The East Midlands’ Future Starts Here

The East Midlands’ Future Starts Here

Date: Wednesday 17 September 2025

Time: 9:00am – 10:00am

Location: RSA, London and online via YouTube

Speakers include: Andy Haldane, Chair, East Midlands Inclusive Growth Commission, Claire Ward, Mayor of the East Midlands

Event

With a population of 2 million people and a strategic location at the heart of the UK, the national growth story must include a successful East Midlands.

Join us at RSA House as we set out the recommendations in the final report of the East Midlands Inclusive Growth Commission, a bold, region-wide economic plan commissioned by Mayor Claire Ward and chaired by Andy Haldane.

The East Midlands is a region full of opportunity, but beset by some deep challenges and a history of under investment. It is not a typical city region like many of the mayoral combined authorities that were created before it. The East Midlands can act as a model for achieving growth that reaches beyond the city centres, and into regenerated industrial heartlands, and rural places.

At the heart of the Commission’s work is the Opportunity Escalator: a practical new toolkit to help people get into good work- and progress to better pay and conditions - no matter their starting point.

From overcoming entrenched barriers like transport and housing, to smarter, data-led career pathways and targeted skills investment, this approach offers a step change in how we think about inclusive growth with applicability well beyond the borders of the East Midlands.

Why attend?

Discover a bold new model for regional economic development, grounded in the lived experience and practical needs of people and employers.

Hear from leading thinkers and practitioners on how we can make inclusive growth real- not just rhetoric.

Explore how policymakers across the UK can build on the Opportunity Escalator to drive sustainable and inclusive prosperity in their own areas.

This event is particularly relevant for:

Think tanks, policy experts and public affairs professionals

Local and national government officials

Economic development professionals

Further and higher education leaders

Employers and business networks

Speakers

• Claire Ward, Mayor of the East Midlands
• Andy Haldane, Chair of the Inclusive Growth Commission and former RSA CEO
• Sir Keith Burnett, Chair of the Nuffield Foundation
• Dame Julia Cleverdon, Former CEO of Business in the Community
• Sarah Gordon, Founding CEO of the Impact Investing Institute
• Gillian Sewell, CEO of Derbyshire YMCA
• Sir John Peace, Business leader and Chair of the Midlands Engine

More special guest panellists will be announced soon.

About the East Midlands Inclusive Growth Commission

The Commission is an independent, year-long project led by the RSA and commissioned by the East Midlands Combined County Authority. Its purpose: to create a long-term economic plan that unlocks opportunities for people and places across the region.

Built using cutting-edge data, the Commission’s Opportunity Escalator toolkit helps identify where people are starting from, what realistic, better-paid jobs they could step into, and what practical changes (from transport links to training) are needed to help them get there.

Discover more

Book your place

Join us to explore the findings, shape the next steps, and help ensure inclusive growth becomes the standard- not the exception.

Please note: A photographer and videographer will be capturing this event for promotional purposes; please inform a member of the team if you wish to opt out by emailing eastmidlandsigc@rsa.org.uk

*Please note this event will be held at RSA House as well as streamed online - please ensure that you register for the correct ticket type to avoid disappointment*