As the region’s largest pan-regional business forum, the Midlands Economic Summit brings together over 500 business, academic and public sector leaders. It acts as a crucible for thought leadership, adds strength to a cohesive regional voice and inspires collaborative action for inclusive, sustainable growth.
Coming at a time of ongoing challenge for the Midlands and UK economies, this year’s Summit – held on 10 June at the Vox Conference Centre Birmingham, Solihull – was an opportunity to show the increasing volume and influence of the region’s voice. It also highlighted the vast scale of opportunity in the Midlands and the potential for impact through collaborative action at a pan-regional scale.
Sharing Multiple Views On The Midlands
The Summit offered a packed agenda, including international perspectives from His Excellency the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to the UK, Miguel Berger, and Consul General of India in Birmingham, Dr Venkatachalam Murugan.
Featuring interviews with the new mayors of the East Midlands and West Midlands, and panel sessions with industry, academic and public sector leaders, the Summit highlighted the Midlands’ strengths and potential to:
• Lead innovation by driving the energy transition, transforming the food system and harnessing the benefits of the AI revolution – with unrealised opportunities to increase investment in innovations that will help tackle the region’s productivity gap.
• Attract investment into fast-growing ‘new economy clusters’ through partnership initiatives including the Midlands Investment Portfolio, showcasing £47bn worth of investment opportunities across the region, and the ‘Universities as Drivers of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)’ Midlands campaign to leverage and strengthen university partnerships in overseas target markets to attract investment into university science and R&D.
“The Midlands understands innovation, enterprise and thinking forward. We are the disruptors of tomorrow.”
Ninder Johal, Nachural
Focusing On Collaborative Action
The Summit highlighted business priorities and pinpointed a wide range of opportunities and challenges for regional and national leaders and policymakers to address.
International Opportunities
• There is clearly an appetite in many countries to develop stronger links with the Midlands.
• The German Ambassador emphasised the opportunity to increase trade between Germany and the UK – particularly to build business-to-business contacts, including by leveraging the 150 existing university partnerships and existing business relationships.
• The India Consul General highlighted that India is the fastest growing major economy globally and mentioned the West Midlands India Partnership as an example of important and growing ties between the UK and India.
Business Engagement
• Support for engagement opportunities, particularly for SMEs, was highlighted as a priority for businesses, alongside action to strengthen business conditions in the region – including infrastructure, skills development, supply of land and premises, and the planning system.
• Business-to-business engagement and engagement between businesses and the knowledge base, including universities, can enhance business investment and scale-up opportunities, including via the adoption and spread of new technologies.
Skills and Young People
• People are considered to be the region’s primary asset and developing the skills needed to deliver the energy transition and harness the benefits of the AI revolution is the number one priority.
• It was noted that, “85% of the people companies will need to recruit in the future will work in jobs that have not been invented yet.” Carmen Watson, Pertemps
• This requires effective ‘collaboraction’ between further and higher education and businesses Marika Beckford, BMET, and raising the ambitions of children and young people, enabled by high-quality vocational and academic education.
• With its innovation strengths, the Midlands has an important role as a centre for vocational training.
The Importance of Place
• Achieving sustainable, inclusive growth relies heavily on devolved, integrated, place-based approaches, with partnership and people at their heart.
• There are many innovative examples being developed across the region and elsewhere as well as opportunities to unlock major institutional investment.
“The people drive this region and make it a great success, and what we’ve got to do is give them the hope that […] the places they live in have a very prosperous future.”
Richard Parker, West Midlands Mayor
Connectivity
• Integrated strategic infrastructure planning across energy, transport and digital is critical – aligned to the region’s innovative growth clusters and other investment opportunities, including in the visitor economy.
Co-investment and Partnership
• Public sector co-investment through collaboration and partnership is required to overcome decades of under-investment in the region – creating investment propositions at scale to unlock institutional and global investment.
• In addition to the Midlands Investment Portfolio, the Midlands Green Bond is another example of partners coming together to unlock investment via a pilot bond to finance major public and private sector green capital projects through which pensions and insurers can invest locally.
“With the UK one of the richest countries in the world, we need to ensure that the investment capital reaches the right places – achieved via a partnership between government and the private sector and a strong business case.” Sir John Peace, Chairman, Midlands Engine Partnership
Universities as Drivers of FDI
• Midlands universities play a key role in the growth of the region’s innovation clusters, as convening nodes within the innovation ecosystem, as drivers of overseas investment and as generators of innovative spin-out companies.
• Midlands Mindforge – an initiative of Midlands Innovation universities to create a patient capital investment vehicle to provide capital and company-building skills to university spin-outs and early-stage IP rich businesses – is just one example of how Midlands universities are working together in
“‘partnership with purpose’ based on aligned vision and doing things differently together.” Professor Katie Normington, Vice Chancellor, De Montfort University
Committing To Working Together
Looking at how the collaborative action needed across the region might be taken, the Summit highlighted the opportunities of devolution. The new East Midlands Mayor, Clare Ward, and the new West Midlands Mayor, Richard Parker, committed to working together to advocate for the Midlands and collaborate on priorities including east-west connectivity and workforce development.
Claire Ward, Mayor of the East Midlands, said:
“As Mayors for the West and East Midlands, Richard and I will be working closely with businesses and other regional partners to attract investment that delivers for people across the Midlands as a whole – creating good jobs, decent homes and a transport system that works for all.”