve lives, ultimately driving sustainable economic growth. The Eastern Powerhouse wants to mobilise the regional parliamentary voice but work with the private sector to harness their experience and expertise. This is virtuous cycle that must be higher on the agenda of our nation – the EPH is seeking to positively influence policy, legislation and regulation at local, national and international levels. James Palmer, Chair of the Eastern Powerhouse said: "I am thrilled to welcome Steven into this role and look forward to working with him to drive growth in the Eastern Powerhouse. The East has long been the forgotten corner of the United Kingdom, but we will speak for the whole of the region, calling for investment into health, education and infrastructure and showing government that funding here will gain significant return, not achievable elsewhere. Our businesses are already world leaders, and the East of England is now ready to unlock the potential it has shown over the last 40 years." ResPublica Director, Philip Blond, said: ‘‘This is a significant appointment at a critical point of the development of the Eastern Powerhouse. The Eastern Powerhouse had dramatically grown in the last two years, EPH aims to be the leading voice of business and civic leadership across the East of England (Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Greater Peterborough, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Lincolnshire, and North Essex). It will platform the whole of the East as a single interconnected region, encompassing its coastal towns, rural villages, and world-class cities. The EPH is a much needed unifying voice across the region. So, Steven’s appointment is exciting because it ushers in the next chapter of growth" Unlocking the Region’s Potential The Eastern Powerhouse is a dynamic, business-led, independent organisation that aims to create a strategic argument for investment in the East of England. We will promote the East as a world leader of innovation in green energy, technology and life science. We will support sustainable business growth that leads to better opportunities for people across the East.

On 5th September, the Eastern Powerhouse (Chair, James Palmer, Executive Director Steven Lynch, ResPublica Director Phillip Blond) met with SoS for Transport Mark Harper MP to discuss railway infrastructure in the East of England. We were joined at the meeting by Dr Thérèse Coffey MP, Chloe Smith MP, and Paul Bristow MP, who all made representation in favour of investment in the Ely Area Enhancements. Two proposals which we suggested to the SoS were: To conduct feasibility studies on stations in the East which could become business hubs that drive the rural economy The need for investment in rail in the East, particularly in the Ely Area Enhancements, which include upgrades at Ely North, Haughley Junction, and the Soham to Ely dual tracking. More specifically, the East has 52 railway stations and the Eastern Powerhouse, working with over 20 MPs, wrote to the Secretary of State for Transport earlier this year, requesting to discuss the possibility of creating business hubs at railway stations in our region. Many stations are on large plots of land that are under utilised and could become business hubs that drive the rural economy. Particularly given the obvious connectivity benefits they already have Our proposal to the Secretary of State for Transport was to carry out feasibility studies on stations in the east to see which were most appropriate for development. Mr Harper agreed in principle and we will have further meetings with representatives to bring forward a plan for stations in our region. Secondly, we discussed the need for investment in rail in the east, particularly in the Ely Area Enhancements, which include upgrades at Ely North, Haughley Junction, and Soham to Ely dual tracking. It was noted that the benefit of these improvements would be felt across the whole of the region. The Secretary of State agreed to write to the Eastern Powerhouse with a statement of the current situation regarding the Ely Area Enhancements. James Palmer, Chair of the Eastern Powerhouse said: “The Eastern Powerhouse works with its members and politicians from across the region to promote business opportunities in the East of England. Our meeting with Mark Harper followed a letter supported by over 20 MPs in the east. Our aim is to influence government and private sector investors in favour of our region. We were delighted to receive a positive response from the Secretary of State for Transport and will continue to work on this and other opportunities for the east.”

