Location:
Cornwall is the UK’s most south westerly county. Its main city is Truro. Key towns include Camborne-Pool-Redruth, St Ives, Penzance, Falmouth, Penryn, Bodmin and St Austell.

Transportation Services:

Road
Dual carriageway access to the whole of the UK, with typical journey times of 3½ hours from Bodmin to Birmingham and 4½ hours from Truro to London.

Air

• Newquay Cornwall Airport offers routes to London as well as key regional city airports and some international flights.

• Exeter and Plymouth Airports are also easily accessible.

Rail
Two national mainline train operators serve Cornish destinations - First Great Western and CrossCountry. There are regular trains to London from Truro with a travel time of approximately 4½ hours. The Cornish Sleeper runs nightly except Saturday between Penzance and London Paddington.

Assisted Area:
YES: TIER 1.
Cornwall qualifies for Convergence funding; therefore businesses have access to greater grant support than elsewhere in the country.

Convergence consists of two funds: European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and European Social Fund (ESF). The European budget for Convergence is c£500m with c£347m for ERDF and c£153m for ESF; this will be matched by UK public money from local, regional and national sources giving a total value of c£712m (the Convergence budget is allocated in euros and, therefore, during the life of Convergence these figures will vary with the GBP/euro exchange rates). However, due to European rules, there are specific eligibility criteria to meet in order to qualify for funding. For further information go to www.southwestrda.org.uk

There is a subsidised recruitment scheme, Unlocking Cornish Potential, which helps graduates into employment. Some employers are eligible to receive a subsidy towards the graduate’s salary.

SWRDA operates grant support for R&D, product and process development activity for SMEs.

There is access to a wide range of training programmes through ESF funding.

In addition there are a number of key business products, funded by Convergence, where businesses can access, for free, advice/support on collaborations or joint ventures, as well as coaching: www.partnertosucceed.co.uk and www.growcornwall.co.uk

Available Sites Include:
Contact InvestinCornwall directly.

Major Business Parks:

• Brunel Business Park, St Austell: 21,660 sq ft (2,012 sq m);

• St Austell Enterprise Park: two sites for sale – 13,898 sq ft (1,291 sq m) and 12,518 sq ft (1,161 sq m) (offers in the region of £165,000);

• Falmouth Business Park: office and hybrid units available – 903sq ft and 7,902sq ft units available.

Being developed

• New Tolvaddon Business Park will provide approximately 10ha of employment land (with outline planning permission) in 8 plots, accommodating up to 22,641 sq m of employment space (office and industrial) - available Dec 2010.

• Cornwall Business Park, CPR: 144,330 sq ft of business, distribution and office space (to be developed, planning secured).

Office Developments:
Pool Innovation Centre
Pool Innovation Centre is intended to provide high quality, flexible managed workspace for start up businesses with potential for growth and high productivity across all sectors. The Innovation Centre is a three-storey building with a net lettable floor space of 2,310m². It has been designed to provide flexible accommodation with units ranging in size from 25m² to 90m². Currently being fitted out, it will consist of 49 offices of five different sizes, six shared meeting rooms and a conference facility. To further help tenant circulation and networking, all central services including reception, meeting rooms, conference facilities, toilets and kitchens will be shared – additional facilities are currently being finalised. Due to be completed May 2010.
 

Major Industries in the Area:

• Renewable energy
• Environmental technology
• Marine
• Engineering and aerospace
• IT and creative
• Food and drink

Major Companies in the Area:
Internationally owned
Pall Newquay, West Pharmaceutical Services (USA); Guava (Holland); Fugro Seacore (Netherlands); Imerys (France).

UK owned
Kensa Engineering; GeoScience/Earth Energy; Research Instruments; Infoteam; Pendennis Shipyard; Dairy Crest; Rodda’s.

Advice and Assistance:
InvestinCornwall is a new project set up to market Cornwall as a place for business. Working with UKTI, the team is able to provide investors with key information with regards to the county’s viability as a business location. Introductions to key businesses, partners and networks are provided, as well as access to relevant market information.

Contact:
Lucy Hunt, Manager, InvestinCornwall, Pydar House, Pydar Street, Truro, Cornwall TR1 1EA.
Tel: +44-(0)1872-322814; e-mail: lucy.hunt@cornwalldevelopmentcompany.co.uk web: www.investincornwall.com

Summary:
Cornwall's businesses are thriving across the whole economic spectrum, however in recent years a number of sectors have achieved particularly strong growth, with rapidly developing business clusters focused around world-class centres of excellence.

Despite its rural environment, Cornwall is set to become one of the first places in the UK to benefit from next generation access broadband services, providing faster, more reliable and affordable connections across the whole county. The roll-out will start in late 2010.

In the past decade around £200 million has been invested in higher education in Cornwall. This support has enabled the six universities and colleges working in the county to grow and to develop their own strengths and specialisms. These universities and colleges work closely together through the Combined Universities in Cornwall.