Annual Conference and Awards 2026
Key event information
| Time | Session |
|---|---|
| 09:00 |
Delegate registration
Morning refreshments & Exhibition
|
| 09:50 |
Welcome
Tom Stannard, Chair of the Institute of Economic Development
|
| 10:05 |
Welcome
Stephanie Flanders, Patron of the Institute of Economic Development
|
| 10:20 |
Keynote
A new government, an old problem: getting Britain growing
Ruth Curtice, Chief Executive, Resolution Foundation
|
| 10:50 |
Keynote
From Aspiration to Architecture: What It Actually Takes to Deliver Good Growth in Every Place
Professor Rebecca Riley, Deputy Pro Vice Chancellor (Regional Engagement), Co-Director City-REDI
|
| 11:20 | Break |
| Break out sessions — choose one | |
| 11:40 |
Governance might change but place must always be the hero!
Catherine Howe, Chief Executive of Dorset Council
John Till, CEO, thinkingplace
|
| 11:40 |
Mott MacDonald (Breakout Session Partner)
Session details TBC
|
| 11:40 |
The Businesses Good Growth Misses: Ethnic Minority Enterprise and the Making of Prosperous Places
Professor Monder Ram CBE DL, Founder and Director, Centre for Research in Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship (CREME)
Hosted by Geoff Baxter, Managing Director, Smarter Society (Event Associate Partner)
|
| Break out sessions — choose one | |
| 12:20 |
Hinkley Point C: Shaping and Building an Electric Britain
Claire Pearce, Executive Director, Real Growth Ltd
Andrew Cockcroft, Head of Stakeholder Relations and Social Impact, EDF Energy
|
| 12:20 |
From Meanwhile Use to Community Ownership: Securing Long-Term Value from Cultural Assets
Bindu Pokkyarath, Director – Economics, Pegasus Group
Cleo Newcombe-Jones, Sustainable Places & Regeneration Service Manager, Bath & North East Somerset Council
|
| 13:00 | Lunch & Exhibition |
| Break out sessions — choose one | |
| 14:00 |
The Future of Local Growth: Beyond the Orthodoxy
Louise Kempton, Professor of Urban and Regional Policy, University of Newcastle
|
| 14:00 |
Every Postcode — funding and institutional design for making change happen
Polly Mackenzie, Co-Founder and CEO, Zinc Innovation Partners
|
| 14:40 | Break |
| 15:00 |
Keynote
Andrew Bailey, Governor of the Bank of England
|
| 15:45 |
Panel discussion
Devolution in action — lessons from the devolved administrations
Chaired by Martin George, Acting Editor, Local Government Chronicle (Event Media Partner)
Richard Cook, Senior Director – Economics, Pegasus Group
Jon Day, Assistant Director City Development, Cardiff Council
Another speaker, TBC
|
| 16:45 |
Closing remarks
Tom Stannard, Chair of the Institute of Economic Development
|
*Agenda subject to change.
Speakers
Andrew Bailey
Governor of the Bank of England
On 20 December 2019, Andrew Bailey was announced as the Governor of the Bank of England. He began his term on 16 March 2020. Andrew became the Chair of the Financial Stability Board on 1 July 2025.
Andrew Bailey served as Chief Executive Officer of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) from 1 July 2016 until taking up the role of Governor. As CEO of the FCA, Andrew Bailey was also a member of the Prudential Regulation Committee, the Financial Policy Committee, and the Board of the Financial Conduct Authority.
Andrew previously held the role of Deputy Governor, Prudential Regulation and CEO of the PRA from 1 April 2013. While retaining his role as Executive Director of the Bank, Andrew joined the Financial Services Authority in April 2011 as Deputy Head of the Prudential Business Unit and Director of UK Banks and Building Societies. In July 2012, Andrew became Managing Director of the Prudential Business Unit, with responsibility for the prudential supervision of banks, investment banks and insurance companies. Andrew was appointed as a voting member of the interim Financial Policy Committee at its June 2012 meeting.
Previously, Andrew worked at the Bank in a number of areas, most recently as Executive Director for Banking Services and Chief Cashier, as well as Head of the Bank’s Special Resolution Unit (SRU). Previous roles include Governor’s Private Secretary, and Head of the International Economic Analysis Division in Monetary Analysis.
Andrew Cockcroft
Head of Stakeholder Relations and Social Impact, EDF Energy
Andrew is responsible for ensuring that Hinkley Point C continues to work collaboratively with external partners to maximise the social and economic impact of Hinkley Point C. With an academic background in sustainability and energy policy, Andrew has been part of the Hinkley Point C project for over a decade – initially working as part of the team developing the planning application that provided the go-ahead for the first new nuclear power station in a generation.
