Think Yorkshire is a think tank that is in the process of being set up by Yorkshire business people, academics, politicians and representatives of the regional Trades Union Congress. The aim is to generate policy ideas to improve the economic and social well-being of Yorkshire. It will provide an analysis of the state of Yorkshire across a wide spectrum of policy areas such as business, productivity, employment, education and skills, health, housing, the rural economy and the arts.
The idea sounds good and evidenced-based research is something that we really need here in Yorkshire to be able to make soundly based policy decisions. There are many challenges, though. From our own research, we have found that raw data is often difficult to come by and, even when you can find it, there are sometimes questions around how the figures were arrived at in the first place. If this new organization can provide accurate, original research related to Yorkshire which is made available to all, then it will provide a significant, essential resource for the whole region.
Details of how to support Think Yorkshire can be found on the website thinkyorkshire.org.