State of the Region 2020 Full Report

In the WMCA total GVA continues to increase and in 2018 was £105.1bn, since 2017 this has increased at a higher rate than the UK average (4.0% growth compared to 3.4%). The WMCA accounts for 5.5% of the total UK GVA. 

GVA per head in the WMCA was £25,183 in 2018, below the UK average of £28,729 -leading to a £14.8bn output gap. The output gap is impacted by skills levels, employment levels and the productivity of our business base. Notably, the output gap has decreased since the previous year by nearly £44m. 

The WMCA has received 906 Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) projects from 2011/12 to 2018/19. This has led to the creation of over 50,000 new jobs from 2011/12 to 2018/19. The number of FDI projects in the WMCA area has more than doubled from 49 in 2011/12 to 131 in 2018/19. This far exceeds the average growth rate for the whole of the UK which grew by 26.7% in the same period. 

In 2018, the West Midlands 7 Met. area exported £16.6bn worth of goods across the world and imported £15.3bn, leading to a trade surplus of £1.3bn. The West Midlands 7 Met. area has a trade surplus with 53 countries, the highest was with the USA at +£2.9bn where £3.8bn worth of goods exported to the USA and £0.9bn imported from the USA –the largest trade surplus than any other NUTS 2 area.

The WM 7 Met. area had the second highest percentage of people who work satisfactory hours at 82.9% across all city regions, this is also above the UK average of 80.3% in 2018. When using two-thirds of the UK median pay to define the threshold of satisfactory pay, the WM 7 Met. was the third highest for residents in quality work at 74%.  

In 2018, the WMCA had a business base of 170,475 active enterprises, this has increased at a faster rate than the UK average growth (3.3% compared to 0.5%) since 2017. Positive trends can also be seen in enterprises births with the WMCA increasing to 24,640 (+1.7%) while the UK experienced a decreased (-0.3%). The WMCA enterprise births per 10,000 population is above the UK average (59 per 10,000 population compared to 58 for the UK).

79.3% of employees are earning above the Living Wage Foundation wage rates, which is below the UK average of 79.9%. However, when compared to 2018 the WMCA area has increased at a faster rate (+3pp compared to +2.8pp for the UK).

Annual levels of jobs have decreased since last year’s State of the Region down to 1.85 m people working in the WMCA area, with 1.16m employed in the transformational sectors and 699,100 in the enabling sectors in 2018. 

As seen in the following table, there were 5 sectors that have a higher percentage of jobs when compared to the England average, examples include; advanced manufacturing (11.3% vs 8.0%), retail (16.6% vs 15.3%) and logistics & transport technologies (5.9% vs 4.9%). The highest number change for the WMCA was seen in the public sector including education at 8,000 equating to a growth rate of 3.4% above the England average growth of 0.6%. 

As seen in the following table, there were 5 sectors that have a higher percentage of jobs when compared to the England average, examples include; advanced manufacturing (11.3% vs 8.0%), retail (16.6% vs 15.3%) and logistics & transport technologies (5.9% vs 4.9%). The highest number change for the WMCA was seen in the public sector including education at 8,000 equating to a growth rate of 3.4% above the England average growth of 0.6%. 

	WMCA 2017	WMCA 2018	% of Total	Difference	% Change (WMCA)	% of Total (Eng.)	% Change (Eng.)
Business, Professional & Financial Services	397,840	402,040	21.80%	4,200	1.10%	22.90%	0.50%
Retail	305,000	306,000	16.60%	1,000	0.30%	15.30%	1.50%
Public Sector Inc. Education	234,000	242,000	13.10%	8,000	3.40%	12.90%	0.60%
Life Sciences & Healthcare	243,000	239,000	12.90%	-4,000	-1.60%	12.70%	-0.40%
Advanced Manufacturing & Engineering	204,920	209,400	11.30%	4,480	2.20%	8.00%	0.30%
Cultural Economy Inc. Sports	160,100	135,150	7.30%	-24,950	-15.60%	9.90%	0.60%
Construction (Building Technologies)	125,000	121,000	6.60%	-4,000	-3.20%	7.10%	0.30%
Logistics & Transport Technologies	111,145	109,355	5.90%	-1,790	-1.60%	4.90%	2.40%
Digital & Creative	48,995	49,320	2.70%	325	0.70%	4.40%	-0.70%
Low Carbon & Environmental Technologies	32,325	28,615	1.60%	-3,710	-11.50%	1.80%	2.00%
Total	1,862,000	1,846,000	-16,000	-0.90%	0.60%
Transformational	1,163,225	1,158,730	63.00%	-4,495	-0.40%	61.90%	0.40%
Enabling	699,100	683,150	37.00%	-15,950	-2.30%	38.10%	0.60%

Growth Hubs assessing the impact of CV19 and development of sector plans Research Case study

The pandemic accelerated the need for greater granularity of intelligence, to help regional policymakers understand what decisions businesses were making and the need for real time qualitative and quantitative information. The 3 regional Growth Hubs put in place weekly surveying of businesses which enabled the capturing of data presented earlier in this report. 

The 3 LEPs also began the process of revising their sector plans and WMCA reviewed the Local Industrial Strategy, this process took on board the changing environment and developed an understanding of the local impacts. 

This review also necessitated an update of the baseline sector dashboards with summary data, assets and assessment of the strengths in the region. The following section is based on the developing Local Industrial Strategy sector plans and evidence for those plans

Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering –Summary Statistics

£16.4bnWMCA GVA is attributed to AME, which is 14.1% of the whole economy. This makes AME the second largest sector behind BPFS. The 2030 GVA ambition for this sector is £19.7bn

There are 209,400 jobs attributed to AME in the WMCA area, 11.3% of overall employment.

Since 2010, GVA in AME has grown 65% in the WMCA, far higher than the 24% growth for the sector in the UK overall.

Metals & Materials is the largest Advanced Manufacturing subsector in terms of GVA, jobs and businesses.

Sources:

• Business Register and Employment Survey (BRES)
• UK Business Counts
• Regional gross value added (balanced) by industry: all NUTS level regions
• Oxford Economic Model 

Automotive –Summary Statistics

Estimated £4.4bn GVA attributed to automotive manufacturing in WMCA.

46,500 jobs in the sub-sector locally. GBSLEP & CWLEP have the most automotive jobs of all English LEP areas.

390 businesses in the sub-sector locally.

Estimated £94,444 GVA per employee.

There is high location quotients across automotive SIC codes for the region, suggesting a significant cluster of activity compared to other parts of the UK.

This analysis is based on the SIC code 29, which underestimates the automotive manufacturing industry.

Automotive Industry Profile:

Our Competitive Advantage

Strong cluster presence with 20 vehicle manufacturing sites, 35 automotive and off-highway OEM brands

26 OEM Vehicle R&D Centres, 8 Automotive Centres of Excellence and 4 Low Carbon Centres of Excellence

Good access to auto supplier base

Good connectivity with well developed road and train network and international airport

The WM region has export expertise in machinery & transport goods (71% of all goods exports compared to 41% nationally)

High quality, sector focused science & research facilities and institutes

GBSLEP (22,000) & CWLEP (21,000) have the most automotive jobs of all LEP areas

The Midlands ranks as a top global destination for automotive FDI 

 

Products , Services & Brands

JLR’s Engine Manufacturing Centre is home to the high technology, low emission Ingenium diesel engine for the Range Rover Evoque, Discovery Sport and Jaguar XE cars

Geely LEVC’s factory for the TxeCity Taxi is the first UK purpose built factory for EVs

CAB Auto, IAC, Lear, IM Kelly, Grupo Antolinproduce interiors for major OEMs, including JLR, Aston Martin & Nissan

Leading location in UK for automotive R&D.; including CAV and EV battery and energy storage

CAB Auto’s seating goes into the cars of some of the biggest automotive manufacturers, including JLR, Aston Martin & Nissan

Rimstock PLC is a world leading producer of alloy wheels

The region produces 1/3 of all cars made in the UK

From 2014-2017, there were 82 successful WMCA FDI projects in automotive, creating 10,000 new jobs and safeguarding a further 3,000

In 2017-18, successful FDI investments have included:

Aston Martin Lagonda130,000sqft unit

Geely LEVC –new HQ & factory open

JLR Gaydon –Triangle and NVH

 

Centres of Excellence/Assets

Innovation:

Advanced Propulsion Centre, University of Warwick

National Automotive Innovation Centre (NAIC), University of Warwick 

The National Transport Design Centre, Coventry

HORIBA-MIRA Consultancy and MIRA Technology Park 

Battery Prototype Centre, Warwick

Wton Science, Technology & Prototyping Centre

UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC)

Wton Science, Technology & Prototyping Centre

Changan UK Research and Development Facility

SMMT Industry Forum

Training:

Rolls-Royce University Technology Centre, Birmingham 

EEF Technology Training Centre

WMG Academy for Young Engineers

Black Country Skills Factory

Lloyds Bank Advanced Manufacturing Centre

Institute for Advanced Manufacturing

Production Processes:

Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC)

Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG)

Rail Summary Statistics:

Estimated £34m GVA attributed to rail manufacturing in WMCA. The 2030 ambition for this sector is £38m

360jobs in the sub-sector locally.

69% of WMCA rail jobs are in CWLEP (250).

Rail is small sub-sector of transport & machinery manufacturing, making up 0.3% of GVA and jobs in this sub-sector.

Rail manufacturing has an LQ of 1.2 in the WMCA.

This data reflects the SIC code: 30.20 Manufacture of railway locomotives and rolling stock, which understates the extent of rail activity in the area. Wider evidence suggests a much broader rail sector locally, with a stronger cluster of activity in the WM region than suggested here.

Rail Industry Profile:

Our Competitive Advantage

HS2–2 West Midlands stations will add £3bn GVA to the local economy.

OnTrack WM –rail supply chain virtual procurement tool (a part of HVM City). 

High quality, sector focused science & research facilities and institutes, including very light rail research; battery and energy storage R&D.

Good connectivity with well developed road and train network and international airport

Cluster of rail construction specialists & consultancies (AECOM, TDI etc) & presence of international transport advisors(Arup, WSP, Atkins etc)

The WM region has export expertise in machinery & transport goods(71% of all goods exports compared to 41% nationally).

Heavy cross-over relationships with significant local automotive/aerospace/other manufacturing activity.  WMCA cluster of all this manufacturing (particularly transport) activity has an agglomeration affect for the rail sector. 

The intertwined nature of these industries means that many firms won’t work explicitly in the rail sector. This ensures that the activity figures suggested using SIC code analysis often under estimates the size & impact of the sector locally 

Lightweighting and battery/energy storage expertise

Rail creates high quality jobs within the region. 

 

Products , Services & Brands

HS2 HQ -based in Birmingham, for HS2 construction and supply chain, national control centre and rolling stock centre. 

Wabtec AM Rail -provide signalling services for the UK market and rail consultancy through out the UK and globally.

AECOM–Rail construction specialists. 

DK Rewinds –Specialise providing parts and repairing traction motors that power Central line trains to London.

Wednesbury to Brierley Hill Metro Extension  

OnTrackWM

Midland Metro will see the country’s first battery-operated trams on the streets in 2019

Between 2014-17 there was 2 major FDI projects, creating 70 jobs

HQ of Rail Alliance

National High Speed Rail College will be creating 300 engineers of the future every year. 

VLR Innovation Centre & Rail Line

Major HS2 contractors setting up bases in and around the region (Balfour Beatty, VINCI etc). 

Light rail test facilities at the QRTC (Quinton Rail Technology Centre), Long Marston

 

Centres of Excellence/Assets

Innovation:

• Birmingham Centre for Rail Research and Education
• UK Railway Research and Innovation Network (UKRRIN) led by University of Birmingham.
• WMG at the University of Warwick -very light rail; battery and energy storage
• Very Light Rail Innovation Centre & Test Track
• Quinton Rail Technology Centre -the only private test track in the UK. 
• The National Transport Design Centre, Coventry
• MIRA Technology Park
• Advanced Propulsion Centre
• Wton Science, Technology & Prototyping Centre
• UKBIC (UK Battery Industrialisation Centre)

Production: 

• Institute For Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering
• Manufacturing Technology Centre

Training:

• Network Rail Training Centre, Walsall  
• National College for High Speed Rail, Aston
• EEF Technology Training Centre
• WMG Academy for Young Engineers 

Metals and Materials Summary Statistics

£5.8bn GVA attributed to Metals and Materials in WMCA, 5.5% of total. With a 2030 ambition of £6.1bn

67,250jobs in the sub-sector locally, 3.6% of WMCA total.

£86,141 GVA per employee in this sub-sector, higher than the average for the region of £56,908.

1,575 businesses in this sub sector

Only measuring for SIC codes 22-25 ensures that much activity that is primarily for the metals & materials sector is not recorded. 

Our Competitive Advantage

Historic presence within metals & materials manufacturing & metals treatment, leading to a significant concentration of infrastructure like furnaces and foundries. 

Leading innovation from the region’s universities is helping develop materials for industrial use and future applications. 

The significant presence of automotive, aerospace and rail in the area ensures a strong number of metals & materials firms, feeding into these industries’ supply chains. There is widespread demand for these products locally. 

Good connectivity with well developed road and train network and international airport

Highly concentrated industry in WM

Major infrastructure investments in the region (HS2 etc).

