Mayor says “good ideas are not enough” as he calls for West Midlands to lead Britain’s new industrial age

Britain must stop allowing its best ideas to create jobs and wealth in Europe, America and China, West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker warned today, as he called for the region to lead a new era of British industrialisation.

The Mayor issued the call at the West Midlands Growth Summit in Coventry, where Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds also addressed business leaders, as regional and national government set out new measures to turn British innovation into companies, production and jobs at home.

In a major speech, Mr Parker argued that Britain had become too comfortable celebrating invention and research without doing enough to ensure the businesses, factories and supply chains that follow are built here.

Longbow's co founders and CEOs Daniel Davey (left) and Mark Tapscott show Jonathan Reynolds, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (left in car) and Richard Parker, Mayor of the West Midlands their

 “Good ideas aren’t enough,” he said. “The economic prize comes when you can take an idea, build a company around it, scale it and make it here.”

He said the West Midlands was uniquely placed to bridge that gap. Pointing to the region’s industrial heft and advanced innovation, Mr Parker argued that the West Midlands should be driving the country’s new phase of industrial growth: “Britain’s first industrial age started here. If Britain is serious about building the next one, this is where it should start.”

And he challenged the region to think bigger, asking “why shouldn’t the next great global manufacturing company start in Tipton, scale in Coventry, and go global from Birmingham?” The Mayor said Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk – the company behind Ozempic – was an example of the scale of impact the West Midlands could easily achieve. 

And he pointed to Coventry, where the Summit was held, as evidence that this next industrial age is already beginning.

He highlighted Lawton Tubes, manufacturing specialist copper pipes used to carry oxygen to patients in hospitals; Aurrigo, developing and manufacturing autonomous vehicle technology for airports around the world; and Maeving, designing and building electric motorcycles in the city.

The Mayor argued that these businesses demonstrated the opportunity for the West Midlands - combining its existing manufacturing expertise with new technologies to build companies that can grow, export and create jobs here.

The intervention comes as the Mayor published the West Midlands Reindustrialisation Blueprint, setting out how the region intends to turn more research and innovation into companies that scale, manufacture and employ people in the West Midlands.

The Mayor and Business Secretary also unveiled a series of investments and initiatives intended to put that argument into practice, supporting manufacturers to cut costs, helping workers move into growing industries and backing companies to take new technologies into production.

They include more than £12 million of combined public and private investment through DRIVE35 to support Longbow Motors, Birmingham manufacturer Brandauer and PAB Coventry, alongside a new Battery Manufacturing Taskforce, Talent Transition Pilot and a further £18.4 million for the Business Energy Advice Service.

The Mayor said: “This is how we turn good ideas into growth.”

During the Summit, at the Coventry Building Society Arena, Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds announced a series of measures alongside the Mayor.

Speaking ahead of the event, he said: “The West Midlands is at the forefront of our mission to reindustrialise, and this plan shows why. Through our Modern Industrial Strategy we’re supporting our manufacturing heartlands like the West Midlands, backing local leaders to create jobs and prosperity.

"I want to thank the Mayor of the West Midlands for his leadership and ambition for the region, and I look forward to working with him to deliver on his plan.”

Richard Parker, Mayor of the West Midlands, said: “Good ideas aren’t enough. Britain has often been very good at the invention and the research, then watched as the production, jobs and value were created in Europe, America or China.

“The economic prize comes when you can take an idea, build a company around it, scale it and make it here. This is the region best placed to do exactly that.

“We want companies to grow here, production to happen here and the value created by that success to stay here.

“Britain’s first industrial age started here. If Britain is serious about building the next one, this is where it should start again.”

Among the first companies being backed to make that journey is Longbow Motors, the British electric sports car manufacturer, which will receive support through the DRIVE35 Supplier Readiness and Transformation Fund as it establishes a new production line in the West Midlands.

The Mayor said Longbow was exactly the kind of company the region now needed to help scale, turning emerging technologies into production.

The West Midlands is uniquely placed to reindustrialise at pace. Already home to around 273,000 manufacturing jobs and £22 billion in annual manufacturing output, the region has one of Britain's deepest and most diverse industrial economies. It is the only UK region with recognised strengths across all eight sectors of the Government's Modern Industrial Strategy.

The Mayor said the ambition was simple: ideas developed here should be built here, companies founded here should be able to scale here, and the jobs and wealth they create should stay here.