Action Groups & Projects
In order to help achieve our vision, aims and priorities, address issues and maximise opportunities, a number of Action Groups and Sub-groups have been established and developed by Business Southampton to each deliver short and long term objectives:
Cruise Partnership Southampton
The Cruise Partnership is a region wide marketing alliance incorporating various interested parties involved in cruise operations through Southampton including cruise operators, the port, airport, hotels, City Council, SEEDA, transport representatives, ships stores providers and travel companies. Working in association with Marketing Southampton to improve and enhance the city’s tourism offer.
Solent Maritime
Solent Maritime (previously Port City Futures) is focused on promoting the maritime and logistics industries, their supply chains and users and employees within the Solent region. It will also lobby on issues concerning the well being and efficient functioning of the ports, increase competitiveness and enhance port related skills and development. A significant task will be initiating the Maritime Integration Project to measure the impact of particular activities on the marine supply chain within the region.
Marketing Southampton
Marketing Southampton is the strategic city marketing alliance. It aims to provide leadership for the city’s marketing, by coordinating and enabling marketing activity to raise Southampton’s profile as an internationally competitive UK city and to enhance the city’s reputation as a place to live, visit, invest, study and work. Facilitated by Business Southampton, the group has membership from many organisations that market the city.
Future Southampton
The Future Southampton Group, comprising local development professionals, was established in order to address short, medium and long range challenges facing Southampton’s urban core. The aim of the group is to produce positive proposals and initiatives that can help raise the quality and appeal of the City Centre.
Olympics Legacy Board & Business Group
The board has been set up to consider and implement plans to benefit the city in the run up to and during the 2012 Olympics that are being held in London/Weymouth.
There are 4 main objectives (business, cultural, health and disability) of the Olympic Legacy board and working groups set up for each.
- Business Group - responsible for measurable improvement in the economic development of the city.
- Health Group - responsible for the measurable improvement in the health of citizens of the city, particularly its children.
- Cultural Group - responsible for the measurable increase in visitors to city arts and cultural venues and events.
- Paralympics Group - responsible for the measurable increase in provision and use of facilities for the disabled to tie in with the Paralympics.
LEADER Steering Group
LEADER Stands for Local Employers Acting on Diversity, Equality and Race. It is a group of employers from the Southampton region collaborating in order to make tangible progress on building a diverse workforce together with community and social responsibility. Business Southampton provided a platform to ‘re-launch’ and further expand the LEADER initiative.
SkillsVoice
o Do businesses feel actively involved in determining the skills agenda?
o Are new employees equipped with the skills attitudes and behaviours businesses and their customers expect?
o Are training providers listening to businesses and delivering the skills needed for the workforce?
SkillsVoice is being established to listen and act on business views about what skills and attributes are needed for the workforce of tomorrow. The project will challenge assumptions about how training is delivered and organised in and around the city and a ‘virtual board’ will drive the agenda. Possible outcomes might consist of: young people joining the workforce ‘work ready’, tailor made training solutions that have a performance impact for businesses and retaining skilled young graduates in the region.
Digital Southampton
Digital Southampton is an exciting new initiative, led by Business Southampton in association with Prof. Dame Wendy Hall, which aims to:
o Ensure that Southampton has the right infrastructure to be a fully connected, ‘WiFi’ City, bringing a consortium together to coordinate successful implementation through collaborative working between the private and public sectors and education
o Provide support and advocacy for the development of the ‘Digital Footprint’ – a marketing tool to link and promote Southampton digitally
o To explore and pursue commercial development opportunities for ‘Linked Open Data’ – the next stage of web evolution – for the benefit of businesses and the wider community of Southampton and its region.
o To provide the catalyst for the development of a ‘Digital Cluster’ for the Southampton city region to promote entrepreneurship, innovation and to aid business development and economic growth, together with increased skills and employment opportunities.
In addition to the work of our Action Groups, Business Southampton is also involved with the following:
Facilitation of:
• The ‘Transport Alliance’ for Southampton with key partners
• Proposed waterfront development for Southampton to include conference facilities, in association with key stakeholders
Representation on:
• Business Forum for Partnership for Urban South Hampshire
• City Brand Group
• City Centre Management Board (Streets Ahead Southampton)
• Development of Solent Marine Hub (as part of Solent Maritime)
• Economy & Enterprise Board for Southampton
• Employer Engagement Initiative with University of Southampton
• Graduate Jobs South Board
• Hampshire Economic Partnership Board
• Hampshire Economic Partnership Business Group
• Hampshire Economic Partnership Marine Task Force
• Southampton Heritage and Arts People (SHAPe)
• South Coast Design Forum for Southampton
• Southampton City Council 14 – 19 Agenda
• Southampton City Council Building Schools for the Future
• Southampton City Council Destination Development Plan Group
• Southampton City Council Environment Group
• Southampton Education Trust
• Southampton Partnership Strategy Board
• 2012 Titanic Group
Association with:
• The ‘Adopt a School’ programme in conjunction with Solent EBP
• Growing Ambitions
• Southampton India Business Network
• The Southampton Branch of the South Coast Design Forum