- The place where disruptive minds meet and breakthroughs begin
CN takes a close look at a region with a big history and economic legacy, and finds out how collaborative efforts are now hothousing new, innovative businesses, start-ups and technologies. It is an approach that has also created a dynamic and rich ecosystem for organisers to tap into to deliver a variety of important and impactful events.
West Midlands expertise and technologies have impacted the global economy for over 200 years and, today, that legacy is being built upon with new achievements as the region continues to power its pedigree of invention in defining the 21st century.
From steampower to battery technology. From Ibuprofen to life-saving diagnostics, the region’s know-how and skills are also fuelling the knowledge economy and attracting major business events at the cutting-edge of invention across numerous sectors.
We can identify three key features that set the region apart and make it a special place for innovation and fertile ground for businesses to thrive:
- Transformational tech hub: As the UK’s fastest-growing tech sector, the West Midlands is accelerating technological transformation at scale and pace.
- A trusted heartland of R&D excellence: It is a place where breakthroughs begin, offering a world-significant cluster of R&D and historic proving ground for businesses to test and validate; to make and scale.
- A mindset for disruption: The region is home to one of Europe’s youngest and most diverse and dynamic talent pools. The West Midlands’ disruptive mindset is inventing the products and services of the future.
Visitor economy
Today the West Midlands visitor economy is worth a record £16.3bn, supporting more jobs than ever before. A record 145.4m visitors were welcomed in 2023, up 3% from 2022, when the region hosted the Commonwealth Games. Six significant business conferences and six major sporting events helped produce that record number and 2024 has so far seen 17 sporting event bidding opportunities being worked on, as well as 52 business conference opportunities.
Helping drive all this is the West Midlands Growth Company (WMGC) – the region’s official investment promotion agency – with its remit to attract inward investment and promote the visitor economy, including for meetings and events.
The WMGC also acts as the Secretariat to the Major Events Fund, a £6m fund created from the Commonwealth Games Legacy Enhancement Fund. Local authorities were invited to apply for funding to support the attraction of new, or growth of existing, major events. Ten cultural and sporting events were selected and are expected to provide an estimated direct £11.5m boost to the local economy.
Business events are borne out of successful business, of course, and that embraces the whole spectrum of innovation, production and the knowledge economy. The West Midlands has the strength and depth to offer a full ecosystem to underpin its events sector. A closer look at this vibrant environment identifies some of the players and agencies driving the West Midlands’ motor of economic and trade development, and bringing through innovation across numerous sectors, including business events.
The region has achieved ‘Destination Development Partnership’ (DDP) status (DDPs are designed to drive economic growth, across local authorities, through the visitor economy), giving it a fund that is one of only two pilots in the UK. The partnership is comprised of Birmingham, Solihull & Black Country Local Visitor Economy Partnership (LVEP) and Coventry & Warwickshire LVEP.
The West Midlands’ strengths in attracting inward investment were reinforced in 2023/24 with the region remaining the top performing UK location outside of London for FDI employment creation, and the joint top regional location for FDI attraction, alongside the South East.
Recent investments include Indian-owned Tata Elxsi in Coventry, which is creating a wave of skilled engineering roles at its design hub over the next three years, and French-owned project management consultancy, MIGSO-PCUBED, which will expand its Birmingham team by 100 people by 2026.
It Starts Here
In the West Midlands is not just a pioneer of the past, it’s an inventor of the future.
The West Midlands’ new destination promotion campaign – It Starts Here – aimsto reinvigorate the region’s brand, drive growth and create new, high-value jobs.
It Starts Here’s launch comes as the West Midlands is named one of Europe’s top three most innovative regions in the 2024 European Capital of Innovation Awards.
The WMGC launched the campaign at Symphony Hall, during Birmingham Tech Week – the UK’s biggest regional tech festival.
The campaign focus is on demonstrating the region’s innovation-led strengths.
It Starts Here will span a number of sub-campaigns focused on the region’s key growth sectors, including The Green Power Revolution Starts Here; Life-Changing Science Starts Here; Game-Changing Tech Starts Here; and Next-Generation Services Start Here.
A campaign goal is to drive inward investment from target markets including India, North America and Germany and, in 2025, WMGC will also be taking the campaign to the international marketplace for the first time by way of a regional trade mission to India, led by West Midlands Mayor, Richard Parker.
Global Growth Programme
Launched at London Tech Week in June was WMGC’s fully-funded market entry programme, the West Midlands Global Growth Programme. It builds on the success of the pilot programme which saw 35 international innovation-led businesses land in the region, with 66 further enquiries.
Twenty specialist support packages are in place to assist businesses on the programme, including sponsored workspace in six partner innovation hubs across the region. Six universities and 15 national research institutes are looped into the programme, as well as introductions for these businesses to ten specialist cluster networks.
