Eastern Promise - The Podcast

This week: Welcome you to the brickmakers' city, which sits across the main arteries of communication for all four points of the compass!  This is the Beginner's Guide to PETERBOROUGH! Our panel of local and sector specialists are: ARU Peterborough 's Assistant Principal (PFHEA) Professor Tom Williamson;   Multi-hat wearing local champion Al Kingsley MBE; MD of Cap Air Systems , board member and a...

From the sun-kissed garden of O2H Group 's UK HQ, Hauxton House, Eastern Promise brings you our contribution to Cambridge Wide Open Week 2026: 'Everything you ever wanted to know about Cambridge (but were afraid to ask)...' Your host Mike Rigby has the questions and we've assembled an incredible panel who have the answers!  They are: Harriet Fear MBE, multi-hat wearer, including beaing the chair o...

In this second part of our mammoth two-part roundtable featuring the UKRI-funded institutes and partners on the Norwich Research Park, we look at how these institutes communicate the impact of research, the commercialisation of discovery and the way science and research influence the policy-making process.  Your host Mike Rigby chats with the returning stars of episode 174, who are: Dr Matt Gilmou...

This week: You join us for Part One of a mammoth two-part roundtable, taking in the UKRI-funded institutes and partners on the Norwich Research Park.  In this opening episode, your host Mike Rigby finds out more about the all-new Innovation Zone at this year's Royal Norfolk Show.  Joining us are: Dr Matt Gilmour of the Quadram Institute: https://quadram.ac.uk/ Dr Agnieszka Witek of The Sainsbury L...

This episode is about one of the biggest barriers to growth in the East of England — skills. We're at the University of Cambridge’s Bennett School of Public Policy with a region-wide panel of experts from education, business and industry. We’re unpacking this recent report from the Bennett School that asks a vital question: In a region with high employment, why do so many employers still struggle...

This Week: We join the East of England Energy Group (EEEGR) at the Norfolk Showground and Events Centre for the 2026 Southern North Sea conference.  It's the second day of this two-day event, and you get to come along as we visit stands in the exhibition hall, chatting to EEEGR members and luminaries.  These include Opergy CEO and member of the Suffolk Business Board, Johnathan Reynolds; Lowestoft...

This week: We're at the Norwich University of the Arts to discuss their recent report -'Beyond Entertainment' - on powering up the East of England's cutting-edge gaming industry.   Your host Mike Rigby is joined by Professor Mark Wickham, lead gaming lecturer and an advisor to TIGA, the Independent Games Association.  Also on the panel for this wide-ranging discussion is Rebecca Cockerill, employm...

The second day of the UK Real Estate Investment and Infrastructure Forum 2026 (aka #UKREiiF) was, contrary to expectations, packed with awesome, timely, and thought provoking panels and the opportunity to chat to key figures from the East of England and beyond. That's why our Day Two round-up is a MONSTER! What's that?  You want examples?  Very well, try this on for size... Lowestoft MP Jess Asato...

This week: Eastern Promise is at UKREiiF 2026 at the Royal Armouries in Leeds, bringing you the best of the East of England here at the show!    We begin in the Norfolk & Suffolk pavilion with key members of both counties' Business Boards, before hotfooting it to the Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor to hear from Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook, alongside Chair of the Oxford Cambridge Superc...

This week: The Eastern Promise podcast is your guide to the week ahead in Leeds for #UKREiiF 2026! Host Mike Rigby chats to three key players in the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority's (CPCA) programme for the UK's Real Estate, Investment and Infrastructure Forum: Martin Woodhouse, Co-Founder and Director at PRD; Adrian Davey, Interim Strategic Director for Growth and Regenerati...

This week: It's a privilege for Eastern Promise to bring you our visit to the Babraham Research Campus to the south of Cambridge, at the invitation of Chief Scientific and Innovation Officer, Dr Louise Jopling!    Our own Mike Rigby, will be chatting to Lou about innovation the Babraham way, looking at the Babraham Masterplan and the future of the campus - not to mention the big role housing is pl...

This Week: We take you inside Aviva's iconic Marble Hall, where the Norwich Financial Industry Group (FIG) is meeting for its 2026 Annual Conference.  This year's theme is 'People': an especially prescient theme as the AI revolution gathers pace.  Host Mike Rigby talks to keynote speakers Gautam Hazari, Chief Product and Innovation Officer at XConnect, and Professor Amir Sharif of the Norwich Busi...

