Midlands Engine launches Pitchbook at MIPIM

A £14 billion pitchbook to attract investment from across the globe has this week been launched by the Midlands Engine initiative at property festival MIPIM.

Midlands Engine is the result of 11 Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), including SEMLEP, coming together with a plan to boost productivity, attract inward investment, increase connectivity and build a regional tourism offer.

The launch publication, called the Midlands Engine Pitchbook, features 33 development opportunities – including seven located in the SEMLEP area - to showcase to potential investors, with a focus on the US and China.

South East Midlands based projects featured in the Midlands Engine Pitchbook are:

• London Luton Airport Enterprise Zone
• Millbrook Technology Park, Bedford
• Milton Keynes Hospital & Buckingham University
• Northampton Waterside Enterprise Zone
• Daventry  Town Centre Vision, Northamptonshire
• Priors Hall Park, Corby
• The UK Centre for Future Vehicle Technology, Corby

Dr Ann Limb CBE DL, Chair of SEMLEP, commented: “This Midlands Engine Pitchbook is critical to securing more international investment and we are delighted to have so many of our local projects featured as investment opportunities. Such investment will boost the area’s increasingly strong economic performance and will position the Midlands as a whole as one of the best business locations in the world.”

Business secretary Sajid Javid said: "The Midlands is a region on the rise with a unique offer to investors. Foreign investment in the Midlands has more than doubled since 2011 and by embracing opportunities such as the MIPIM trade fair, we will capitalise on the Midlands’ natural strengths and make it an engine for growth."

As outlined in the Pitchbook: The Midlands Engine is a £222 billion region undergoing an economic, cultural and political renaissance the likes of which hasn’t been seen since the Industrial Revolution. The collaboration of ideas, projects and businesses that propelled the UK to its current position of global economic force is now fuelling the regeneration of once forgotten parts of our region and driving this new renaissance.’

Midlands Engine, first unveiled towards the end of 2015, focuses on five key themes - skills, innovation, transport, promoting the region and finance for business. If the Midlands region matches the predicted growth rate for the whole of the UK over the next 15 years, there is the potential to create 300,000 jobs and boost the national economy by £34 billion.

Download Midlands Engine: Regeneration Opportunities Pitchbook HERE.