The West Midlands has the largest concentration of materials related jobs in the UK. (WMGC)

The WM region has export expertise in machinery & transport goods (71% of all goods exports compared to 41% nationally)

Representation from key industry bodies locally –e.g. UK Metals Council, RAPRA

 

Products , Services & Brands

Assa Abloy -World’s largest lock manufacturer

Mitsubishi Chemical Carbon Fiber and Composites –Key suppliers in manufacturing specialist materials. 

Nord Composites –Major composite material business, specialising in sealant and adhesive materials.

Precision Chains make the chains for the London Underground escalators.

RMD Kwikform helped install the roof of the Aquatics Centre for London 2012.

ZF Lemforder’s Darlaston factory supplies suspension control arms to Jaguar,

 

Centres of Excellence/Assets

Innovation:

The National Transport Design Centre, Coventry

MIRA Technology Park

Advanced Propulsion Centre 

Wton Science, Technology & Prototyping Centre

Rolls-Royce University Technology Centre, Birmingham

Engineering and Computer Science Research Centre 

Automotive Composites Research Centre

Production: 

Institute For Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering

Warwick Manufacturing Group

Manufacturing Technology Centre

Advanced materials characterisation and simulation hub (AMCASH) 

Alternative Raw Materials with Low Impact

Training:

EEF Technology Training Centre

WMG Academy for Young Engineers 

Black Country Skills Factory

Food and Drink Manufacturing Summary Statistics

£796mGVA attributed to food & drink manufacturing (FDM) in WMCA. The 2030 ambition for this sub-sector is £2.05bn. 

16,350 jobs in the sub-sector locally, with an ambition to have 22,000 in 2030. 

There are 500 businesses in the sub-sector locally, making up 0.3% of total businesses in the area.

£48,685 GVA per employee.

A 2017 report by the Food & Drink Federation suggests that the West Midlands region has had the greatest long-term growth in FDM of the 12 UK regions/

The report finds that the West Midlands share of national FDM GVA rose from 6% in 1997 to 9% in 2015 –the largest percentage point rise of all regions.

Our Competitive Advantage

Access to a large domestic market, a long pedigree in production and R&D and a first-class logistical network.

Supply chain centre with large cluster of logistics companies and major supermarkets distribution.

Skills and experience in the food supply chain and processing. 

Good connectivity with well developed road and train network and international airport.

Strong food and drink within local universities, notably Birmingham University’s Formulation Engineering Department and UCB’s Food Innovation Facility.

Strong tradition of photonics R & D

Leader in food and drink machinery & equipment

A strong base of fast growing SMEs and micro businesses which are driving growth and job creation. 

 

Products, Services & Brands

Birthplace of great British food and drink icons Cadbury, Typhoo Tea, Bird’s Custard & Marston's. 

East End Foods alone produces 30,000 lines for more than 3,500 retailers and is one of the largest importers and suppliers of ethnic foods in Europe. 

Mondelez International houses its global chocolate research and development centre at Bournville. 

Healthy levels of inward investment, with over 25 new food and drink FDI projects in the West Midlands since 2009 

Burton-on-Trent is the home of brewing in the UK

 

Centres of Excellence/Assets

Innovation:

W’ton Science, Technology & Prototyping Centre

Engineering and Computer Science Research Centre 

Food Science research at University College Birmingham

UCB’s Food Innovation Facility

Production: 

Institute For Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering

Warwick Manufacturing Group

Manufacturing Technology Centre

Birmingham University’s Formulation Engineering Department

Food and Drink Advanced Manufacturing Project, James Watt College (BMET)

Food Technology Hub for Skills Excellence, University College Birmingham

Training:

EEF Technology Training Centre

WMG Academy for Young Engineers 

Black Country Skills Factory

Business,Professional and Financial Services Summary Statistics

£27.8bnWMCA GVA is attributed to BPFS, which is 26.5% of the whole economy. This makes BPFS the largest sector in the WMCA area. 

There are 354,600jobs attributed to BPFS in the WMCA area, 19.2% of overall employment. This ensures BPFS is the largest sector for employment also.

41,865 businesses attributed to BPFS in the WMCA, 28.9% of all businesses in the area –the largest of any sector.

The sector also contributes £28.8bn in GVA to the region.

GVA per employee of£78,364, above the average of £56,908.

Financial Services Industry Profile

Our Competitive Advantage

Re-location of large firms (HSBC)

Birmingham is the only full-service UK offering outside London where any services can be accessed

Strong talent pool & excellent links to London

UK’s largest regional banking and professional services cluster.

Readily available cutting-edge city centre office space in new developments across the region. 

More business students –16,275 –than any city outside London. 

City-Redideep dive found that the West Midlands has a different distribution of occupations to the national picture, with a higher skilled, higher value profile of occupations. 