Firms, in particular, are being nurtured in high-growth, high-value sectors, creating business demand that matches the rich talent supply.
Matthew Hammond, WMGC chair, has noted that regeneration of the built environment is one such area securing transformational capital from investors in particular. This includes on brownfield real estate and regeneration projects.
The West Midlands Investment Zone is another initiative building on the region’s historic strengths, this time in advanced manufacturing, driving growth in battery, digital and sustainable construction technologies across three core sites: Coventry and Warwick Gigapark; Birmingham Knowledge Quarter, and Wolverhampton Green Innovation Corridor.
Major investments and relocations to the region have also been supported involving VisitBritain/VisitEngland and the Financial Reporting Council.
Other West Midlands standout sectors to put at the top of event organisers’ lists include advanced manufacturing (including electrification), creative and digital, life sciences, and business and professional services.
Connectivity and culture
The existing rich tradition allied to the many new initiatives driving a new generation of investment and ingenuity in the region are acting as a powerful springboard for further advances and business success. The task is now to show the wider world that the West Midlands can be equally attractive for international visitors – including business visitors.
The region is certainly blessed with a special connectivity and sits right at the heart of the country’s transport network. It also has a plethora of top quality venues and talent in the service sector. (We will discuss the region’s major events venues in more detail in coming articles).
Steve Knight, senior business tourism manager at WMGC, says the West Midlands’ central location is what really sets it apart from other UK destinations. “Event organisers and delegates can get to us easily by air, road and rail, which makes a real difference when choosing where to place a conference or exhibition. The region has a young, diverse population – we are a proud home to nine leading universities, each offering its own huge variety of meeting spaces – and the next set of superstars ready to drive global innovation and change. If you haven’t been to the West Midlands for a while, we encourage you to take a second look – you won’t be disappointed. From revitalised transport infrastructure at Birmingham New Street station and Wolverhampton Interchange to new accommodation at Hotel Indigo Coventry and Warwick Castle to new event facilities at the University of Wolverhampton at the Halls and coming soon at The Belfry, the region’s business events industry doesn’t stand still.”
The cultural offer includes – as has been described in the New York Times – more Michelin starred restaurants than any UK city outside London. There is plenty of food for the soul also in ‘Shakespeare’s England’, while the historic waterways and the Jewellery Quarter are further diamonds in the cultural crown. These ingredients all add up to a strong and tasty recipe to draw visitors to consider the West Midlands for their next visit and big event. There are plenty of opportunities to extend those visits and take advantage of many of the activities that abound in the region using the newly-launched Birmingham and West Midlands Visitor Pass, which offers exclusive discounts at local attractions, hotels, restaurants, shops, and unique experiences.
The countryside around the city conurbations also offers stunning natural beauty in the counties of Warwickshire and Worcestershire in particular, although you don’t need to leave Birmingham city centre for, perhaps, the biggest cultural draw of all –the magnificent £189m Library of Birmingham which has been described as the largest public cultural space in Europe.
Consult the CVB
Helping organisers to plug in to the economic power grid and the numerous business opportunities in the region is The Birmingham and West Midlands Convention Bureau, which sits under the WMGC. Steve Knight again:
“The Convention Bureau aims to enhance the region’s profile and reputation by winning event bids to support economic growth and job retention, and support our hospitality partners to generate more business for the region.
“The Bureau comprises business events experts with many decades of experience. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is also increasingly important to us and we have been using our expertise to educate and introduce some of the destinations in our patch to the valuable MICE industry.”
Knight underlines that the West Midlands is an events region. “Events are in our blood, and we have the infrastructure and expertise to ensure we deliver outstanding conferences, meetings and exhibitions for everybody who visits. With a focus on the international and domestic association markets, we are keen to work with organisers to explore how their event can positively impact the West Midlands, long after it has gone.”
Clare Hurter, WMGC Conference Ambassador Network Manager, promotes the region’s talent and academic prowess as a resource for both conference speakers and as ambassadors for supporting a range of important event bids:
“Although still in its infancy, the Conference Ambassador Network has successfully allowed us to solidify our strong relationships with local universities and the business community, with membership more than doubling in the last six months to over 60 ambassadors,” she says, adding:
“Through our activity with the region’s greatest minds and industry leaders, we have been able to build a healthy pipeline of future national and international events to add to a thriving sector, which contributes approximately £2bn to the regional economy.”
Conferencing successes
In terms of recent conferencing success case studies, UKREiiF in May 2024, was a shining example, uniting eight local authorities and the West Midlands Combined Authority, along with the Mayor and 17 commercial partners including Arup, BDP, Cordia, Deloitte, E.ON, Mott Macdonald, WSP and Woodbourne, in showcasing the transformative power of the West Midlands at the UK’s largest real estate conference.
