Dear Readers, 

I hope you are all keeping well. 

At the Future Economy Network, we are so proud of the knowledge sharing and networking opportunities we facilitate via our weekly online sustainability-related events and through partnership meetings and business introductions. Since my last update, the team has hosted events relating to Food Security (very relevant given the recent vote for amendments to the Agricultural Bill), Neuroscience and Marketing, Pollution and Air Quality in Bristol (again, contemporaneous given the launch of Bristol’s Clean Air Zone consultation) an event on Sustainability, Diversity and Leadership, Community Energy and Business, Tech and Retrofit, Innovations in Renewable Energy Supply, The Value of Nature to Business, Sustainable Fashion and an event about Electric Vehicles*. Phew! It has been a busy few weeks but it is all worth it when we get feedback like this:

“What a fantastic event – a really new angle on these things to anything I have heard before! It has given me lots of ideas and thoughts to go back to at the perfect time. Thanks so much to all the presenters” 

*If you missed any of these events, you can purchase the recordings here!

So far this year, despite obvious set backs, the team has welcomed 239 more attendees to our weekly events than the whole of 2019 (1577 in 2020 so far versus 1338 in 2019) so huge thanks to those of you engaging with the Network for your continued commitment to sustainability. Alongside the above events, in the last 2 months, the team has also offered a bespoke welcome/review meeting to over 35 Future Economy Network members and facilitated partnership meetings with another 27 organisations. For a small team, some of whom are part-time, this is quite an achievement and I am as always, hugely grateful for the team’s efforts.

But we understand that it is not all about quantity but so important to maintain the quality of our service offer. As such, we are hugely appreciative to those who complete our events feedback and membership review feedback forms so that we can continually improve our offer. Soon, we shall be sending out a survey to ascertain which aspects of the Future Economy Network activities our members most benefit from, ensuring we are focusing our efforts in the right areas and our members are making the best use of their membership and progressing on their sustainability journey. More to follow on that in our subsequent newsletter!

But the survey of most relevance for this month’s update is the Kickstart survey. As I am sure you are aware, in September the government launched a new £2 billion Kickstart Employment Scheme. Through the scheme, organisations can offer valuable employment opportunities to the UK’s young people and secure quality placement opportunities of at least 6 months’ duration, paid for by the government. The scheme allows you to have a Kickstart worker on placement with your organisation for a minimum of 25 hours per week for 6 months. The Future Leap team has applied to be a ‘Gateway Organisation’ – an intermediary for smaller organisations who wouldn’t be able to otherwise access the Kickstart scheme. If you would like further information about our offer, please email kickstart@thefutureeconomygroup.co.uk and we shall send through details of our offer, along with the survey link. Maybe some of your Kickstart workers could help your company to progress their sustainability actions?!

To quote Attenborough, “We are at a unique stage in our history. Never before have we had such an awareness of what we are doing to the planet, and never before have we had the power to do something about that.” The Future Economy Network team would like to thank you for engaging with us and raising your awareness of what we are doing to the planet and to finding solutions to do something positive about it. Until the next time we meet….

Katherine Piper

Director of the Future Economy Network