Music was never a very big thing for me, but back at the start of my career in journalism, there were certainly a few ‘choons’ (I believe that’s the word the young people are using these days...) that stuck with me for a while.

As I stepped through the doors of the Ormskirk Advertiser in Church Street for my first day in print, the radio in the Currys shop next door was playing Reasons to be Cheerful by Ian Dury and the Blockheads. It’s an addictive celebration of the things that keep us happy - the bright spots in a sometimes challenging world.

As a fairly niche example, one of its lines was:

“The juice of a carrot, the smile of a parrot

A little drop of claret, anything that rocks”

No claret or carrot in today’s BUSINESSiQ, but certainly a few reasons to be cheerful. It’s one of those happy collisions of good news that we are now learning to celebrate.

First, we reveal two of the rising stars of the tech sector in the North East as Tech Nation gives out its awards, which shows what a rich seam of new talent we have here with new ideas and the experience to spot them and develop them.

Then today we announced a leap forward in bp’s involvement in the region, with an education partnership that could influence a generation and boost the local economy by a breathtaking £3.5billion. The news today is not just a physical investment in Redcar & Cleveland College’s new clean energy education hub, but a vote of confidence in our future as the energy tech capital of the UK.

That builds on the news earlier this week that Teesside is on a shortlist for a Jaguar Land Rover battery plant that could take another huge slice of the Teesworks site.

And as if they aren’t enough reasons to be cheerful - and they really should be - the Echo’s Level Up campaign is growing again (more news on that soon) and we are LIVE tomorrow with the second of our round-table debates. This is a chance for our partners believe housing, bp, Cummins, Durham County Council, North East England Chamber of Commerce, Tees Valley Combined Authority, Womble Bond Dickinson and YouFibre to have their say on key issues and work together for the good of the region.

Even with so much good news already happening, it is vital that our most powerful voices keep the investment spotlight shining clearly on the North East.

We’re already - always - united and collaborating to build a rock-solid sustainable future for generations to come.