Bletchley ParkBletchley Park
Bletchley Park
Rockingham Castle Rockingham Castle
Rockingham Castle
Autonomous vehicles at Milton Keynes stationAutonomous vehicles at Milton Keynes station
Autonomous vehicles at Milton Keynes station
Rushden LakesRushden Lakes
Rushden Lakes
Cranfield UniversityCranfield University
Cranfield University

Local Industrial Strategy

The Local Industrial Strategy looks at the successes and strengths of our area and identifies priorities and interventions to realise innovation, further improve connectivity and, achieve growth that is sustainable, inclusive and makes a positive impact on our environment.

The strategy was co-produced by Government and SEMLEP. It follows an extensive analysis of the SEMLEP area’s economic strengths and challenges mapped across the five foundations of productivity as set out in the national Industrial Strategy. This work was done through a combination of stakeholder engagement and research and in conjunction with our area's Local Authorities, Government and neighbouring Local Enterprise Partnerships in the Oxford-Cambridge Arc.

* As of April 2020, Aylesbury Vale District Council ceased to be part of SEMLEP. Economic evidence and data published in the Local Industrial Strategy (2019) includes Aylesbury Vale. 

Read the South East Midlands Local Industrial Strategy

Download the Local Industrial Strategy evidence base

The South East Midlands is already a successful, fast-growing knowledge economy, valued, in 2019 at £52bn per annum. 

Leading our economic growth are the globally recognised businesses with specialisms in technical testing, precision engineering, connected and autonomous vehicles and robotics, digital technologies and artificial intelligence. This has placed businesses here at the forefront of the UK’s response to the future of Mobility Grand Challenge.

We have the people with the ideas, the research institutions and businesses working together to create innovation that is reshaping the way we will live, work and move around in the future.

In shaping economic policy to support growth, we all have an environmental imperative to change the way we do things. This brings huge opportunities for the area. We already have major strengths in the clean growth field. Not only do we have the commitment and the opportunity, we have the beacon projects that showcase the practical application of renewable energy, green design and clean technology.

The ambition for this area is to fuse all of this together to create attractive, well-designed places where people want to live and work today, and that meet the needs of generations to come.

Linked to the further collaboration and infrastructure investment across the Oxford-Cambridge Arc, the South East Midlands has the potential to grow further, faster and stronger.

  • To become the ‘connected core’ of the Oxford-Cambridge Arc: a place where innovators and markets come together to enable ideas and inventions to be tested, enhanced, commercialised and spun into high growth ventures
  • To connect expertise and capabilities to take the lead on addressing the ‘Future of Mobility’ Grand Challenge
  • To put employers at the heart of enhancing skills provision, training the next generation to lead the digital revolution
  • To fuse productivity-led growth with sustainability, by enhancing renewable energy use, connected transport solutions and greener vehicles, buildings and design principles
  • To trial innovative approaches to how we design and create new, and enhance our existing, places –by considering new ways of living, working, and moving around
  • To provide an exemplary business environment that supports businesses to start-up, scale-up and succeed

Read the South East Midlands Local Industrial Strategy.

SEMLEP Arc connectivity map

Ideas and Business Environment
  • Raise the profile of business-university collaboration
  • Strengthen links across the ‘business eco-system’
  • Engage and provide tailored support to scale-up and innovative businesses
  • Support development of new R&D assets and expertise
  • