West Midlands
Regional Economic Strategy
The new West Midlands Economic Strategy, Connecting to Success, hailed as the UK’s first low carbon Regional Economic Strategy has a vision of the region as, ‘a global centre where people and business choose to connect’. The West Midlands is already recognised as a great place to invest, work, learn, visit and live.
In shaping the future West Midlands the revised West Midlands Economic Strategy, Connecting to Success, focuses on the three main components of the economy – Business, Place and People plus the need to provide a Powerful Voice for the region:
- Business refers to the contribution that ‘businesses’ (a term used in its widest sense and including social enterprises and not-for-profit organisations) make to the productivity and growth of the regional economy, and to the demand for employment of the region’s workforce.
- Place focuses on the role of place in both attracting and enabling economic growth (i.e. high-quality locations and environments which encourage businesses and a highly skilled workforce); but also in dissuading or constraining economic activity (poor-quality environments can limit investment, reduce aspirations and lead to negative stereotyping).
- People refers to the contribution of the region’s population and their skills to the sustainable growth and increased productivity of the West Midlands economy; and to ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to develop to their full potential.
- Powerful Voice articulates the West Midlands’ prosperity and growth and provides convincing advocacy of its needs, challenges and priorities. With a strong voice and a compelling evidence base, the region can attract increased investment, stimulate greater levels of ambition and animate support for its economic vision.
A successful and vibrant economy requires a balanced and strong contribution from all three components. It is impossible to influence the drivers of economic growth and achieve long-term prosperity without positive improvement in all three areas. A healthy and dynamic business base is essential to creating wealth and employment, but it is dependent upon a strong supply of high-quality human capital and consumers. Finally, neither businesses nor individuals will prosper unless the location where they are based meets their particular needs.
