North East BIC has provided £2.5bn boost to regional economy, study suggests

A business advice centre which has aimed to increase levels of innovation in the North East has provided a £2.5bn boost to the North East economy over its history, new research suggests.

The North East Business and Innovation Centre (BIC), which currently houses over 300 companies across four business centres in Sunderland, Washington and Darlington, has helped create and support thousands of jobs, provide startup advice to more than 6,000 businesses and deliver a number of business support initiatives.

A new study has estimated the economic impact of the BIC’s workspaces alone to be more than £1bn, while startup and other business support has represented an economic contribution of over £750m. The additional business support programmes, that have included innovation advice and grant funding, take the centre’s overall economic boost to over £2.5bn, the BIC said.

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Chief executive Paul McEldon - who received an OBE for services to economic growth in the North East three years ago - said: “Other than the usual metrics, such as how many firms we’ve housed and helped start up, we’ve never really delved into the wider impact of our day-to-day work, so it’s been great undertaking an in-depth impact report of our activity.

“Through some pretty conservative calculations, the findings revealed that over the past 30 years, we have contributed over £2.5bn to the economy, which is an incredible feat, especially when you look at the many challenges facing the region during that period.

“We’ve always been aware that we’ve helped thousands of businesses grow and even more to set up, but these findings have really made us sit up and realise just how impactful our support has been. It’s been a real eye opener.”

The BIC was set up in 1994 on the site of the former Austin & Pickersgill shipyard in Sunderland. Offering a mixture of office space, laboratories and industrial units, it now operates two business centres in Sunderland and two in Darlington, totalling 249,000sq ft of workspace and housing 1,080 people.

It also works with partners including DCMS, Business Durham, Gateshead Council and Sunderland City Council to deliver business support programmes across the region.

Mr McEldon said: “From start-up support to innovation grants and social enterprise support, the projects will hopefully help buck the regional trend which, traditionally, has seen the North East ranked among the poorest performing regions in the UK when it comes to start-up and scale-up rates.

“As a region, we are blessed with five world-class universities, incredibly bright minds and scores of innovative businesses, yet there is still a real lack of belief among swathes of the general public that they too could make a success of setting up their own business.

“Our mission for the next 30 years is to continue working side by side with our partners, the region’s business community and public bodies to change that mindset and continue providing the space and support required to help the region realise its full potential.”