The recent growth in building offer such as Snowhill frees up other high quality offices and there is a movement up the value chain, this opens up better office accommodation for the growing mid tier(City –Redi deep dive)

 

Products , Services & Brands

Home to HSBC’s new ring-fenced UK banking headquarters

Deutsche Bank

Major banking offices such as Lloyds Bank & Barclays

Full-service offering

Services match local specialisation and the local client base, i.e. advanced manufacturing advice and guidance, exporting etc.

Islamic Finance -Britain’s first sharia compliant retail bank is headquartered in Birmingham

 

Centres of Excellence/Assets

Business Schools

Warwick Business School

Birmingham Business School

Aston Business School

Coventry Business School

Wolverhampton Business School

Colleges

Professional Services Academy, BMet

Trade Representatives

BPS Birmingham 

The City UK 

LEP Programmes/Investment 

Invest Black Country

DY5 Enterprise Zone

Black Country Growth Hub

i9 Wolverhampton

Black Country Transformational GOLD

Friargate, Coventry 

Black Country Innovation Fund (pipeline)

Wolverhampton City Council Broadband (pipeline)

Construction Summary Statistics

£7.1bn GVA attributed to construction in WMCA, with  2030 ambition of £10.9bn. 

121,000 jobs in the sector locally. In 2030, the ambition is to have 234,000 construction jobs in the WMCA area.

The majority (69%) of jobs & GVA (89%) appear within the ‘Building Construction and Engineering’ SIC code category.

Construction GVA has grown faster in the UK overall than in the WMCA over the past 8 years, but slower in the past 4 years. 

Analysis produced using SIC codes 41, 42, 43 and 81. The following SIC codes that make up the Mining and Quarrying sub sector are also.

Construction Industry Profile

Our Competitive Advantage

Major infrastructure investment in the region (i.e. HS2). 

Ambition to build 215,000 homes by 2031, with backing from government through a Housing Deal. 

SIA identified “Sustainable Construction” as one of four Market Strengths. 

R&D and commercial deployment by industry of energy efficient and lower carbon building technologies.

Opportunities of BIM technologies, building materials and technologies, and zero-carbon building and efficiency measures.

High LQ’s confirm presence of a construction sector in WMCA (see next slide) 

Links in well with significant presence of manufacturing sectors. 

 

Products , Services & Brands

Homeserve PLC provide home emergency and repair services to over 7 m homes worldwide. 

A Balfour Beatty joint venture has be awarded HS2 contracts valued at circa £2.5 billion.

Barhale was awarded a £21 m contract by the ODA, to design and construct a primary foul sewer and pumping station, as part of the Olympic Park development.

 

Centres of Excellence/Assets

University Centres

The Built Environment, Information Systems & Learning Technology Research Centre, University of Wolverhampton

The Centre for Environment and Society Research (CESR),Birmingham City University. 

The Centre for Low Impact Buildings, Coventry University

Institute for Future Transport and Cities, Coventry 

Department of Civil Engineering at UoB

Colleges

Stourbridge College Construction Centre

University of Wolverhampton’s Springfield Campus, home to the West Midlands Construction UTC. 

Other

HS2’s national construction HQ

Alternative Raw Materials with Low Impact

LEP Programmes/Investment

School of Architecture and Built Environment (SOABE)

Dudley Brownfield Land Improvement Phase 1

Dudley Advance and Innovation Centre

Creative Industries Summary Statistics

Estimated £5.8bnGVA attributed to the creative industries sector in the WMCA. The 2030 ambition for this sector is £38m

65,375jobs in the sub-sector locally.

53% of jobs are in CWLEP.

10,925businessesacross the WMCA in this sector.

GVA per employee of £88,635

 

Super Strengths

Games Production

10% of UK games industry, significant major games companies in region, strong connections into digital manufacturing

Next Generation Content Creation

Strengths in Innovative and Immersive Content Creation amplified by our Young, Digital and Diverse population and BBC3 moving its youth programming to the region

Creative Collaboration

Identified strengths in creative and cross-sectoral collaborations are driving growth across all sectors

Design

Substantial advertising and marketing  sector with strengths including web, product and fashion design, PR and data analysis

Designer-Makers

Largest Jewellery, high-value ‘designer maker’ and crafts cluster in UK, including hand crafting within automotive production

Creative Industry Profile

Our Competitive Advantage

Nationally significant Games Cluster centred on Leamington Spa, more than 10% of UK gaming jobs

Substantial strengths around Advertising & Marketing, Design ICT & Web-based services

Strengths in Next Generation Content Creation amplified by our Young and Diverse population as creators of ‘content, experiences, services and originals’