On 31st July, we held an online event with George Freeman MP (Mid Norfolk), Roz Bird (CEO, Anglia Innovation Partnership) and Prashant Shah (Co-founder and Co-CEO, o2h), discussing how the benefits of the Life Sciences sector can spread across the region. You can watch the recording here:

The Eastern Powerhouse welcomes the Government's proposals to turn Cambridge into Britain’s Silicon Valley, with as many as 250,000 new homes built over the next two decades and the prospect of billions of pounds of investment. This is precisely the scale of ambition and investment which the Eastern Powerhouse has been calling for. The concept of 'Cambridge 2040' outlined by Secretary of State Michael Gove, will form a vital part of the Government's plan to fix England’s housing crisis and unleash growth in the life sciences and technology sectors. There are constraints to further development in and around Cambridge, and there may well be some local opposition to these plans for housing growth. However, by investing in transport solutions, housing can be delivered in East Cambridgeshire, Fenland, Norfolk, and Suffolk which would ensure the development of Greater Cambridge and allow the region to take advantage of this incredible opportunity. Silicon Valley is built across a large area in the southern parts of the San Francisco Bay. Silicon East can also deliver across a wider area in a similar way, helping to distribute the benefits of growth around our towns and cities and along major development corridors. It is therefore vital that transport schemes and railway upgrades are delivered across the region to take advantage of the Cambridge phenomenon. We believe that the vision for Silicon East can only be delivered with the right infrastructure investment. The Eastern Powerhouse will write to Secretary of State Michael Gove today, suggesting that we discuss his concept when we meet, as proposed by the Prime Minister earlier this year. ENDS For further comment or interview requests, please contact: Mike Mavrommatis External Affairs Eastern Powerhouse M: 07983 242135 E: mike@easternpowerhouse.uk

Paul Bristow MP spoke in Parliament about the merits of a new Global Innovation Centre for Energy Transition in his Peterborough constituency. Project partners Peterborough City Council, TWI and Anglia Ruskin University are looking to establish a high growth energy cluster to develop the new technologies needed for the safe transmission, distribution and use of hydrogen into industrial and domestic applications. This proposal will platform technology-focused foreign direct investment in the UK to drive growth in the green economy and address some of the most challenging obstacles in the international community’s transition to new energies, helping to:  Accelerate the UK’s transition towards a greener, low-carbon economy. Thereby achieving net-zero ambitions and energy security. Develop an innovation ecosystem in Peterborough to drive productive growth in new industries and technologies. Increase higher-skilled employment opportunities focused on global net zero transformation. Increase the skill levels of local people by aligning ARU curricula with industry needs. You can find the transcript the speech here and you can watch the recording below:

On Friday 12th June, Chloe Smith MP (Norwich North) spoke at the event organised by the Eastern Powerhouse and hosted by the Anglia Innovation Partnership at Norwich Research park, aiming to discuss the needs of the East, and what can be done to further grow the innovation economy in the region. You can watch the Highlights Video below:

