20 October 2008 - Article by Nottingham Evening Post
NOTTINGHAM City Council looks set to shake-up its inward investment efforts by putting a renewed focus on a smaller number of industries.
City Council deputy leader Graham Chapman is also pressing for a slimming down of the number of organisations involved in economic development activity.
The first steps in the new approach are being taken this week, with Glenn Crocker, the chief executive of BioCity, visiting a similar facility in the US state of Virginia to discuss potential collaboration.
He is travelling to the USA to give a presentation about the city's bioscience incubator to a major industry conference in the US capital Washington.
He will travelling on to Richmond, Virginia to build on fledgling links that the city council has set up with an area which has a similar bioscience facility and a similar industrial heritage to Nottingham. 
He told Business Post the links being developed between BioCity in Nottingham and the Biotechnology Research park in Greater Richmond could provide city-based businesses with a gateway to the industry's most important market.
He said: "We want to build a bridge between the two sites and make it as easy as possible for companies to set up in the US and have reciprocal arrangements whereby companies going out there will have somewhere to base themselves.
"I'm looking to blow the trumpet for Nottingham."
The visit is a result of tentative links between Nottingham and the Great Richmond Partnership, an economic development team representing the counties of Chesterfield, Hanover, Henrico and the city of Richmond.
Like Nottingham, it is a former manufacturing area seeking to grow science, technology and business services.
A delegation from the area will be coming to Nottingham in November.
Nikki Jenkins, of Nottingham City Council's inward investment team, said: "We started talking and identified a lot of synergy with Nottingham, not only in terms of the sectors that we have been targeting but also in terms of our manufacturing legacy. So we have a lot to learn from each other.
"We're looking at a two-way process. It's about encouraging business-to-business working.
"But if they are looking for a route into European markets we can be the way they establish links.
"Similar, if our companies are looking for a presence in American markets we can help them. They will also market Nottingham on our behalf."
Coun Chapman said: "We're particularly conscious of the downturn and we think that means we're going to have to be more aggressive and focused than perhaps we have been.
"We are starting to look at those sectors where we can make the biggest impact, and in looking at those sectors we focus on where we can grow links and target investment.
"This is part of that. The other bit is what we're doing with our bid to be World Design Capital. Some people say that there is a lot of bravado in that – I'd agree. We have got to get ourselves on the map, make contact and change people's views of the city."
Richmond, Virginia is home to the headquarters of Capital One, the bank which chose Nottingham as base for its European headquarters.
A city council delegation has been to visit the company in America, and Coun Chapman said: "It's a big advantage for us in that we have already got links with Richmond."