Firms benefit from Mayor’s plan to protect and create new manufacturing jobs

Richard Parker, Mayor of the West Midlands, today announced the first innovative nine businesses to benefit from a £6m research and development fund set up to protect existing manufacturing jobs and create hundreds more.

The firms will split £1.3million from the West Midlands Investment Zone Supply Chain Transition programme and use it to develop new products, services and manufacturing processes in a wide range of sectors from electric vehicles, low carbon construction and green industries to defence, aerospace, and the circular economy.

The programme is one of several funds being used to help accelerate the West Midlands Reindustrialisation Blueprint, which was launched by the Mayor earlier this month to turn more research and innovation into companies that scale, manufacture and employ people in the region.

All nine companies are already based in the region and have matched their grants with another £1.4m of their own investment. Among them is one of the region’s youngest businesses, Wolverhampton-based SymbioTex.

The company, founded by University of Wolverhampton graduates Olivia Simpson and Dr Mattia Parati, is looking to expand the range of products it’s able to manufacture from sustainably farmed seaweed as an alternative to single-use plastics.

The full list of businesses to get funding are:

• 4T2 Sensors, Birmingham
• SymbioTex, Wolverhampton
• Brandauer & Co, Birmingham
• Tooling 2000, Birmingham
• Gainsborough Healthcare Group Ltd, Walsall
• Darvick Ltd, Brierley Hill
• European Materials Recycling Group LTD – multiple locations across the region
• Plant Carbon, Warwick
• Tecman Speciality Materials, Leamington

The Mayor said: "Manufacturing is still the beating heart of the West Midlands’ economy, providing jobs for more than a quarter of a million people. It’s critical that we futureproof those jobs and capitalise on the massive potential there is to create many thousands more.  

“This R&D funding does exactly that by backing a range of companies; from Brandauer, which has a wealth of experience and was even around in the first industrial revolution, to new generation manufacturers like SymbioTex, whose founders Olivia and Mattia have an instinct for innovation and the makings of a great business that is good for our economy and the environment. 

“There’s no shortage of talent like this in our region. My job is to make sure this is where they develop their ideas, make their products and create the good jobs and opportunities local people deserve.” 

Olivia Simpson, managing director and co-founder at SymbioTex, said: “Securing this grant is a significant step forward for SymbioTex and our ambition to develop sustainable, high-performance alternatives to conventional plastic packaging. The funding will enable us to develop a new anti-static packaging solutions opening up exciting opportunities in strategic new markets and supply chains.

“As we scale up our seaweed-derived biomaterials technology, this support will help us turn innovation into practical commercial applications, strengthen our business and contribute to the growth of more sustainable manufacturing in the West Midlands. We’re delighted to be taking this next step from our base in Wolverhampton.”

Alongside the R&D grants, the West Midlands Investment Zone Supply Chain Transition programme will also support more than 200 manufacturing businesses with hundreds of hours of fully funded practical business development and growth advice, helping them plan for the future and putting their senior and aspiring leaders through advanced management training.

This support is helping companies diversify into high-growth, tech-driven manufacturing markets like advanced engineering, electric vehicles and battery technology, clean tech and energy, health and medical tech, aerospace, smart energy systems, and digital technologies.

Growth in these sectors is a priority of the region’s Growth Plan as well as the government’s Industrial Strategy with momentum set to be turbocharged by the Investment Zone’s three key sites in Coventry/Warwick, Birmingham, and Wolverhampton.

The Supply Chain Transition programme is being run in a partnership between the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) and Supply Smarter West Midlands, with £12.5m secured by the Mayor from government.

Supply Smarter West Midlands is a consortium led by C&W Business Solutions, Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC), WMG at University of Warwick, and the three partners of the West Midlands Combined Universities Partnership (WMCU), Birmingham City University, Coventry University and University of Wolverhampton.

Andy Davis, project manager and deputy head of business support programmes for Supply Smarter West Midlands, said: “The programme has helped more than 70 businesses so far to understand and identify new markets for their products and services, and hear directly from key customers and original equipment manufacturers looking to collaborate with agile, innovative local manufacturing SMEs.

“The support provides a fantastic opportunity for SMEs to get the expert support and funding they need to accelerate innovation and help solve some of the most challenging barriers to growth facing these clusters as UK industry moves towards cleaner and more sustainable manufacturing.”

SMEs can apply to join the West Midlands Investment Zone Supply Chain Transition programme on the Business Growth West Midlands website.

Richard Parker, Mayor of the West Midlands, with Symbiotex co-founders Dr Mattia Parati and Olivia Simpson, and Andrew Barrass, injection moulding engineer.