We are really pleased to be supporting the John Logie Baird Awards programme for the third year running in what is the 85th Anniversary of the first television broadcast by Mr Baird. The awards were recently crowned the Best Awards Scheme in Scotland at the Scottish Event Awards.

If you are an innovative business, entrepreneur or inventor in Scotland then you really should consider entering this prestigious award. The closing date is the 10 December 2010.  

If you are entering the awards then you’ll be doing so via VentureNavigator’s business competition management service. At the same time you’ll be offered to opportunity to join VentureNavigator Scotland, a dedicated community, assessment and set of resources for Scotland and Scottish businesses.

You can check out the John Logie Baird Awards here and the VentureNavigator Scotland community here.

“LEPs…Yeah! What are they good for…….”

Go on, you know the rest, you know you do!

Actually I think apologies are in order to Edwin Starr and Motown, as the original recording had a clear and unambiguous message. I am not at all sure the same can be said for Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), the bodies intended to replace the current Regional Development Agencies (RDAs). Although, perhaps I am being harsh on the Coalition Government as they appear to have a reasonably clear vision of where they intend to get to, if not how to get there.

Which brings us to the theme of this blog post.  The intractable uncertainty over the new structures being developed to support business and meet the varying and diverse needs of different regions. The government wants to spend less money, more effectively and to do that with reference to local priorities – all laudable aims.

Here is how it seems to work. The old RDAs you have come to know and (possibly) hate will be abolished as soon as practicable and be replaced by locally proposed organisations based on alignments of interest. This could be at local authority level –county, unitary authority, borough or any combination thereof, or on partnerships that don’t necessarily align with existing geographies – it is up to the proposers how they seek to structure themselves. I can see good arguments for this – take the case of SEEDA.  At even the most superficial level, I am not sure what unifies the Medway Towns and North Oxfordshire in geography, demographics, industrial structure or need. There is a case that ‘local’ requirements should drive support – similar in a way to the structures in place in Germany. Interestingly, the Government has asked that LEPs feature both public and private sector representation, with a private (not public) sector chair person.

The government wants proposals for LEPs by 6^th September. Why the 6^th September? Simples! They have to put the numbers and ideas in the big policy crunching machine to produce a credible plan that can go to the Treasury and be approved in time for the Comprehensive Spending Review announcements on 20^th October. There is a great phrase used in US Government circles – ‘process is policy’ – rarely do you get to see it so clearly in the UK but everything is being driven by the budget reduction timetable. 

Indeed, to use another US phrase – ‘follow the money!’. So, where is the money? Answer: in the ‘Regional Growth Fund’ which is being consulted on as I write with a closing date of – you guessed it, 6^thSeptember. What is it? Well we don’t quite know yet, but it looks like it will be a bid led fund for LEPs and potentially others groups to replace the RDAs and their funding streams but with a focus on projects that can demonstrably create private sector jobs.

We have a mechanism – LEPs. We have money – the Regional Growth Fund. Put them together and you might just have a means of achieving the objectives set down by the coalition. The danger is as always that we get the “same old, same old” just packaged differently. In which case Mr Starr and that Detroit record label will have been spot on.

At VentureNavigator we very much agree with and support a more localised version of business support, so at this stage we are very optimistic! Let us know via the comments box what you think…

Amongst other things Neil Gregory worked in Higher Education for 19 years, specialising in revenue generation and commercialisation of research. He has been Director of Business and Enterprise at the London School of Economics and is a Senior Industrial Fellow at the Institute of Manufacturing at Cambridge University. He is also a qualified Chartered Secretary.

Neil is currently Business Development Director of VentureNavigator where he is promoting a focussed, local approach to business support.

Online business networking is extremely important for entrepreneurs, both for finding partners and customers, and for receiving and sharing useful information. Here are the top ten business networks that entrepreneurs should consider joining:

 1. VentureNavigator – www.venturenavigator.co.uk 

VentureNavigator offers two things that no other business networks offer: firstly, high-quality, edited content (much of it directly provided by the UK’s top universities); secondly, a series of assessments on specific business topics (e.g. investment), to help entrepreneurs improve their skills. It’s also has active Q&A forums and a new locally-focused groups feature.

2. LinkedIn – www.linkedin.com

If you aren’t using LinkedIn you are missing out on the largest business network in the world (by a mile). Engaging in LinkedIn Groups is a great way to meet partners and customers, and the Status Update and Newsfeed provide a highly effective means of sharing and receiving news.

 3. Viadeo – www.viadeo.com

Viadeo started out in France but now has 30 million members globally. Its traffic is also growing faster than any other business network, so it’s one to watch. Like Xing, it aims to offer a more focused service than LinkedIn and urges member to subscribe to benefit.

 4. Xing – www.xing.com

Xing is more focused on start-ups and independent businesses than LinkedIn. Based in Germany it’s also more European, so if you’re an international startup this might be the place for you. Ning has 9 million users and charges ($9.95 per month) for premium services, such as executive search.

5. Partnerup – www.partnerup.com

Partnerup is a popular US-based site that aims to encourage professionals to connect with entrepreneurs and start-ups.  The forums are extremely active and a great place to ask non-UK specific questions.

6. Entrepreneur Connect – http://econnect.entrepreneur.com/

Started by the people behind Entrepreneur Magazine, it’s another US-focused site, but does allow you to create a blog which will get views, since it’s promoted within the site (and posts appear on the homepage).

 7. eCademy – www.ecademy.com

One of the early UK-based business networks, ecademy is still a highly effective place to find and meet useful business connections. On the down-side it regularly urges users to upgrade to subscriber level and lacks many of the interconnectivity that makes LinkedIn so useful (and viral).

 8. Ryze – www.ryze.com

A once-popular US-based business network, Ryze is still a player but looks on a downward spiral. Some of the best features – e.g. “who viewed my profile” and “who’s online” are subscriber only.

9. Doostang – www.doostang.com

Listed here for its value (to those who can join) and the  factor of including a not-for-profit, closed business network, Doostang aims to help graduates find jobs and opportunities. You need an invitation to join, but once you’re in, apparently it’s excellent.

10. Plaxo – www.plaxo.com

Plaxo started out as a connected address book, and it’s still an excellent place to aggregate all your contacts into one, safely stored, virtual address book. The service encourages your contacts to maintain their own contact details (so you don’t have to). They’ve also started integrating social networking features – though these aren’t why you’d use the service.

 This guest post was written by social media consultant, Luke Brynley-Jones. Luke is hosting Social Media Advertising in London on 20^th September.

Do you use another network? Let us know about it via the comments box…