Can the peace dividend and devolution transform business in Northern Ireland: lessons from the UK fastest growing sub-region?

Dr Leslie Budd (OU)

This presentation will consider this issue and draw on research in regard to the kind businesses and management challenges developing in Milton Keynes and its hinterland: the fastest growth region in the United Kingdom. If Milton Keynes can be considered a growth pole, what are its propulsive industries (in the sense advanced by the famous economist Joseph Schumpeter); and how can they be aligned as an ideal-typical model for a challenging socio-economic environment like Northern Ireland? Within this analysis is discussion about what kind of physical, social infrastructure and institutions (school hospitals, social, cultural and related categories of capital developed by the sociologist Pierre Bourdieu) are needed to develop and sustain such a potential growth pole. In part, this presentation will also draw on a framework created for the first Outline Spatial Strategy for Iraq on post-conflict regional economic development.

Date of seminar: 15 May 2014.