GLASGOW BUSINESS JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013
CONTENTS/PRESIDENT
Varry McMenemy, President
president@glasgowchamberofcommerce.com
An exciting 2013 lies ahead for us
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As a Board and Council we have agreed the Chamber’s business plan for the year ahead, and another exciting 12-months lie before us, bursting with opportunity and optimism. There is no denying that things
are still tricky out there, but your Chamber is as confident about the future of Glasgow as it’s ever been and we are going to be tackling a number of matters. A lot of work has gone into
consolidating our events programme over the last two or three years, and you’ll see again a very strong line up. Our Glasgow Talks 2013
22 News
Chamber news Glasgow news Partner news Member news New members
Events
Past and forthcoming events 16 Training CROWD II
Glasgow Talks
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Features The vital spark
The big players Jewel in the crown
Looking back, and forward Make an office anywhere Space to work Unlock funding
Column BIG talks
programme, with Clydesdale Bank sponsorship committed for another year, has already lined up International Olympic Committee Vice-President Sir Craig Reedie, University of Glasgow Principal Anton Muscatelli and Martin Wolf, Chief Economics Commentator of the Financial Times, with many more to be announced. We will also have a Glasgow Talks ... Engineering and Glasgow Talks ... Life Sciences. The Glasgow Business Awards, still the main glittering event of the year, will come around again in October, so please start considering your entry and table booking as places are set to sell out fast. We’ll be stepping up our well-
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Winner focus: SgurrEnergy 46 58
Cover image: Ian Irvine of SgurrEnergy, the business which was named Most Outstanding Business at the Glasgow Business Awards 2012
attended Behind the Scenes series and are pleased with our initial 2013 programme, with The Hydro, STV, Tunnocks and Linn Products already in the diary. This programme gives members an excellent opportunity to see what other members are doing. Finally, it’s worth watching out
for CROWD III, following the success of the first two such events during 2012. This novel concept allows members to tell their story in a mini- festival setting and concentrates on businesses that are making an impact on our city.
We’ll be working on the expansion
of our international trade offer, looking at how we add advisory support to our certification work. On the policy front, we want to finish the job on the development of the City Centre Action Plan, with special consideration on the transport issues which affect the city centre – in support of retail, commercial property, the night time economy, education and tourism. We will be working closely with
the Glasgow Economic Leadership Board to continue the evolution of the Economic Strategy for the city, and as part of that will be holding “seasons”. We have already planned out an engineering season, and we’ll soon be doing the same with life sciences to reflect some of the messages in the Economic Leadership Board workstreams, which say that we haven’t shouted enough about the assets we have in certain sectors. Others will follow. These seasons will each last two months,
and we will be spotlighting the
success stories in our events and in our communications, showing why Glasgow is doing particularly well in that sector. We will feature companies, but
also what is going on in academic life, what initiatives are taking place to support the growth of these sectors, and some of the heritage we have. Also, a warm welcome to the new
Council members – Professor Andrea Nolan of the University of Glasgow, Professor John Wilson of Glasgow Caledonian University, Suzanne Burns of STV and Jim McHarg of The Weir Group. At the start of my second year as
Chamber President, I would like to wish all of our members a successful and prosperous 2013 and throughout the year – tell us what you’re thinking, and tell us what you need. As always, we will be listening.
Glasgow Business . 3
www.glasgowchamberofcommerce.com
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