Working to put North-East on global stage

Jul 21 2008 by Andrew Mernin, The Journal

In four years Nigel Perry has turned a small start-up organisation into a global force which has helped leverage over a £1bn of investment into the region. Now, as Andrew Mernin find outs, the Centre for Process Innovation is set to soar even higher following a merger which has brought Tyne and Tees together.

WHILE the North East’s transformation into a hi-tech, knowledge-based economy has been remarkable in the last decade, we still have a long way to go until we are taken seriously on a global stage.

That is the view of Nigel Perry, who has spent years fighting on the frontline in the region’s push towards new industries, new revenue and new jobs.

As chief executive of the Centre for Process Innovation, he has just overseen a merger which is expected to help bring £5m a year of investment into the region within five years.

He sees the coming together of the CPI based in Wilton, near Redcar, with the Centre of Excellence for Nano, Micro and Photonic Systems (Cenamps), in Newcastle as a major step towards putting the North East on the global process industry stage.

However, the head of the new-look CPI also believes there is still much to be done to make the North East a truly international player.

“This is a critical time in our development. It’s given us a platform to start accelerating and I’m very excited. We are trying to balance the need to be internationally capable and based in the North East.

“As the CPI grows we’re finding the best way to do that is by being one of the best places in the world to do certain things.”

Perry cites electronic printing as an example of a process which could one-day bring huge investment into the region.

He sees Singapore, Germany and the US as the places for the new-age process which is worth billions of pounds a year. His aim is to add North East England to this list.

“We are now looking for further investment, which is my role, and to grow our spinout companies which will generate wealth in the region.

“The region is a world force in manufacturing. The North East is recognised as a world class location for manufacturing but I’m talking about turning it into one of the places in the world.”

Fortunately, with a man with 25 years’ experience in engineering at the helm, the CPI and the region as a whole appears to be in good hands.

Perry was barely out of nappies when he made his decision to pursue a career in engineering.

As a four-year-old on a visit to Bristol, he stared in awe at one of Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s most iconic creations and declared to his parents that engineering was the life for him.

“Apparently I’ve always wanted to be an engineer. From the age of four when I saw the Clifton Suspension Bridge and announced to my parents that I wanted to build such things when I grew up.

“Technology, science and engineering have always fascinated me and engineering was my first choice career.”

As Perry grew from boy to man, his career decision made at a very young age didn’t falter and went on to study engineering at Oxford.

At the end of his course, a doctorate beckoned for the budding Brunel – until a former mass-employer in these parts came knocking.

The Liverpudlian was summoned to join ICI, where he would later go on to enjoy a career spanning over two decades in engineering, technology, and business management. His first assignment at the chemicals firm, which once employed thousands of people in the North East, took him into high altitude.

“I had the opportunity of doing a doctorate at Oxford but ICI asked me to go and work in Switzerland.”

It was here that the 51-year-old learned some valuable lessons which helped carry him up to the lofty position he enjoys today.

“I was a very young and wet behind the ears when I went to Switzerland to develop steam turbines. The quality, care and thoroughness that goes into Swiss engineering set a benchmark for me from the word go.

“I was lucky in what I was doing, as the techniques and approach had featured largely in my research project at Oxford which meant I could make a real contribution from the start and so got to understand and see much more.

“I worked in an office with 14 engineers, only one of which was Swiss – the rest were German, Danish, and Italian with several people travelling in from Germany daily. This impressed me as the skills were clearly needed and appreciated, and the employees clearly valued working there.”

When not working, the ICI man took to the Swiss mountains and even picked up the local lingo, and he admits that his basic German became Swiss German which he says can still be detected today.

Eventually Perry came down from the mountains and his ICI career dealing with project development and major investment took him East to Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia and West to America.

In 2002 he left ICI and joined PricewaterhouseCoopers’s (PwC) consultancy arm in London. His role as a hi-tech strategy consultant dealing with the evolution of electronics was in stark contrast to his ICI career.

“In ICI I was a very senior manager and had a significant team working for me. When I was in consulting it was just me, which was very important in terms of teaching me about process development. ”

Just as Perry left ICI amid times of mass upheaval at the firm, his PwC career also ended in similar circumstances of certainty. In 2002 the company demerged its consultancy arm, renamed it Monday and, according to reports at the time, spent £75m on making it a successful venture.

A slogan for the new brand read: “Monday: Start fresh, a new name to be proud, know what counts, talk out loud, enjoy the ride.”

But the ride didn’t last long.

The new name was intended to create connotations of a fresh start to the working week but, within days, received criticism from various quarters who linked the brand to everything negative associated with Monday.

Hangovers, lack of motivation, sleeping through your alarm and even the Boomtown Rats song I don’t like Mondays all became part of the criticism from brand experts and industry representatives.

Finally, weeks after the new brand was launched, the consultancy arm was sold to IT firm IBM for £2.2bn in cash and stock, and the Monday brand died just weeks after its birth.

Perry recalls: “Monday only existed for about five minutes before people realised that it wasn’t a great name, largely because of the song I don’t like Mondays.

“It lasted a very short time – it was one of the fastest brand recognitions in the world but it was also one of the shortest lived. Within a matter of weeks they changed the name and it was sold to IBM.”

Eventually, Perry found himself at a little-known start-up called the CPI. He was one of five top businessmen appointed to lead different centres of excellence as part of a £200m bid to make the North East an international force in scientific research and development.

The organisation quickly grew and today employs around 80 people following the merger and has leveraged more than £1bn worth of investment into the region and has itself pumped £45m into the North East economy.

The CPI chief, who sees the recent merger as a major milestone in his career, says he has witnessed a hugely positive shift in the region’s economy over the last five years.

He says: “There’s been a revolution. I think attitude has changed and there’s an excitement here. In 2002 there was a stagnation taking place but since then there have been a number of successes.

“The regional image campaign has had a great effect. I have the opportunity of working round the country and someone recently said to me ‘I don’t know what you are doing in the North East but you have stopped looking to everybody else to solve your problems and whingeing and you are doing it yourselves’.

“We are driving forward globally and we have started to set the pace.”

As a 51-year-old, Perry could potentially have one or two big moves left in his career but in the meantime he seems content to continue the good work he has already achieved for the North East.

He says: “I’d like to stay with CPI for quite a while yet as I am even more excited about our potential than when I started – it just gets better and I want to see us contribute even more to the region.”

THE QUESTIONNAIRE

What car do you drive?

Audi AllRoad plus a Triumph Stag

What's your favourite restaurant?

The Valley Restaurant, Corbridge

Who or what makes you laugh?

I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue

What's your favourite book?

Currently, anything by Stuart McBride

What was the last album you bought?

Believe it or not, the latest Coldplay

If you had a talking parrot, what's the first thing you would teach it to say?

Always look on the bright side (of life)

What's your greatest fear?

Even now, that there are some exams that I’ve forgotten about!

What's the best piece of business advice you have ever received?

Look after your people

And the worst?

Fear is a great motivator for getting the best out of people

What's your poison?

Wine and the occasional whisky

What newspapers do you read, other than The Journal?

The Sunday Times

How much was your first pay packet and what was it for?

Can’t remember the amount but it was as a relief postman in Liverpool over Christmas

How do you keep fit?

By going to the gym (which I hate) and skiing

What's your most irritating habit?

Not realising I haven’t said something when I’m convinced I have!

What's your biggest extravagance?

The Triumph Stag – see above

Which historical or fictional character do you most identify with or admire?

Brunel

Which four famous people would you most like to dine with?

Gandhi, Martin Johnson, Brian Johnson, Nelson Mandela

How would you like to be remembered?

As someone who helped others achieve their potential