Summary
This is the development of a Citizen and local Small Business context, fit for purpose for Innovative Projects, in Salford
with a video presentation explaining it bottom left
Major Learning point for Citizen Enablement
Local Salfordian’s now have a place in which to
explore joint interests and using the principles of ‘positive deviance’ learned
from each other how to develop their own wealth creating ideas into working
enterprises. The SIF became the hub for much future collaboration between different
community group and with supportive academics from the university, bringing
new, unique and innovative ideas into the market place.
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The Case
When he first came to Salford University, over thirty years ago in a City which Ewan Maccoll called ‘Dirty Old Town’, James recognised there was no place for Local people to go to talk about how they could themselves become more innovative to prepare them for a better future, for the young to gain confidence to work their way out of poverty or for the local community to develop their own art and design etc. So he worked with local citizens, their politicians, interested city officers, local small business people and others to plan a way forward. The result became the Salford Innovation Forum (SIF), to be based in the middle of the City in an area to be known as Salford Innovation Park, close to the University to give it some extra sustenance, but aimed particularly at local citizens, their communities and small businesses.
James used certain of his skills, supported by others locally, to gain significant European and Regional funding (amounting to almost £10 million) to develop, and stage managed SIF into a successful existence as a new partnership between the University and other partners in Salford including: the City itself, the New Deal for Communities, the Community, local businesses, local schools, the local college and all Salford citizens. He worked closely with key local politicians and senior officers to get the North West Development Agency to see the SIF as part of its overall plan and to earmark funds to enable the building to be designed and built.
It was important for the proposed building to meet the real needs of local people, so having secured the funds, he worked with the architect, who already had a high reputation for developing citizen-centric buildings and a range of citizens, to ascertain their needs and wants. These discussions were enhanced through a series of workshops held in Salford, using placemaking and collaborative planning processes, to come up with a building fit for purpose. The architect was open to the idea that local people were their own ‘experts’ with respect to their needs and responded with the design you see below.
Furthermore, a University Art and Design lecturer worked with two local groups who had shown interest in his area of study:
- To develop the Salford’s colour pallet, which was mainly ‘red’, since the local community revealed almost thirty shades of it being used throughout the City (see below for the colours revealed). He used this knowledge and the skills of local artists for the colours to be chosen for the SIF, both outside, and in. You will see the result in the photograph below
- He also worked with Salford’s young people so they began to think about new products they would like themselves and how to plan a way of marketing them into the real world, to give them a wealth creating future. They in fact developed a range of red nail varnishes and some exciting coloured and luminescent shoe laces, both which went neutral under inside light; this was because the local schools refused to have colour used in this way by the young while they were in lessons.
The Salford Reds
The above gives just two examples of how the developing project got local people to have the confidence to become more innovative and the Innovation Forum provides somewhere they could can go locally to put their ideas into working practice. In short the Forum gives the potential for all in the community to develop their own new projects, gain confidence to try the new and innovative and then provide early stage and reasonably priced accommodation to enable successful development of a successful working enterprise.
A number of the above mentioned citizen focused projects, for instance the previous three, permanently reside within the Salford Innovation Forum (Peoples Voice Media and Unlimited Potential) –
The Salford Innovation Forum now a firm part of Salford life
The Innovation Forum, shown above, is now owned by the Council but managed by Manchester Science Partnerships who operate a series of science parks. Part of James’s approach was to ensure that those Citizens Enabled through help control their own destiny’s completely so the Innovation Forum is now an independent entity.
Major Learning point for Citizen Enablement
Local Salfordian’s now had a place in which to explore joint interests and using the principles of ‘positive deviance’ learned from each other how to develop their own wealth creating ideas into working enterprises. The SIF became the hub for much future collaboration between different community group and with supportive academics from the university, bringing new, unique and innovative ideas into the market place.
The Enabler
James Powell was the initiator of and main Citizen Enabler behind the Salford Innovation Forum. SIF is now full of young and small businesses of local citizens who have learned to develop a new way of working to enable their future to flourish.
