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The South East has a Gross Value Added (GVA) of £158 billion (approx $290 billion / €230 billion). This is similar to that of Norway and Austria. |
With a population of eight million and a workforce of 4.2 million, the South East is the largest region in the UK. |
Approximately 287,200 VAT registered enterprises are present in the South East, more than any other UK region. |
The South East is the largest exporter in the UK, with £29 billion (approx $52 billion / €41 billion) of goods moved in 2004. |
The labour force is highly educated with 90% of the working age population holding an academic qualification and over one third of the workforce holding a degree. |
Workers with good language skills are readily available in the region due to the truly international workforce of 585,000 people who were born outside of the UK. |
Around nine working days a year are lost per employee due to sickness, the lowest amount for a UK region. |
The region is home to 24 universities and higher education institutes, where nearly 200,000 study. This includes the University of Oxford, one of the most prestigious universities in the world. |
South East universities work very closely with business, with over 2800 research conracts won annually, higher than any other UK region. |
The region's 24 universities and higher education institutes supply over 73,000 graduates per annum. |
£4.66 billion (approx $3.06 billion / €2.43 billion) is spent on R&D annually, nearly one quarter of UK expenditure. |
South East organisations undertaking R&D employ 45,800 people, which is almost 25% of the UK R&D workforce. |
The South East has the highest number of patents granted in the UK. The statistics show that 820 patents, over 20% of the UK total were granted to firms based in the South East in 2004-5. |
There are 6,540 foreign-owned companies in the South East. |
With three international airports, 11 sea ports, 108 motorway junctions, 77 train stations and access to the Channel Tunnel, the South East has one of the most extensive transport infrastructures in Europe. |
Heathrow, the world's busiest international passenger airport, is home to over 90 airlines serving approximately 186 destinations. It handles over 67 million passengers and 1.3 million tonnes of freight each year. |
It takes 35 minutes to travel through the Channel Tunnel between the UK and mainland Europe. Most major towns in the South East are connected by rail to central London with a journey time of under an hour. |
Almost one third of the land in the South East (637,000 hectares) is designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), more than any other UK region. |
In 2004-5, the South East had the second lowest crime rate in England with 8,983 reported crimes per 100,000 people. |
94% of the South East population is in good or fairly good health, which is higher than any other UK region. |
Eurostar has set a record for the quickest train journey between Paris and London of just 2 hours, 3 minutes and 39 seconds, meaning a typical journey will take just over 2 hours when the line opens in November 2007. |
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| Oxford University opens £3m fertility centre |
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28 January 2010
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An innovative new centre dedicated to infertility and assisted reproduction has opened in the South East of England.
The Institute for Reproductive Sciences, which promises to be at the cutting edge of the field, is based in Cowley at the Oxford Business Park.
Together with the knowledge capital from Oxford University and the Oxford Fertility Unit, the site will also be a practical centre for developing techniques and exploring reproductive medicine as it is applied.
As well as featuring teaching laboratories and a Master's degree course, the site will look to develop practical applications for an issue which is said to affect around one in seven British couples.
Dr Enda McVeigh, Co-Director of the institute and a Senior Fellow in Reproductive Medicine at the university's Nuffield Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, hailed the £3 million site.
"The new Institute for Reproductive Sciences concentrates the best research and clinical provision of fertility treatments in one place, with state-of-the-art facilities that have been designed for this purpose," he said.
"Couples will be able to access the latest treatments, such as new embryo screening techniques that have been developed here, and we expect this concentration of research excellence will lead to further advances that will benefit even more couples in the future."
Dr Tim Child, also a Senior Fellow in Reproductive Medicine at the university and a co-director of the Institute for Reproductive Sciences, was similarly upbeat and said it could be a move benefitting both individual couples and the field of medicine.
"All IVF couples are offered the opportunity to become involved in research studies going on at the university, and people do get involved and interested in the science that could benefit others as well," he explained.
The new site will see the Oxford Fertility Unit move out of the Women's Centre of the John Radcliffe Hospital and into the more spacious, better-equipped setting.
One of many science parks in the region, Oxford Business Park is another example of the strong link between the region's academic excellence and the quality of the South East's bio-science industry.
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