By Drew Ritchie, CEO, Upp When we first launched Upp just over two years ago, we knew we were going to be bringing full fibre ultra-fast broadband to a population in Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk that had been crying out for it for years. More than that ,we wanted the business we were creating to be a force for good. We pledged to create jobs both directly and indirectly and to play a part in the communities that we wished to serve. I am pleased to say that we have been true to our word. Upp has successfully created over 400 new jobs since 2021 and plans to create many more across the region through 2025 and beyond. We have built partnerships with charities, sports clubs and local authorities, offering support and funding, to enable their great work within the community. As CEO I believe our business has a huge amount to offer. The importance of reliable and dependable connectivity is vital to the region’s future success. This includes job creation, skills enhancement and general health and wellbeing. The region has been held back by poor broadband speeds in the past and Upp's committed to remedying that. As part of our community outreach, I regularly attend meetings in the underserved parts of the Eastern Region that we are connecting and planning to connect to ultra-fast fibre broadband. Recently I was in Oakham Town Hall in Rutland where we held the first of a series of regional public meetings to explain what local people could expect from Upp. I was staggered by the numbers that turned up. On a cold wet evening we attracted over a hundred people to learn about Upp and the benefits it was bringing to the local communities. Business owners, retirees, people with growing families, students and entrepreneurs. They weren’t just there for the free tea and biscuits, all of them were united by one common goal, they were all desperately in need of better broadband. It was the same with the people of Swaffham in Norfolk that I met recently too. In fact, it’s the same everywhere I, and our brilliant staff go, across the Eastern region. That’s because the social impact of reliable and dependable ultra-fast full fibre broadband enables local communities to thrive. New businesses can be created, inward investment is channelled, and jobs created as a direct result. Full fibre connectivity is part of our critical infrastructure. It should not be seen as a ‘nice to have’ but as essential as water or electricity is to a home and/or business. Upp, alongside its partners has been making rapid progress in installing full fibre across the region that we set ourselves up to serve, which comprises Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire and many of the adjoining counties. There is significant private sector investment being made in full fibre in the UK. If the Eastern Powerhouse is going to realise its vision to drive economic growth and raise productivity across the East of England, the UK should be doing everything possible to ‘crowd-in’ that investment. More investment in ultrafast broadband connectivity is going to be required in the other counties of Suffolk, Essex and Bedfordshire too and every effort should be made to help support that investment. We are not only providing connectivity but our ‘buy local’ and ‘recruit local’ policy has been a real benefit for our communities. Many of our engineers are ex-forces personnel that we have re-trained and are now fully integrated in a new civilian career. I was recently having coffee with one business owner who is also one of our agency partners in Stamford in Lincolnshire. They were one of the first businesses we engaged with to help with our communications work. In the two years we have been working with them their business has more than doubled in size, partly as a result of their work with us, but also because their connectivity, through Upp broadband, is world class. They were recently required to work on the merger of two multinational companies with leaders located in different countries around the world. With Upp’s ultra-fast broadband, high level virtual meetings meant their Lincolnshire base was never an issue. Upp will continue to be a game changer for many businesses across the region and this will only get bigger as they and the region prospers. But that will not be the case with other businesses across the region unless we keep pushing for the levels of investment needed, so that everyone can have same access to what we must all see as an essential service.

By Roz Bird, CEO, Anglia Innovation Partnership The East of England is a world leader of innovation in green energy, technology, and life science. Whilst Cambridge is an internationally known location, other places in the East, such as Norwich Research Park, Adastral Park (in Ipswich) and Orbis Energy (Lowestoft) are also supporting the creation of new technologies and helping drive innovation in the region. The Eastern Powerhouse and Anglia Innovation Partnership, the science park management entity at Norwich Research Park, are hosting an event to discuss Innovation in the East of England, on Friday 9th June.The event follows ‘hot on the heels’ of the publication of a new study commissioned by the Government Office for Science (GOS) which highlighted Norwich Research Park as one of the 12 modern industrial biotechnology clusters around the UK, and the East of England as a hotspot for biotechnology adoption and commercialisation. The term ‘Modern Industrial Biotechnology’ refers to the non-human life science sector and includes a diverse range of sub-sectors. These include: agribiotech; commercial genomics for well-being; animal health; and underpinning technologies and platforms. The UK, and the East of England, is recognised for having world leading research in this area with modern industrial biotechnology firms accounting for a total turnover of £4.7 billion. Norwich Research Park is a large science park campus which provides access to higher-level skills, as well as opportunities to collaborate and win global business. With four research institutes, a teaching hospital and a top 20 university, these institutional assets work together to form a powerful cluster of activity, specialising in food biotech, agricultural biotech, and industrial biotech, applied to the effects of climate change and improvements to human health. Tropic and Colorifix are two examples of the rapidly growing companies on Norwich Research Park. Tropic accelerate the speed of natural breeding techniques to develop improved varieties of tropical crops that are easier to cultivate and healthier for people and the planet. Colorifix use microbes to produce dyes for the textiles industry in a more sustainable way. A 2022 impact report showed their process used 77% less water and 80% less chemicals than conventional industrial dyeing. Anglia Innovation Partnership drive the Park’s enterprise strategy which supports researchers to commercialise their research and create spin-out businesses. Companies like MVPea and PulseON are examples of small companies that are using research from the institutes on the Park to develop healthier food-based products. There are also companies to support the business activity, like recruitment for science related job roles or software development to support data collection and analysis in research trials. There are several broad areas in which these highly innovative firms have strengths that can be developed into a competitive advantage for the UK in a global market. However, a number of sectors, like modern industrial biotechnology, have relatively low success rates in the commercialisation and scale-up of related technologies. This is in part attributed to infrastructure, skills and the availability of venture capital – factors which are holding back many other emerging sectors in the UK and is especially the case in the East of England. As the UK lags behind other developed nations the government’s decision to create a department focused on innovation is a positive move. Partners in the East of England would welcome the opportunity to work with the new Science, Innovation and Technology Department to develop a long-term strategy for investment in the region.

