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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 brainwave helps develop new treatments |
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26 February 2010
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Researchers at the Centre for Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain (FMRIB) have co-authored a new paper which focuses on how images of the brain can be used to understand more about particular diseases.
Drawing on existing techniques which use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans to reveal brain activity in particular circumstances or when performing certain tasks, the South-East-based experts have sought to establish a new means for examining brain activity.
Instead of asking volunteers to perform tasks and monitoring the resulting activity in the brain - known as functional MRI (fMRI) - the researchers have used "resting-state" fMRI.
In this method, people are simply required to lie under the scanner, with the researchers then using this resting state snapshot of the brain to compare against other subjects, removing some of the complications of identifying which elements are affecting the final image.
The scientists say this can help identify the characteristics behind a particular disease or condition.
Professor Steve Smith, Associate Director at FMRIB, explained: "If you're interested in a specific group of people or patients - say with Alzheimer's for example - you want to find any differences in brain activity that might be of interest, not just those involved in a specific task.
"With resting-state fMRI, you don't necessarily have to know what you're looking for."
The FMRIB team, which specialises in harnessing MRI for neuroscience research, recently won £8 million in backing from the Medical Research Council, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, Wolfson Foundation and University of Oxford to purchase and install cutting-edge MRI systems.
Now they hope to exploit the potential of the technique and their new apparatus, with Dr Clare Mackay and Professor Smith already identifying differences in young people's brain activity which were linked to an increased risk of Alzheimer's as a result of a gene variant.
That test was hailed by Dr Mackay as having the potential to lead towards a "tantalising prospect" - the ability to help distinguish who will go on to develop Alzheimer's.
The resting state fMRI is also being touted as a potential indicator for other differences in brain activity, helping to characterise factors like age, behaviour or disease progression.
Oxford's academic expertise has helped establish the South East region as a leader in medical technology, with the life sciences sector flourishing thanks to an array of highly skilled operators and a sophisticated industrial infrastructure.
Oxford University, for example, works with a wide range of companies which harness the knowledge capital within the institution.
Isis Innovation, the university's wholly-owned technology transfer company, files an average of one new patent per week and the total value of spin-out companies originating from the university is estimated at £2 billion.
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