The loss of any major employer from a region, especially a relatively (in South East UK terms) isolated and deprived one, is devastating. However, the loss of research and development and extremely high-value knowledge workers may have an irreversable impact on the economy and social fabric as a whole.

This is the case for East Kent, the South East of England's most deprived area, as this week Pfizer announced that it would be closing their facility near Sandwich with the loss of 2,400 R&D jobs.

How will Kent  and the UK governmentt be able to respond to this blow to Kent's ambitions to be a knowledge rich economy?

What will be the impact upon the universities of the county?

In our global economy, the knowledge workers will very likely leave the UK never to return.