Largest high-value Designer-Maker, Jewellery and crafts cluster in UK, includes hand-crafting for automotive

Strengths in Creative and Cross-sectoral Collaboration,with new creative specialisms and a diverse ecosystem, will drive product development and growth (NESTA 2018)

5G Test Bed give’s first-mover advantages to region

Strong Digital & Tech sector compliments our creatives

Digbeth has one of the largest creative clusters in the UK

Significant cultural cluster centred around ‘Performance’, theatre and dance

Commonwealth Games and Coventry City of Culture will drive our region’s profile and investability beyond 2022

Start-ups and SMEs benefit from attractive business costs, expert professional advice and access to centres of academic excellence; Emerging potential as a High-End Production Centre 

 

Products , Services & Brands

DCA Design one of the world’s leading product design and development consultancies

Codemasters one of the UK’s most successful games developers with global success for McCrae, F1 and Forza

SEGA Hardlight–for all of SEGAs mobile game products

Ubisoft–games developer, including the DJ Hero game

Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented reality (AR)Market Leaders -including Holosphere and Daden

BBC3 bases production of its youth channel in the region

Father Brown, produced at BBC Birmingham, now sells to an extraordinary 220 territories worldwide

Major Performance Organisations -including Royal Shakespeare Company and Birmingham Royal Ballet

Film Birmingham, Studio facilities, Location Services for high-end production and a 700 strong freelance database

 

Centres of Excellence/Assets

University Centres:

STEAMhouse (BCU, Birmingham)

International Centre of Excellence Serious Games Institute Centre of Disruptive Media (Coventry)

National Institute of Coding (Coventry)

With many other centres  with strong industry links…

Other Centres:

BBC Academy

Digbeth Creative Quarter: 350+ businesses in Birmingham

Birmingham Jewellery ‘designer maker’ Quarter, largest in UK

Creative Quarter, Leamington Spa (pipeline)

Performance Cluster centred on Royal Shakespeare Company 

International Dance Cluster, centred on Birmingham Royal Ballet and International Dance Festival

Birmingham Ormiston Academy –regional centre for digital, creative & performing arts

Birmingham Metropolitan College: Digital & Creative Career College

26HT Business Incubator

Well-coordinated and creatively driven propositions around skills, both formal and informal: Creative Alliance, BOA, BMet Digital & Creative Career College, Quickcode Labs. 

Digital Infrastructure:

Region-wide 5G Test Bed , 1-10Gb Fibre across parts of region

Life Sciences and Healthcare Industries Summary Statistics

£8.8bn GVA, 244,940 jobs and 6,730 businesses

5thlargest UK concentration of life sciences employment –after the ‘golden triangle’ (London-Cambridge-Oxford) and the North West (HMG, 2016)

Established medical technologies cluster, covering the R&D, design and production of devices, diagnostics and software as a medical device (SQW, 2017)

Established clinical trials capability including cost effective access to a integrated clinical and genomic data sets for a diverse patient population and trials networks for accelerated trials (IBM-PLI, 2017)

Competitiveness for FDI in high value medical technologies R&D and manufacture drawing on regional strengths advanced manufacturing and digital (source: IBM-PLI, 2017)

Life Sciences and Healthcare Industry Profile

 

Our Competitive Advantage

Industry strengths and global competitiveness for FDI in high tech medical devices R&D and manufacture drawing on region’s innovative and high tech manufacturing capabilities  (IBM-PLI, 2017)

Clinical trials and data capabilities –largest clinical trials base in Europe outside Oxford including Cancer Trials Unit and accelerated trials networks and  access to large, integrated patient data sets for a diverse, stable population

Strength of our clinical and academic centres of excellence including the Queen Elizabeth hospital site which is one of the largest in Europe

Strong innovation ecosystem including translational partnerships and facilities  and a network of science parks, specialist incubations and innovation support

Strong supply of graduate talent with three medical schools in the region

 

Products , Services & Brands

Medical devices –e.g. stoma care (Salts Healthcare), procedure packs (Kimal), orthopaedic 

Specialist diagnostics e.g. immunodiagnostics (The Binding Site), cancer diagnostics, Alzheimers

Software as a medical device/digital health e.g. Safe Patient Systems, Evolyst, CCBT Ltd

Precision medicine including expertise in genetic/genomic testing and patient stratification 

Clinical trials –largest clinical trials base in Europe outside Oxford

 

Centres of Excellence/Assets

In addition to numerous clinical and academic centres of excellence and translational facilities covering a wide range of disease areas:

Medical Devices -MD-TEC Medical Devices Testing and Evaluation Centre; NIHR Trauma Management Med Tech Cooperative; Manufacturing Technology Centre 

Digital & Data -Institute of Translational Medicine; Health Data Research UK site (HDR-UK); Four NHS Global Digital Exemplars; West Midlands Genomic Medicine Centre; Digital Health West Midlands; Institute of Digital Healthcare at University of Warwick

Clinical Trials -No. of academic centres of excellence, e.g. Aston Brain Centre; Trials Acceleration Programme -Centre for Clinical Haematology

Graduate/College Base

3 Medical Schools (UoB, Warwick and Aston); 

Advanced Life Sciences @ Solihull College

Specialist incubation, innovation support and clusters 

Life Sciences Park in Edgbaston, Birmingham; The Bio Hub Birmingham; Serendip® Digital Health Incubator @ Innovation Birmingham; Edgbaston Medical Quarter 

WMAHSN Meridian Innovation & Adoption Service  

Logistics and Transport Summary Statistics

£5.0bn GVA attributed to logistics & transport in WMCA, with a 2030 ambition of £7.1bn. 

109,335 jobs in the sector locally. In 2030, the ambition is that 125,000 jobs will exist in logistics & transport. 

Estimated GVA per worker of £46,116.

10,445 businesses attributed to logistics & transport in WMCA.

Logistics and Transport Industry Profile

Our Competitive Advantage

Central location with good connectivity and strong logistics network, underpinned by excellent access to the motorway network.

90% of the UK population is within four hours’ drive to the West Midlands. London is commutable in under 70 minutes and from just 45 minutes by 2026 due to HS2. 

Established transport manufacturing industries (automotive, aerospace, rail) provide useful sector cross-overs and collaboration opportunities. 

Key location in the development of next generation transport, as identified in the SIA (electric vehicles, CAV). These are disruptive technologies within logistics & transport. 

Digital cluster (particularly in Birmingham & Leamington) has the potential to apply AR/VR technologies etc to logistics. 

In WMCA (7MET), Transportation and storage has the third largest location quotient of all broad sectors (1.2). At 1.7, for Postal and Couriers, WMCA (7MET) has the highest location quotient of all UK NUTS2 areas, meaning the region has the largest share of employment in this sub-sector in the country. 

 

Products , Services & Brands

Birmingham Airport is the country’s fastest growing airport,handling 13 m passengers a year flying to 150 destinations. 

UK HQ of DPD in Smethwick.

Rotala’s registered bus services carry more than 29,000,000 passengers every year.

National Express, HQ’d in Birmingham, carries out more than 882 m journeys worldwide each year with its fleet of over 29,000 vehicles. 

 

Centres of Excellence/Assets

Innovation:

The National Transport Design Centre, Coventry

Very Light Rail Innovation Centre

Advanced Propulsion Centre, University of Warwick

Birmingham Centre for Rail Research and Education

Wton Science, Technology & Prototyping Centre

Rolls-Royce University Technology Centre, Birmingham

National Battery Prototype Centre, Warwick

The Digital Media Technology Lab, BCU

Training:

Network Rail Training Centre, Walsall  

National College for High Speed Rail, Aston

Production Processes:

Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC)

Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG)

Low Carbon and Environment Summary Statistics

The core Low Carbon & Environmental Tech sector contributes £3.6bn in GVA to the WMCA economy.

•There are 22,750 jobs in this sector in WMCA. 

•This sector contributes £3.6bn in GVA across the WMCA.

•There are 740 businesses in the WMCA that operate directly in this sector.

•GVA per employee of £156,764 –the highest of any WMCA sector.

Identifying the exact amount of activity outside our narrow sector definition is difficult, but it’s likely that additional activity takes the number of jobs associated with Low Carbon & Environmental Tech to above 50,000in the WMCA area. Employment figures below give examples of the type of additional sub-sectors we are talking about; of course not all of the jobs in these sub-sectors will be related to Energy & Environment (particularly engineering activities), but it allows us to estimate. 

Supporting Industry	Employment  (2018)
Manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products	295
Manufacture of other organic basic chemicals	500
Manufacture of electric lighting equipment	700
Other professional, scientific and technical activities n.e.c	9,250
Engineering activities and related technical consultancy	14,000
Technical testing and analysis	1,750
Crop and animal production, hunting and related service activities	4,900
Forestry and logging	610
Fishing and aquaculture	55
Other mining and quarrying	285
Mining support service activities	15

Low Carbon and Environment Industry Profile

Our Competitive Advantage

WM has an inbuilt natural global competitive advantage in its energy infrastructure, energy sector skills, diversity of local markers and innovation asset base in energy systems.

