About this Event
The North East is currently in the process of developing a new Local Growth Plan as part of its new devolution settlement. A recent briefing produced by Insights North East highlighted a number of evidence-based ‘good practice’ lessons for development of local plans. One of these is to learn from what has worked in other places.
Jointly hosted by Insights North East, the Japan Local Government Centre (CLAIR London) and the Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies at Newcastle University, this seminar and panel discussion provides an opportunity to hear and learn from the experience in Japan of creating local development strategies, with a particular emphasis on the potential of electrification to drive growth.
This event will hear reflections on the Japanese experience from Professor Naoki Fujiwara, Vice Dean and Professor at the faculty of Regional Development Studies, Otemon Gakuin University, Osaka. Naoki is a researcher specialising in regional industrial policy and how regional economic development strategies can support developments in advanced industries by fostering partnerships between academia and industry. This will be followed by reflections from a panel of academic and policy experts with opportunities for questions and reflections from participants.
About the speakers:
Naoki Fujiwara is Vice Dean and Professor at the faculty of Regional Development Studies, Otemon Gakuin University, Osaka. As a researcher specializing in regional industrial policy, he is particularly interested in how municipalities and local governments support regional economic development through initiatives like fostering advanced industries, subsidy programs, deregulation, industry-academia collaboration, and triple-helix models for smart specialization.
Jennifer Hartley MBE is currently the Assistant Director for Capital Investment and Growth at Newcastle City Council. Prior to this role, Jen was Director of Invest Newcastle, working to attract new businesses, investment and job opportunities to the city and region. She is responsible for developing and delivering inward investment activity for Newcastle and Gateshead and has led a number of campaigns to bring global organisations to the North East.
Professor Colin Herron CBE is a specialist electrical vehicle trends and advises large cities and local authorities on their policies and strategies relating to introduction of low carbon vehicle technology. He leads the North East office of the Faraday Institution and the North East Battery Alliance.
Fumi Kitagawa is Professor of Regional Economic Development at the City Region Economic and Development Institute (City-REDI), University of Birmingham. Her research is focussed on regional innovation, entrepreneurship policies, and higher education policy and regional development, across a variety of local, regional, national and international contexts.
Kevin Muldoon-Smith is an Associate Professor in Strategic Public Sector Finance and Urban Adaptation at Northumbria University. The focus for Kevin’s research is primarily local government finance systems, regularly via international comparison and intersecting issues of governance, taxation, land, and property markets. It is within this broad context that he examines how systems of local government finance enable and constrain big policy issues such as devolution, austerity, local authority solvency, uneven development, urban adaptation, and climate transition.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Armstrong Building, Newcastle University, ARMB1.06, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom
USD 0.00
