ARE you a glass half empty or a glass half full kind of person?
If your glass is half empty then you're probably also the kind of person who thinks Nottingham had a tough recession and isn't serving up enough opportunities for its young people.
If you're smiling at a glass half-full then the scale of infrastructure investment in Nottingham is awe-inspiring and the presence of world-class organisations like Boots, Experian, Capital One, BioCity, Speedo, Paul Smith and the University of Nottingham makes you feel good about the city's future.
So who's right? Well, you can both raise a glass because in the end both of those perspectives are accurate.
We know that because of some research done on the Post's behalf by Nottingham Business School. Compared to some of the other big cities, Nottingham took a hit on unemployment. One of the reasons for that is that too many city residents were (and are) in low-tech jobs which are vulnerable to both global competition and economic downturns. We're not unique, but our problem is our problem – and it's holding our economy back.
Yet that research also tells us that we have some great foundations to build on. While other cities have been screaming out for better infrastructure ours is being built. And those businesses are world-class because they contain global centres of expertise in industries which have a future.
Boots is not just a place you go for an ibuprofen or the latest shade of No 7 lippie: it has world-class expertise in product development, branding, marketing, retailing, production and logistics. Experian and Capital One are built on data analytics, the name given to tracking people's consumer and financial behaviour. Much of that massively valuable skill was developed here.
BioCity is full of scientists and technicians working on new drugs and medical technologies. Speedo fused sport and technology to help Rebecca Adlington win Olympic swimming gold. Paul Smith is a global fashion icon and an advert for our long-term heritage in fashion and design (nurtured to this day by Nottingham Trent University). And the University of Nottingham has built a bridge between Nottingham and the fastest-growing economy in the world, China.
Lessons from similar cities elsewhere in Europe show that we can't expect the city council to do this on its own. When the economy hit the skids it quickly came up with a Growth Plan which targeted the problem areas. But those world-class institutions – which take in everything from business and universities to the QMC and Trent Bridge – need to get their shoulders right behind that plan and use it to take our economy on to the next level.
By some measures, the Nottingham economy has been steadily falling behind. So while it's never suffered a shock, its growth is at risk from slow strangulation. Now is the time to take what's world class and turn it into a vision of a glass that's full.