This week: Eastern Promise's own Mike Rigby heads for Barnwell Road, on Cambridge's Abbey estate, where hyperlocal charity, Abbey People, are working incredibly hard to help residents move from surviving to thriving. Mike joins Chief Executive Nicky Shepard and her team - Food Hub Coordinator Rachel and Comms guru Gemma, amongst many others - to chat about the work Abbey People do at The Hub on Ba...

This week: We drop in on Stephen Crocker, CEO and Creative Director of Norwich Theatre.  We ask Stephen about his career, whether behind or in front of the curtain; the three stages across the City of Stories that make up the Norwich Theatre; how Norwich Theatre lives and breathes its values and the amazing community work the theatre does.    Host Mike Rigby talks to Stephen about how the cultural...

This Week: Your host Mike Rigby chats to Councillor Cameron Holloway, Leader of Cambridge City Council. We discuss his ward, the side of Cambridge many people seldom see, and also the impact of the Cambridge x Manchester Innovation Partnership. Not only that, Cameron also discusses the hugely positive impact that the city council has had on housing and the consultation on the Greater Cambridge Dev...

This Week: We return to our special series of 'Beginner's Guides' with a deep dive into the East of England's town & city ecosystems.  And in this episode, we take on Suffolk's county town - IPSWICH! You join your host, Mike Rigby, at the University of Suffolk with an extraordinary panel: Provost of the University of Suffolk, Professor Rachel Allen;   CEO of 'Brighten The Corners'. Joe Bailey;...

This week: We're taking a closer look at Government proposals to establish a centrally-led Urban Development Corporation (UDC) for Greater Cambridge. Taking us through the proposals, including what exactly is being proposed, the powers a UDC will have, the difference a UDC can make and the size of the opportunity presented, are two distinguished members of the Cambridge Growth Company's Advisory C...

This week: Eastern Promise host Mike Rigby sits down to chat with Mayor of the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority, Paul Bristow. We discuss Paul's hometown of Peterborough, the Cambridge x Manchester Partnership, the difference between being a mayor and his previous role as an MP, and also the Combined Authority's Local Growth Plan - particularly the decision to have 'mayoral tar...

This Week: With a packed hall of farmers, agronomists, scientists and agricultural luminaries old and young, we're glad Mike Rigby dropped in on the 2026 Norfolk Farming Conference!  Calling in first on the Food and Farming Discovery Trust 's splendid mobile classroom, we hear from Trust Manager Frances Roberson about why they're at the conference and what this educational sister charity to the Ro...

This Week: Form the Future is one-of-a-kind; a unique bridge between the worlds of education and work.  This Cambridge-based CIC is rightly praised for its work in lifting the horizons of young people in the #EastofEngland and beyond, so Eastern Promise didn't hesitate to send Mike Rigby along to Hinxton Hall Conference Centre to ask delegates at Form the Future's 2026 Annual Conference why they'r...

This Week: As the magnificent Cambridge Science Centre publishes its new Strategic Plan for 2026-2031, Eastern Promise's own Mike Rigby chats with the centre's CEO on the intent behind the Strategic Plan, their outreach strategy and the drive to not only make the centre 'best in class', but also an exemplar for STEM educational centres around the world. You can read the Strategic Plan by clicking...

This Week: Confused by Cambridge?  Well, Eastern Promise has your back and help is at hand!  We bid you welcome to this first in our occasional series exploring our region's main urban ecosystems, the BEGINNER'S GUIDES! In this first of our special episodes, Mike Rigby is joined by local experts to explore and explain the nuances, niceties, and need-to-knows of CAMBRIDGE! Joining Mike to make up t...

This Week: We meet three of Norfolk's incredible coterie of AMBASSADORS! Meet Matt Smith of Place UK, Candy Richards of the Federation of Small Businesses, and Chris Spinks of Westcotec, who will be sharing with you: Their love for Norfolk; What makes the county unique; and Why families, businesses, entrepreneurs and more should relocate to Norfolk!  Our ambassadors share their experience and a cl...

This Week! We're kicking off 2026 in style, and focussed on what's currently the most important economic development project in the UK - The Oxford Cambridge Corridor.   Our navigators to this galactic-scale potential are the Oxford-Cambridge Supercluster Board, ably represented by Chair Andy Williams and fellow board member (and CEO of Cambridge Ahead) Dan Thorp.  Together, we'll dig into where w...

This Week: We round off our Christmas Charity Appeal open mic with the Big C Cancer Charity and the MedCan Foundation!  Find out more about our 2025 featured charities here: Abbey People The Big C -  Norfolk's Cancer Charity The Cambridge Acorn Project The MedCan Foundation Then!  We take a long, loving look back at 2025 with some choice cuts from the archive... We'll visit UKREiiF 2025, pop in on...