Bindu Pokkyarath
Director – Economics, Pegasus Group
Bindu Pokkyarath is a Director in Pegasus Group’s Economics team in London, with over 20 years of experience in business case development, economic appraisal, and regeneration. A registered Better Business Case Practitioner, she has appraised more than 120 business cases and led funding strategies for major regeneration initiatives, securing investment through programmes such as Brownfield Land Funding, the Housing Infrastructure Fund, and Growth Deals. Bindu advises public and private sector clients on business cases, economic appraisal, funding, and regeneration delivery, helping to unlock investment and create lasting economic and social value across the UK.
Catherine Howe
Chief Executive of Dorset Council
Dr Catherine Howe is the Chief Executive of Dorset Council. With a career spanning various sectors, including education, not-for-profit, and technology, Catherine is an expert in digital innovation, focusing on digital democracy, and systems change. Catherine’s professional journey is marked by her commitment to connecting technology, community, and social innovation. She has worked with new collaborative technologies and social networking tools for nearly 20 years with a constant focus on place.
Catherine is also active nationally both as the Chair of the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny and as a convenor for the Cabinet Office’s Test, Learn and Grow network.
Claire Pearce
Executive Director, Real Growth Ltd
Claire has over thirty years’ experience working across the public and private sectors in a diverse range of development roles, all with a key focus on place transformation, performance and delivery. With a demonstrable track record of working with Government, agencies, Councils and stakeholders on nationally significant and complex regeneration projects, Claire has been able to create the conditions to attract investment, transform places and uplift opportunities for communities. Known for a pro-growth, pro-business approach Claire is facilitating a transformational agenda in Dorset to pivot Council corporate ambition and policies to welcome large scale industrial investment centred on Portland Port to establish the conditions to stimulate investment, economic transition and improve economic reliance, long term sustainability and security. The core purpose is to establish Dorset as a new destination for international investment and to energise a programme of nationally significant projects aligned to deliver the Governments Industrial Strategy.
Formally Chief Planning Officer for Sedgemoor District Council, Claire led the public sector response to Hinkley Point C from strategy through negotiation to implementation, transitioning to the private sector as Director of Planning for the Salamanca Group for 5 years. This involved the re-imagination of the planning strategy to unlock an enterprise zone known as Gravity, securing the Tata/ Agratas gigafactory into the UK.
Claire founded Real Growth Ltd in 2024 and is appointed as Chair of South West Business Council and is also a non-executive director of Dorset Innovation Park. Acknowledged by The Planner as a Women of Influence in 2025, and by the IED as economic development leader of the year 2024. IED Director Bev Hurley CBE said: “Our judges praised Claire for her dedication, pioneering spirit… transformational leadership…clear vision, strategic implementation, and the delivery of measurable outcomes.”
John Till
CEO, thinkingplace
John Till is the CEO of thinkingplace, which he founded 20 years ago as a specialist adviser in adopting place-led approaches to generate good growth and civic pride. He is at the forefront of place branding, making, and marketing as a thinker, commentator, speaker, and practitioner. He previously established and led the ground-breaking place marketing partnership Hull Cityimage, which pioneered a fresh way of communicating place and engaging stakeholders.
Under John’s leadership, thinkingplace ensures your place has the strongest, most distinct story to tell through a compelling narrative that best represents your DNA and ambition, alongside a visual way of telling your story. Co-creation and collaboration are placed at the heart of this approach, highlighting your assets and opportunities while uniting stakeholders and empowering them to become your salesforce. This proven methodology has driven success for regions, cities, towns, devolved areas, new governance arrangements, and place infrastructure developments across over 100 directed projects, all of which John has directed.
He leads in creating flexible, bespoke, and authentic narrative and visual storytelling that adapts to a changing environment. This activity inspires stakeholders to ‘own’ and ‘sell’ their story through long-lasting leadership groups and ambassador programs. Ultimately, the approach is designed to be sustainable and innovative, building local capacity, embedding real social value, and driving inward investment, talent retention, and funding.
John is a passionate and engaging speaker and is asked to present on many platforms such as the Institute of Economic Development, Local Government Association, Homes England, City Nation Place, Institute of Place Management, and SOLACE.
