TEDx Talks - How Cornwall’s creative economy can become a destination | Joe Turnbull | TEDxTruro
The speaker highlights Cornwall's economic challenges, such as low average income and high child poverty rates, exacerbated by the pandemic. Despite these issues, Cornwall has unique strengths, including a collaborative business culture and leading educational institutions. The speaker argues against isolationist localism, advocating instead for 'glocalism'—leveraging local strengths with a global perspective. Examples include Cornwall's leadership in sustainable business practices and its potential in creative industries. The speaker outlines five 'superpowers' to harness: clustering businesses, creating thriving spaces, addressing housing issues, using empowering language, and leveraging Cornwall's natural environment. These strategies aim to position Cornwall as a global leader in business and quality of life.
Key Points:
- Cornwall faces economic challenges with low average income and high child poverty rates.
- Localism can be limiting; a global outlook ('glocalism') is needed to leverage local strengths.
- Cornwall has unique business culture and educational institutions that can drive innovation.
- Five strategies: business clustering, thriving spaces, housing solutions, empowering language, and leveraging natural environment.
- Cornwall can become a global leader by focusing on sustainable practices and creative industries.
Details:
1. 🔍 Introduction: A Personal Journey
- The speaker emphasizes a personal belief in the potential to improve the world, suggesting a focus on actionable change rather than academic expertise.
- The introduction establishes a context rooted in personal conviction and practical engagement, particularly highlighting Cornwall as a focal point.
- The speaker sets a tone of proactive engagement, aiming to bridge personal insights with broader impacts.
- A brief transition at the end hints at upcoming discussions on practical applications and broader impacts.
2. 🌍 Belief in a Better World and Local Impact
- The speaker reflects on their childhood experience of discussing world affairs with their grandfather, highlighting how these conversations instilled a belief in making the world a better place.
- From a young age, the speaker developed a grounding belief that the world can be improved through ambition and vision, emphasizing the power of dreaming of a brighter future.
- The speaker intends to share how these early experiences and beliefs can be applied to foster local impact and contribute to a better world.
- The speaker plans to illustrate the application of these beliefs by providing examples of successful local initiatives or projects that have led to measurable improvements in their community.
3. 📈 Economic Challenges in Cornwall
- The speaker has established a business focused on people, planet, and profit, with less emphasis on profit, suggesting a sustainable business model.
- The speaker's role as a trustee of a charity emphasizes a commitment to community development and social causes, highlighting the importance of social responsibility in economic strategies.
- Cornwall is portrayed as a region that feels isolated and left behind, emphasizing the need for ambitious economic growth plans.
- The discussion suggests that strategies successful in Cornwall could apply to similar regions, indicating a potential model for regional economic development.
- An interactive approach is encouraged, indicating engagement with community and stakeholders as a key strategy for economic growth.
4. 🧭 Localism vs Globalism: A Double-Edged Sword
- The average salary in Cornwall is £2,600, representing only 79% of the UK average, indicating significant economic challenges.
- 40% of all work in Cornwall is part-time, often seasonal, low-paid, and insecure, highlighting employment instability.
- An above-average number of people in Cornwall are self-employed, yet nearly half earn less than the minimum wage, pointing to the precarious nature of self-employment.
- Over 20 areas in Cornwall have more than one-third of children living in poverty, showcasing severe social challenges.
- Economic and social challenges in Cornwall worsened between 2015 and 2019 and further deteriorated due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- By 2030, Britain is projected to fall behind former Soviet bloc countries like Poland and Slovakia in economic terms, raising concerns about national economic trends.
- Localism encourages buying locally, supporting local businesses, and local decision-making, but it can also lead to economic isolation and limit broader economic integration with urban areas.
- Localism's focus on nearby transactions could solidify economic power in urban locations and disadvantage areas like Cornwall that are not self-sufficient.
5. 🚀 Opportunities for Cornwall: Business and Innovation
5.1. Challenges of Tourism
5.2. Localism in Cornwall
5.3. Unique Business Environment
5.4. Foundations for Success
5.5. Concept of Glocalism
6. 🏠 Housing and Infrastructure: Building for the Future
6.1. Leveraging Local and Global Strengths
6.2. Building a Business-Friendly Environment
6.3. Enhancing Connectivity and Work-Life Balance
6.4. Addressing Housing Challenges
7. 💬 Empowering Language and Unique Identity
7.1. Empowering Language
7.2. Unique Identity and Environmental Connection
8. 🌿 Conclusion: Ambitious Future for Cornwall
- A plan to transform Cornwall's commercial areas was hindered by resistance to change, indicating a need for a forward-thinking approach.
- The speaker calls for Cornwall to embrace ambition and boldness, as challenges like deprivation require innovative solutions.
- Emphasis on modern richness being more than profit, focusing on people and the planet, suggesting a holistic approach to development.
- Historical context: Cornwall once had the richest square mile on Earth, inspiring a vision to reclaim such prosperity in the future.