However, the last 20 years have seen great changes in the industry and in order to secure the role of the region in the maritime future of Britain, modification, investment and co-operation is essential.

Marine South West was created in April 2000 by a number of organisations including the South West RDA, Business Link and Learning and Skills Council as well as the British Marine Federation (BMF) and the Engineering Employers Federation in April 2000 to increase the business competitiveness of marine sector companies in South West England.

It is funded by European Social Fund Objectives One and Three, the South West Regional Development Association (RDA) and partner contributions including University of Plymouth and SEMTA.

As a new organisation we quickly realised that laying out a strategy and asking the marine sector to accept it would simply be ineffectual.

The only way to assist and motivate a mature industry is to make use of all the experience available by gaining cooperation from companies both large and small and involving them completely in the decision making process.

With this in mind we formed the Marine Task Force with 25 representatives across both the private and public sector.

The Task Force takes into account the views of a broad sample of marine businesses and organisations across the region. It meets quarterly and conferences held in December 2000 and February 2003 informed the regional strategy.

Networks

The first Task Force conference revealed a need for business networks. The region already had one successful prototype in the South Hams district and the Task Force felt that the success could be replicated throughout the region.

The aim of the networks is to increase business competitiveness and productivity by working together. This can mean anything from networking and sharing best practice, to joint purchasing to save money.

The solution was to build on the already existing BMF (Wessex) network in Poole and the formation of new networks in Cornwall and Plymouth. The resultant Cornwall Marine Network and Plymouth Marine Network are now 18 months old and proving very successful.

Research

Precisely identifying the needs of the region to put an agreed strategy in place is very important. This included research commissioned by the South West RDA from Plymouth University in July 2003 to identify skills needs in the region.

The research confirmed that skills and training is the single biggest common barrier to growth. It also identified the "top ten skills needs": business and management; IT; sales, retail and marketing; electronic engineering; mechanical engineering; welding & fabrication; painting & finishing; composites, GRP and laminating; carpentry; and import, export and freight.

The research also suggested a completely new solution - a network of training centres across the region.

The idea is to create a demand-led solution that allows companies to lead the programmes as the experts and gives them the power to control the initiative. Again, it is crucial to the success of the programme to get the buy-in of local businesses both large and small to deliver existing and future training the way companies want to receive it.

Clusters

Identifying where the market is strongest - the biggest marine clusters - in order to use existing industry was essential for implementation. The crucial sites for training schools depended on certain factors being present, such as a large prime company with the ability to provide the backbone of the training and a business network in each area that would allow microbusinesses access to training.

Clusters led by Pendennis in Falmouth, Princess in Plymouth and Sunseeker in Poole were identified as the ideal situations for training centres of excellence. To date we have the buy-in of all the partner companies and have buildings for the training centres in Falmouth and Plymouth. Plans are well underway; we hope to start training early in the New Year.

Building on success

The training clusters build on earlier initiatives to improve access to training that has also proved very successful.

Training Grant Schemes started in 2000, which offer free training needs analysis and a grant towards the cost of the course are now in their fourth year. Over 1,000 employees have been trained and over 500 local companies have been advised through the scheme.

The future of the marine industry in South West England is undoubtedly bright.

The business development plan, completed in February of this year, is set to take us through the next three years.

In addition to the completion of the network of training centres, we will also see the continued stimulation of communications, networks, careers, export, business improvement and marketing.

Adam Corney spent 12 years as a submariner in the Royal Navy before joining Marine South West.

J&S Marine Ltd

Based in Barnstaple and employing 150 people, J&S Marine is a technology-driven company that operates in the highly-competitive defence and offshore oil exploration markets.

It can only remain at the forefront of technology if it continues to invest in the training and development of its staff and the support of the Marine South West Training Programme has been enormously beneficial.

In particular, it has, in recent months allowed training of sophisticated software tools including Orcad and DOORS, attendance at a guided weapons course and the opportunity to provide refresher training to sales and marketing staff on writing winning proposals. To date, more than 100 members of staff have been trained by the scheme.

Alan Hayman, managing director at J&S Marine said: "We compete against some very large companies, but continue to increase our market share through our investment in people, processes and technologies. Recent and planned training programmes, which have benefited from Marine South West financial support, will sustain the company's position as a leading player n the naval support and North Sea oil and gas markets."

Specialized Marine Ltd

From a background as a small family-run dinghy manufacturer, the Lyme Regis-based Specialized Marine is expanding fast.

The company makes high performance dinghies, such as International 14s, and employs nine people. And the company has expansion plans for the near future, which include moving to a larger unit in the area.

Staff recently attended courses at the Advanced Composites Manufacturing Centre (ACMC) at the University of Plymouth using a grant from Marine South West.

The courses were an introduction to advanced composites manufacturing and follow-ups specifically tailored to resin infusion techniques.

Peter Turner, who runs the company with his son Chris, said: "There is no doubt that these courses have been of significant benefit to us. The quality of our components has definitely improved. As a direct result of the training we received through Marine South West we will be making heavy investment in new equipment."

For more information about investing in South West England please call 0870 442 9100, or visit the website at southwestengland. com