Louise Kempton
Professor of Urban and Regional Policy University of Newcastle
Louise Kempton is Professor of Urban and Regional Policy and Director of the Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies (CURDS) at Newcastle University, UK. She has over 30 years’ experience as a researcher, policy maker and practitioner in local, regional and international economic development. Her main research interest is centred on the role of universities as ‘anchor’ institutions in local/regional economic growth and innovation, and the effects of place in shaping this role. She also interested in the process of building local collaborative leadership to develop innovative solutions to meeting local challenges and opportunities. In recent years this has been focused on the process of building better links between university research and policy needs which has resulted in the creation of Insights North East, a £5.5m programme connecting researchers and policy-makers in the North East of England
Polly Mackenzie
Co-Founder and CEO Zinc Innovation Partners
Polly Mackenzie is Co-Founder and CEO of Zinc Innovation Partners, where she leads investment and venture-building partnerships that help scientists and innovators turn breakthrough research into scalable, impactful businesses.
She brings two decades of experience across government, civil society and innovation including serving as Director of Policy to the Deputy Prime Minister, founding the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute, and leading the think-tank Demos. She served for three years as the first Chief Social Purpose Officer in the higher education sector, at University of the Arts London. Polly also advises Family Business UK and the Future Governance Forum on purpose-driven growth and effective governance.
Professor Monder Ram CBE DL
Founder and Director CREMECentre for Research in Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship (CREME)
Professor Monder Ram CBE DL is Professor of Small Business at Aston University and Founder Director of the Centre for Research in Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship (CREME). For more than thirty years, his work has shaped research, policy and practice on ethnic minority and migrant entrepreneurship. He is known for building durable links between universities, policymakers, businesses and communities, and for turning research into practical change. His work has helped build and shape initiatives including Minority Supplier Development UK, Productivity from Below, and Time to Change: A Blueprint for Advancing the UK’s Ethnic Minority Businesses. A two time winner of the ESRC Outstanding Business and Enterprise Impact Prize (2017 and 2021), he advises national bodies on enterprise, inclusion and business support.
Professor Rebecca Riley
Deputy Pro Vice Chancellor (Regional Engagement), Co-Director City-REDI
Professor Rebecca Riley is a leading voice in civic engagement, regional development, and innovation policy. As Deputy Pro Vice Chancellor for Regional Engagement and Co-Director of City-REDI at the University of Birmingham, she has built a career dedicated to translating research into real-world impact, particularly through the lens of social science.
Rebecca’s work is grounded in the belief that social sciences matter because they help us understand people, places, and systems and how they interact. Social science gives us the tools to ask difficult questions, challenge assumptions, and design better futures making sense of complexity and ensuring that policy and practice are rooted in evidence and empathy.
Her leadership at City-REDI has transformed the institute into a nationally recognised hub for place-based research, policy innovation, and civic collaboration. Under her guidance, the team has delivered over 200 projects and produced more than 600 research outputs, shaping local and national policy agendas.
Rebecca is Principal Investigator for the £3.6 million ESRC-funded Local Policy Innovation Partnership Strategic Hub, a national consortium advancing place-based policy through academic-public partnerships. She also chairs the HM Treasury Green Book User Group, influencing national investment guidance and leading workshops that shape policy development across the UK.
Her impact work has underpinned two REF impact case studies rated 3* and 4*, demonstrating her ability to translate academic insight into societal change. She has led national conversations on university impact, chaired policy forums, and advised UKRI, DSIT, and the Civic Universities Network on how universities can act as anchor institutions for inclusive growth.
Whether through her leadership at City-REDI, her strategic influence on national policy, or her dedication to mentoring the next generation of engaged researchers, Professor Rebecca Riley exemplifies the power of social science to drive positive change.
Richard Cook
Senior Director – Economics, Pegasus Group
Richard Cook is a Senior Director at Pegasus Group and heads the Economics team. Pegasus Group is a leading independent development consultancy with more than 600 employees across 15 locations in the UK. Richard has more than 20 years’ experience of working in economic development, with expertise in undertaking economic impact assessments, socio-economic analysis and providing expert witness advice for planning appeals. Richard is based in Manchester and works across the country helping to make the case for different types of development. This includes residential, renewable energy, extra care and commercial schemes.
Ruth Curtice
Chief Executive, Resolution Foundation
Ruth has been Chief Executive of the Resolution Foundation, an independent think-tank dedicated to lifting living standards in the UK, since January 2025. The Foundation focusses particularly on households with low and middle incomes; those on low pay or in precarious work; and those vulnerable to financial shocks. It also investigates fairness between the generations though its Intergenerational Centre. Ruth leads the Foundation’s rigorous analytical work and development of effective policy proposals. Ruth regularly chairs the Foundation’s wide programme of events, engages with politicians from across the political spectrum, and is a guest on TV and radio.
