There cannot be many of you around York now who have not heard about the Science City York initiative.

It was set up seven years ago and launched in the Guildhall by Science Minister, Lord Sainsbury of Turville.

Since then, its success has seen the creation of 60 new technology companies and more than 2,600 jobs. There are now more than 240 science and technology (S&T) firms based in and around York with 9,000 people in technology occupations, representing about ten per cent of the workforce.

Importantly, these are "quality" jobs and for each person recruited from outside the area another one is drawn from the local community - which is one reason why York's current unemployment figure (1.2 per cent) is so low.

It is perhaps not surprising, then, that such a successful initiative should catch the attention of politicians; in this case no less than that of Gordon Brown, Chancellor of the Exchequer, who has announced six science cities (Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and York) within the last year. Telling a city that it is a "science city" is one thing, but knowing what to expect from it is something quite different and it has by no means been clear what was intended when the announcements were made.

And "no" there is no new money - at least, not yet! It would seem that the onus is on the six cities to show how, individually or in partnership, they could add value and improve economic growth and prosperity through the better use of S&T.

Ever in the vanguard, Science City York took the initiative and proposed the first ever Science Cities Workshop, which was held at the National Railway Museum last week.

The invitation-only workshop was attended by about ten high-level representatives from each of the six cities, representing Regional Development Agencies, Universities, City Councils and other key players including Treasury and DTI.

The 80-plus people present all understood the potentially great significance of this initiative, directed to improving the UK economy in the face of relentless and strengthening global competition.

The day was chaired by Richard Lambert, former editor of the Financial Times, a member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee and who headed the influential Lambert Report on business-university collaboration. He introduced the first key speaker, Dr Henry Etzkowitz, from New York, and one of the world's leading gurus on the impact of S&T on economic development. He pointed to international models of successful "science city" development.

Lord Sainsbury followed and highlighted five issues:

Local planners should understand better the dynamics of science cities

Top, research-led universities have a key role to play in S&T-driven economic development

Science cities should work to create a broad base of jobs

Young professionals are extremely mobile and therefore demand quality working environments

Science cities need to be "connected cities" with first class transport and global links.

John Healey MP (Financial Secretary to the Treasury), emphasised the importance of S&T based economic development and the crucial role of universities. He pointed to the need for regionally-led policy on science cities and the expectation of well-argued, evidence-based proposals for action.

In anticipation of this, the core of the day was taken up with workshops dedicated to thrashing out key future actions.

Science City York is already well established and likely to develop even more vigorously over the next few years. It should take some satisfaction from being responsible for creating another little bit of history last week through hosting the first meeting of all six UK science cities - an initiative we are likely to hear more about.

Updated: 10:54 Wednesday, September 28, 2005