Economic Data and Research
To be successful, regional economic policy needs to be based on
a regular flow of accurate and reliable information. The
Regional Intelligence Unit (RIU) is a dedicated resource maintained
by the NWDA's research team for the benefit of the NWDA and its
partner organisations. Through a web portal, the RIU Extranet, the team collects,
analyses and disseminates regional information in order to present
an accurate and continuously updated picture of the socio-economic
and environmental structure of Northwest England.
More in-depth intelligence about the Northwest is also available
for approved web users through the RIU Extranet. Approved users may be
businesses or other organisations in the region.
The RIU's principal activities focus on:
- Collation of published data and research from a wide range of
sources
- Strategic research
- Dissemination of information via the RIU Extranet
- The Regional Economic Forecasting Panel provides economic
forecasting by a panel of experts based on their analysis of
supplied economic data. Reports are published quarterly and are
available to businesses and the public sector.
The RIU also has a wide range of tools and in-house
expertise. They include:-
- Official Census Repository (1991 and 2001)
- Database of 207,000 Northwest companies
- Economic, strategic and statistical analysis
- Research, data mining, web development and Geographical
Information Systems (GIS) capabilities
- Digital aerial photography covering the entire
Northwest
To find out more about the work of the team or to contact the
team directly please visit www.nwriu.co.uk