CHAMBER NEWS

A SHINING BEACON

CORNWALL CHAMBER CEO, KIM CONCHIE, REFLECTS BACK UPON WHAT HE SAYS WAS A “FANTASTIC” G7 FOR CORNWALL.

Anyone else got the G7 blues? I certainly have – although usually when an event finishes, I find myself saying things like, ‘it was all over so quickly’ and ‘all that build up for one day’, when actually the whole thing felt like a sustained period of excitement, and the buzz is still going.

A lot of people have told me that considering how much emphasis was put on the fact that this was an event that would exclude them, the media coverage and geography – Eden, St Michael’s Mount, Falmouth, Carbis Bay, St Ives, Cornwall Airport Newquay, actually made Cornwall’s residents feel the summit was engaging with the Duchy and that the world was taking an interest in us – which is fantastic.

The police were incredible and seemed to bring communities together rather than alienate them. The world leaders and their families appear to have fallen in love with the Duchy, and the protestors in the main were amicable – and in many cases helped demonstrate Cornwall’s creativity, community spirit and uniqueness.

My time over the four G7 days was split between Cornwall House and the International Media Centre. Cornwall House was an outstanding business and investment-focused exhibition held at Falmouth University’s Woodlane Campus that we collaborated on with Cornwall Development Company.

I speak to businesses everyday and I thought I knew the full extent of what this wonderful Duchy is doing to drive the green revolution – but I learned so much from the exhibitors in Cornwall House.

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Get in touch today to have a chat about how we can support you and your business. One of the businesses I met for the first time was Cleaner Seas, who have collaborated with Fishy Filaments to manufacture filters for washing machines.

The prototype filter the company was showcasing at Cornwall House is 3D printed from recycled fishing net. The company claims it reduces polluting materials like micro-plastics and fibres coming out of clothing and into the sea by a huge 82%.

We are the greenest and bluest land – we have the resource to run with ideas when we have them, and this is exactly what companies like Cleaner Seas demonstrated in Cornwall House.

Businesses that weren’t exhibiting had the opportunity to watch broadcasts live from Cornwall House (thanks to Cornwall Channel TV commissioned by the Chamber) and get involved in all sorts of debates and creative sessions via the six hubs we set up around Cornwall.

Each hub ran their own events; Launceston held a Gin7 event, Bodmin had a food and drink focused debate. All were given the same question to debate, as requested by Cornwall and Isles of Scilly LEP: Investment in what in your patch of Cornwall would make the most impact?

Feedback was brilliant and responses varied from cycle paths to a food and drink innovation centre – all will be fed back to the LEP, so great progress on that front to deliver some creative thinking from individual areas who all need support in different ways.

As a Chamber, it was great to get involved with the Y7 group (youth from G7 countries). Engaging with young businesspeople is hugely important to us, so it was fantastic to be able to meet budding journalists and businesspeople who will soon be breaking into the world of work – hopefully in Cornwall.

We invited a few of the Y7 group to have a look around the world’s first hybrid boat, docked in Falmouth harbour. They were clearly blown away by it and inspired by the creativity. I’d really encourage Cornwall’s businesses to help us retain talent in Cornwall by engaging with the next generation at every opportunity - showing them what’s going on here and what we as a Duchy are capable of achieving.

There are too many people and organisations to thank individually for making Cornwall shine during G7, but thank you, onen hag oll! Even if you sent a tweet welcoming @ POTUS, or supported the Fete of the Earth community event in Falmouth’s Church Street car park – it’s all made a difference. We have collectively shown Cornwall off in the very best light, which I am confident will pay dividends for the careers of our children and our children’s children.