That conference brought together 13,000 delegates from across the regional public sector, national government, investors, architects, property developers and house builders. Regeneration opportunities worth more than £20bn were discussed and there were over 100 one-to-one meetings with potential investors during the conference.
Further conference bidding opportunities and events in the pipeline include: the IWG World Conference on Women & Sport 2026 (ICC Birmingham) and the 2027 Intelligent Transport Systems World Congress (NEC Birmingham). Although the wider prospect list includes over 250 conferences identified by the bureau.
These events build on recent impactful events such as SportAccord in April 2024 at the ICC Birmingham.
It is an impressive pipeline that Knight notes also includes the International Ceramics Congress 2028. “We will be working with each event to ensure that they make the biggest impact on attendees and visitors. The IWG Women & Sport World Conference, for example, will set an ambitious agenda, using the power of sport and physical activity to drive positive change for women and girls across our region and beyond.”
As well as uniting teams on the ground in the region to bring in and maximise events business, the WMGC also pursues systematic market engagement throughout the year, including internationally at large scale real estate events, such as MIPIM in Cannes and industry events such as IMEX and IBTM.
Sustainability action and creative juices
The WMGC also partners with the Global Destination Sustainability (GDS) Movement, alongside the Birmingham, Solihull and Black Country LVEP and the Coventry and Warwickshire LVEP. Work also involves a collaboration with sustainable tourism certification scheme provider, Green Tourism, to help regional businesses achieve Green Tourism accreditation.
The region also continues to burnish its credentials in the creative industries and, since April 2023, there have been announcements of the BBC’s new Birmingham headquarters in Digbeth’s Tea Factory, as well as their support for the relocation or expansion of production firms such as Spun Gold and Banijay UK into the city.
BBC’s Masterchef will also relocate to Birmingham bringing 130 jobs.
And fans of the Peaky Blinders will be pleased to know the work on a new movie has begun in 2024 across the West Midlands. No surprise then, that there is also a partnership underway with VisitBritain’s Set Jetting campaign, entitled ‘Starring GREAT Britain’, which will see the region showcase its famous film locations to international audiences.
What the experts say:
So, what do locally based event organising experts have to say?
CN asked Matt Franks, Group Global Director of Events, at Worcestershire-based international events agency DRPG, about their experience working in the region:
“As an agency we’re very proud that our roots are in the West Midlands. The region has served us well not only in terms of talent but partners, clients and facilities.
“Whilst we are a global agency, we continue to have a strong presence in the Midlands which provides a very accessible location to run events and has a wide range of venues and spaces that can accommodate anything from the smallest gathering to a large-scale event – for example the Commonwealth Games. In the last 12 months we have successfully delivered projects ranging from small conferences to large scale events for global brands in automotive, pharmaceutical, finance and retail sectors.
“One of the greatest selling points is accessibility and pricing these factors often attract brands to the region. Accessibility not just because of its geographical position but also access to international airports and rail networks. Pricing, when balanced with other locations and facilities, especially those in London, you’ll often find more value with Midlands venues.”
CN will be investigating in future articles the full breadth of the offer of the region’s component parts, including its major conference and events venues and the attractions and highlights that all add to the full flavour of the region.
As well as iconic venues such as the ICC Birmingham and the NEC, we will be illuminating some of the unique opportunities at new and iconic region-wide venues, attractions and developments including:
- Ansty Hall, a stunning 17th-century hall near Coventry, and part of the UK’s first B-Corp hotel company.
- Birmingham Airport, an ambitious masterplan continues to see extensive developments and expansion at Birmingham Airport with the aim of increasing passenger numbers by 40% by 2033.
- AvantGlamp at the NEC, one of the UK’s largest glamping resorts will open on the NEC campus in late 2024.
- The Belfry Hotel & Resort, set to unveil its new flagship event space, The Masters Suite, in September 2025.
- Edgbaston Stadium, which has announced Radisson as its hotel partner as part of its award-winning masterplan redevelopment.
Of course, this is but a small selection of the exciting venue offer in the region and the list goes on with the likes of the Black Country Living Museum, Dudley (backdrop for Peaky Blinders) and the New Art Gallery Walsall (25th anniversary in 2025) as just two more. So do follow our coming series of feature articles homing in on the individual component parts of the dynamic West Midlands and read all about how this region really is a beating heartland of innovation and achievement that can help take any event to the next level.
West Midlands Growth Company
For more information on how you can deliver events in the region, contact West Midlands Growth Company at:
meetbirmingham.combcb.conferencesales@wmgrowth.com
+44 (0)121 202 5100