International Synergies is delighted to share the latest development in its application of regional economic development through intelligence based industrial symbiosis – or RED IBIS for short – a methodology for strategic economic development based on an area’s resource strengths and material supply risks and opportunities.

International Synergies pioneered the methodology in Birmingham in 2012 in the Tyseley Zone of Birmingham identifying actions to create local jobs, reduce carbon, and generate economic benefits. The RED IBIS study recommendations have been carried into practice through the establishment of the Tyseley innovation network, and continued engagement with investors and clean-tech/green-tech technology providers.

More recently, Basildon Borough Council called on International Synergies to apply the RED IBIS approach to Burnt Mills Estate as part of Basildon Council’s corporate strategy to advance sustainable regeneration. The RED IBIS approach assessed the viability of transitioning the Burnt Mills Industrial Estate to an eco-industrial park.

The RED IBIS approach develops a picture of an area’s resource strengths and material supply risks/opportunities. With a valuation of existing assets (companies, technologies, resources, skills, etc), the activities and investments that develop the local economy are identified: existing businesses are supported through improved resource and energy-efficiency and new investment is attracted with the opportunities presented by underutilised resources.

Internationally, the British Council is supporting International Synergies to work with BEBKA, the Bursa Eskişehir Bilecik Region, to develop a RED IBIS roadmap for implementation taking into account global experience and the specific context of the region.  The initial training visit 9-11 August 2016 is attended by 25 representatives of public and private sector.