Home to the UK headquarters of some of the most significant energy and water businesses in the country (for example National Grid, Cadent, E.ON, Severn Trent).

Hosts a significant portion of the UK’s energy innovation and research and deployment capacity in the Energy Systems Catapult, our universities and various technology consultancies.

WMCA’s (7MET) LQ in Electricity, gas, steam & air conditioning supply of 1.4 is the joint highest for all broad sectors (with manufacturing) in the area. 

 

Products , Services & Brands

South Staffordshire Water supplies high quality drinking water to approximately 1.3m people and approximately 35,000 commercial customers.

Alutrade was involved in the recycling of materials from the opening ceremony of the London Olympic Games -specifically the Olympic Rings and the mock-up of Big Ben. The aluminium recycler was involved in the removal of seating from the water polo venue too.

ELG Carbon Fibre have developed the CARBISO™ product range, an innovative line of reclaimed carbon fibre products. CARBISO™ stands for high quality isotropic reclaimed carbon fibre products.

 

Centres of Excellence/Assets

Research Centres

Energy Systems Catapult, Birmingham; Energy Research Accelerator; European Bioenergy Research Institute,University of Aston; Energy Innovation Centre, Warwick Manufacturing Group; Centre for Cryogenic Energy Storage, University of Birmingham; Centre for Fuel Cell Research, University of Birmingham; Brownfield Research & Innovation Centre (BRIC), Wolverhampton

Training

EPSRC Centres for Doctoral Training, University of Birmingham

Programmes

Climate-KIC Accelerator programme

Energy Capital; Tyseley Energy Park access to road (to unlock site for pipeline below); Hydrogen Buses

European Bioenergy Research Institute; 

Low Carbon SMEs; Accelerating Thermal Energy Technology Adoption 

LEP Programmes/Investments

Built Environment Climate Change Innovations (BECCI)

Environmental Technologies Resource Efficiency Support Service (ENTRESS)

Low Carbon Growth Support

Cultural Economy (sports and tourism) Summary Statistics

£4.3bn GVA attributed to the cultural economy in the WMCA, with a 2030 ambition of £6.1bn. 

135,000 jobs in the sector locally. In 2030, the ambition is that 213,000 jobs will exist in tourism, an increase of 50,000.

The Arts, Entertainment and Recreation sub-sector dominates in terms of GVA and jobs, making up around three-quarters of GVA in the WMCA.

This data reflects the initial tourism (cultural economy including sports) WMCA sector definition. 

Cultural Economy (sports and tourism) Industry Profile

Our Competitive Advantage

The West Midlands is the UK’s fastest growing region for international visitors –attracting a record 2.3 m overseas visits in 2017, up by nearly 50% over the previous six years. 

For business visitors, Birmingham outperforms other regions, driven by the gateway effect and BHX, accounting for . all business trips and 1/3 of all day visits. 

Business, conference and exhibition tourism is a particular strength. Stratford is one of the UK’s largest cultural tourism draws, with around 4.9 m people visiting Shakespeare’s England every year. 

WM has unique chance to capitalise on role as host of two global sporting and cultural events (Coventry City of Culture in 2021 and the Commonwealth Games in 2022)–with the opportunity to drive economic growth and leave lasting community legacies.

Opportunity to generate economic benefits by growing numbers of overnight stays through leveraging cultural and heritage assets of the region, as well as increasing GVA and job creation by strengthening region’s images through developing business tourism via high profile events and conferences.

The sector employs the youngest and most diverse workforce of any sector in the region.

 

Products , Services & Brands

Coventry: UK City of Culture 2021

Birmingham: Commonwealth Games 2022

Birmingham Royal Ballet

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

Shakespeare’s England 

Black Country Living Museum 

Home to the UK’s most popular theatre, the Birmingham Hippodrome

An array of art venues with leading collections and varied programmes, such as the New Art Gallery in Walsall, the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum in Coventry and Ikon Gallery in Birmingham

Birmingham has more green open space than any other city in the country. 

 

Centres of Excellence/Assets

Centres:

Digbeth Creative Quarter: 350+ businesses in Birmingham

Birmingham Jewellery ‘designer maker’ Quarter, largest in UK

Performance Cluster centred on Royal Shakespeare Company 

International Dance Cluster, centred on Birmingham Royal Ballet and International Dance Festival

Birmingham Ormiston Academy –regional centre for digital, creative & performing arts

Birmingham Metropolitan College: Digital & Creative Career College

Digital Infrastructure:

Region-wide 5G Test Bed, 1-10Gb Fibre across parts of region