Our partners Starfish are running the job selection process. Please find full information for the role here: https://starfishsearch.com/jobs/dir-eastern-powerhouse/ Brief Summary We are now looking for a Director who will lead the team to flesh out and deliver our strategy. This means focusing on developing our organisation, growing our impact and on attaining long term financial sustainability. The new Director would provide strategic leadership and vision to the Eastern Powerhouse, lead business development and attract membership growth in the regions, represent the Eastern Powerhouse with senior stakeholders and work closely with the Chair, James Palmer, in his work in the region. There will also be the opportunity to be the public-facing policy spokesperson for the organisation liaising with the media and commenting on and advocating policy responses for the East. This is a significant appointment at a critical point of the development of the Eastern Powerhouse. A visible and innovative senior leader, you will have maturity of judgement, alliance-building capability and quickly build credibility across a range of audiences. You will inspire and influence at all levels, with the vision, energy and presence to represent the full breadth of the Eastern region. With a sound knowledge of the UK’s public policy landscape, you will demonstrate commercial and strategic acumen, a flexible and entrepreneurial approach, identifying opportunities for the Eastern Powerhouse with ideas that capture imaginations but that are backed by the rigour and evidence to achieve change. If you would like to drive change, inject investment and make a meaningful difference to the East of England, we would be very pleased to hear from you.

On 22nd May 2023, Eastern Powerhouse Chair, James Palmer wrote to the Prime Minister, the Home Secretary, and the Secretary of State for Education, on behalf of our Members, regarding the way of counting International Students to Immigration Numbers, and its impact on the East of England. Full text follows: Dear Prime Minister, RE: International Students and Immigration I am writing to you on behalf of Members of Eastern Powerhouse with our shared concern about the inclusion of foreign students in immigration numbers. Our belief is that the positive impact on the economy of the East of England - and of the United Kingdom as a whole - by foreign students, educated at our exceptional universities, should be the primary concern of Government and any movement to limit numbers or stymy opportunity for students to come here from abroad should be rejected. Research by Universities UK suggests that in the East of England around £2bn per year is created for the economy by foreign students using the knowledge they have gained from education here. Given the significant importance of the education sector in the East, with Cambridge University alone creating around £30bn per year for the UK economy, any decision to cut student numbers should be met with extreme caution. For businesses in the East, recruitment is the biggest concern, with the ability to attract highly educated staff a particular worry. This is common across sectors and is already limiting productivity in the region. In research, start-up, science and technology companies, limiting foreign students would have a significant detrimental effect. The economy in the East of England is driven by multiple small companies at the vanguard of technology in life science, technology and green energy and the Eastern Powerhouse fully supports the need for foreign students to be part of that burgeoning sector. The Eastern Powerhouse would like to see immigration figures produced without foreign students included. We believe this would lead to a clearer understanding of net immigration. Yours sincerely, James Palmer Chair Eastern Powerhouse