Ruth was previously Director of fiscal policy at HM Treasury (HMT) where she worked for over 15 years. Her career has focused on domestic economic policy including labour markets, tax, fiscal policy and financial regulation. Ruth has held a wide range of roles in HMT, including working in the Chancellor’s private office.
Stephanie Flanders
Patron, Institute of Economic Development and Head of Economics and Government at Bloomberg
Stephanie Flanders is head of Economics and Government at Bloomberg News, overseeing the research and journalism of 250 economists and reporters worldwide and hosting the weekly podcast, Trumponomics. She was previously Chief Market Strategist for Europe at J P Morgan Asset Management in London (2013-17) and BBC Economics Editor (2002-2013). She was Senior Advisor and speech writer to US Treasury Secretary Lawrence H. Summers (1997-2001). She has also been a reporter at the New York Times, the Principal Editor of the 2002 Human Development Report, an editorial-writer and economics columnist at the Financial Times, and an economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies and London Business School.
In 2016-17 Flanders chaired the Inclusive Growth Commission for the Royal Society of Arts. She is the Chair of the non-profit arts company, Artichoke, an Honorary Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford and a Fellow of the Society of Professional Economists.
Tom Stannard
Chair, Institute of Economic Development and Chief Executive, Manchester City Council
Tom is Chief Executive of Manchester City Council, one of the largest Core Cities in the UK and a highly performing organisation of almost 7,000 staff. Manchester is a fast growing and diverse city of over 600,000 people, with a proud history of successfully competing on the global stage to attract investment, jobs and visitors. Tom works closely with Cllr Bev Craig as Leader of the Council, focussed on maximising these strengths and ensuring that growth generates benefits for the whole city, providing excellent day-to-day services and improving the lives of Manchester’s residents.
Sponsors
Headline Partner
Pegasus Group
Richard Cook
Senior Director ‑ Economics
I have been at Pegasus Group for just over ten years and head the Economics team. Pegasus Group is a leading multidisciplinary consultancy, with over 600 people based in 15 offices around England and Scotland. The Economics team are based in Manchester and London and we work all round the country helping to make the case for delivering new development. We have been members of the iED for over 10 years and have been regular sponsors of the annual conference. The conference is a fantastic way for us to catch up with other people working in economic development and also learn about new things happening in the industry. With a new PM who is very focused on place-based development and social value, we felt that this year’s conference presented Pegasus Group with a great opportunity to be the headline sponsor. I’m looking forward to what should be a really informative day, which includes my colleague Bindu Pokkyarath chairing a breakout session on how vacant town centre and high street units can be revitalised through community-led approaches, creative and cultural initiatives, and collaborative partnerships.
Key event information
When
Wednesday 18th November 2026
Where
BMA House in Tavistock Square is a stunning, Grade II listed building which was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens in 1911 and has been home to the British Medical Association since 1925.
Timings
Conference:
9:00am registration
17:00 close
Awards:
6:30pm arrival
TRANSPORT
Nearest tube/train
Euston (5 min walk)
St Pancras International (10 min walk)
Eurostar (10 min walk)
Hotels
BMA House is ideally located in Bloomsbury which boasts a number of hotels.
The hotels on the right are popular with BMA House guests, due to their quality and proximity. However, there are 100s nearby hotels to choose from.
Awards Ceremony
Entries have now closed and Awards finalists will be announced in September and winners will be revealed at The Awards Dinner taking place at BMA House following the conference on Wednesday 18th November.
To find out more and to buy your tickets for the Awards Dinner, please click here. Tickets can be purchased on an individual basis or as a table of 8.
Sponsorship opportunities are still available here.
Awards categories and sponsors:
Collaborative Initiative of the Year
sponsored by
Recurve
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Initiative of the Year
sponsor OPPORTUNITY OPEN
International Project of the Year
sponsored by
Oury Clark
Leader of the Year
sponsored by
Smarter Society
Most Innovative Project of the Year
sponsored by
Third Life Economics
Outstanding Impact
sponsor OPPORTUNITY OPEN
Rising Star
sponsor OPPORTUNITY OPEN
Social Initiative of the Year
sponsored by
Social Value Engine
Team of the Year
sponsor OPPORTUNITY OPEN
Outstanding Contribution to Economic Development
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