Will Tech Reconfigure the UK’s Automotive Heartland?
The West Midlands Growth Company’s Tech That Makes Tomorrow Work event featured a dedicated panel session exploring the growing and increasingly vital links between technology and transport mobility. Discussions covered how the West Midland’s ecosystem supports innovation, enables the cultivation of new knowledge and inspires the technology of tomorrow.
With innovation comes challenges and the proliferation of disruptive technologies is creating exciting, next-generation developments in Future Mobility. However, as more and more data becomes available, the transport industry must capitalise on new opportunities to drive efficiencies for net zero, whilst improving the end-to-end passenger experience.
How can the West Midlands act as a catalyst and build momentum in the future of mobility?
Announced as the UK’s first Future Transport Zone four years ago, the West Midlands is considered the home of transport innovation. This is underpinned by the region’s commitment to combat issues associated with climate emergency, passenger safety and accessibility. However, legislation cannot always keep pace with technology and consumer changes, which can block innovation and stunt business growth.
We’re seeing a lot of mileage and focus on disruptive technology. What we have perhaps forgotten is that 100 years ago, the West Midlands was a centre of disruptive technology, and then it became the norm and now we’re back into that cycle. So, the West Midlands has a history of developing clusters adaptive to future activities.
The Deeper Devolution Deal unveiled by the UK Government in March 2023 provides a seismic shift in power and influence from White Hall to the West Midlands. For instance, the UK’s first Transport Sandbox enables local authority leaders’ greater autonomy and control over key decisions in the region, and challenges existing legislation in the Transport for West Midlands area. Improving transport services faster for both residents and businesses, the Sandbox allows a robust environment for testing innovative products and services with private sectors. This in turn boosts the region’s Plan for Growth and creates new inward investment in high-value industry clusters such as Advanced Manufacturing.
Why is the West Midlands Future Mobility ecosystem attractive for innovative firms looking to develop, trial and scale exciting new transport technologies?
The world is evolving and humanity is facing ever greater environmental and social headwinds. Technology is transforming the way the West Midlands meets these challenges head-on. The region was recently awarded £33m funding by Innovate UK, making it one of only three UK regions to run Innovation Accelerators. Primarily focusing on CleanTech, HealthTech and MedTech markets, the first-of-its-kind funding is forging a new co-design relationship between the West Midlands and the UK Government.
I think this is the best time for anyone to start a business with the support that’s available and really take that entrepreneurial step. I’m kind of a living testament to it, starting with just four of us to get to where we are today, but we couldn’t have done it if the right ingredients weren’t in place in the West Midlands.
With major investment in new infrastructure and R&D institutions, the region is driving forward as a pre-eminent European centre of transport technology excellence. The West Midlands is home to Midlands Future Mobility (MFM) part of a national CAM testbed, the state-of-the-art UK Telecoms Lab (UKTL) and the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC). These exemplify the region’s status as the location of the UK Government’s choice for national assets.
How can the region come together to enable talent, skills, development and knowledge?
It’s important to create new pathways for innovative talent and skills as the industry evolves through novel knowledge and frameworks. However, constant dialogue and transparent communication are imperative to bridge the gap between graduate skills and competencies required by industry. This is especially true when developing courses aimed at contemporary sector issues, as well as supporting the transition from traditional manufacturing.
The West Midlands is recognised for producing a supply of world-class graduate talent, with 27,545 university students studying engineering and technology across the eight local universities, including the University of Birmingham and the University of Warwick – both of which feature in the UK’s top 15 universities. The West Midlands’ apprenticeships also serve as a vital secondary route to vocational skills.
We’re really lucky that we have a lot of universities in this area, but we also have a lot of access to apprenticeships.
Organisations such as the MIRA Technology Institute (MTI) and the Advanced Manufacturing Training Centre at the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) are directly addressing the future skills gap. MTI introduced a Level 4 apprenticeship specifically aimed at developing the skills of propulsion technicians, whereas the MTC provide upskilling training courses that ensure the UK’s advanced manufacturers have the expertise they need to adopt ever-evolving technologies.
Across the West Midlands, other organisations such as the Institute for Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering (Coventry University and Unipart), WMG Advanced Apprenticeship Centre, Black Country & Marches College of Technology and MAKE UK Technology are bringing a blend of knowledge, skills, behaviours, and expertise to the workforce through a range of courses in partnership with industry.
Verging on a new frontier
The West Midlands is going through unprecedented changes in legislation and new technologies. The West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) is poised to lead the way through closer collaboration with the UK Government on a number of initiatives.
Businesses in the region can benefit through this strategic alliance, with investment and funding to scale up and innovate as part of a progressive ecosystem serving to create better mobility solutions for future generations.
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