Charting Surrey’s Rescue, Recovery and Growth in the Age of Covid-19 and Brexit

Pre-Covid, Brexit analysis suggested Surrey’s prosperous composition as steady but unevenly spread and impermanent. A detailed analysis is swiftly required to chart both Surrey’s post-Covid response, and ongoing Brexit preparations, in terms of its general sectors, as well as its specialist areas.  These areas – or ‘clusters of excellence’ –contribute to Surrey’s high-value economy and global leader potential.

In undertaking its analysis, the project requires the development of deep and sustained partnerships between the University of Surrey and wide range of local and regional cross-sectoral stakeholders, including Surrey County Council (SCC), who have commissioned the work as part of the objectives of its newly-formed Surrey Future Economy Commission. The project’s findings make recommendations to the SCC Growth Board, SCC itself, and national government.

The project has been commissioned by the Chair of the Future Economy Surrey Commission as part of the wider data-gathering of SCC, and to allow the University of Surrey to demonstrate the range of data and political analysis on offer, as well as showcasing its own cluster-specific excellence (knowledge, business, health care, Covid-specific research). Clear and sustained connection between SCC and county-specific stakeholders is needed both for the input, data-gathering stage, and the output, recommendation-providing stage, ensuring that beneficiaries across the county, from SCC to the cluster-specific stakeholders, and beyond, are in receipt of the project’s final insights, as well as becoming part of a highly valuable network of contacts for the University of Surrey.