Cornwall Marine Network supports local marine businesses to grow. We talk to you, our members, to understand the barriers you face to growing your business and use this evidence of demand from across the local marine area to bid for project funds which then pay for the staff and grants that can overcome these obstacles and help your business grow. The services we provide include support to help you develop productivity, introduce the process and product innovations into your business, new talents and training for you and your staff, and digital marketing recommendation. We also nurture meaningful connections between our members. Cornwall remains home to some of the world’s most innovative, cutting edge, and forward-thinking marine businesses and we listen and respond to your wants to create benefits, supply sector representation, and maintain this momentum of growth to benefit the local marine sector and the larger Cornish economy. Since the CMN team was first set up in 2005, we have supported you to create 3,000 new jobs, having won and delivered £30 Million of project funds, all of which have added around £315 Million of value to Cornwall’s economy.

CMN was formed by a group of Cornwall marine business leaders in 2002. CMN was established as a not-for-profit private company, limited by guarantee and so it is owned by our 300+ member businesses. This structure provides the ethos and integrity of the CMN model, we exist to help our members make more money, rather than make money from our members. Any trading surpluses are reinvested back into benefits for our members. The more members we have, the stronger the evidence of demand to influence our bids for project funds, meaning the more money we can win to provide services and support to you. Working together, the CMN model works and keeps growing. CMN is only now facing our first increase in membership fees for NEW members with a modest additional £50 per year. Our existing LOYAL members face no increase until at least 2023. CMN’s first success at winning project funds was in 2005 when an Objective One bid for more than £1 million allowed us to employ staff members and deliver marketing grants and skills improvements to members, directly creating 214 new jobs as a result. With the continued support of members, CMN has repeated this model of using evidence of the priority needs of the sector to bid for and win more than 100 projects, bringing £30 million to spend on members. The Cornwall Marine Academy (CMA) was created in 2008 to raise awareness of the wide range of career opportunities in the marine field, deliver vocational training and work experience to young people aged 10 to 24, and support their employability and progression into Apprenticeships or jobs. The Academy has supported more than 35,000 young people aged 10 to 25 with careers advice, taster sessions, vocational training, and pre-Apprenticeship training, supported by an army of 100 volunteer Marine Ambassadors from our members who share the meaningful hands-on experience of their own career progression and the job opportunities in the local sector. This has resulted in improvements to the supply of employable young people into the sector. The Cornwall Apprenticeship Agency (CAA) was established in 2012 when it was awarded a license to trade from the National Apprenticeship Service. The CAA offers businesses a unique and flexible low risk and low-cost approach to recruiting and training apprentices, providing impartial advice, specialist recruitment support, HR, and Apprentice payroll services. The CAA has helped us provide more than 1,350 new apprentices to local small businesses.

Cornwall Marine Network exists to help Cornish marine businesses grow. Our expert team knows the sector and the challenges. We will support you to:

• Identify areas of your business where productivity can be improved, then advise on the processes for achieving the improvements
• Improve the skills levels of your staff team by helping you understand your emerging skills needs, then provide you with a company training plan that signposts you to local training suppliers to provide the solutions you need
• Supply expert mentoring to help you introduce new processes and product innovations into your business
• Gain one-to-one advice on how to improve the effectiveness of your digital marketing and website
• Signpost you to funding occasions and support you with applications
• Network with local marine businesses
• Ensure Cornwall marine sector is represented at the national level
• Gain service excellence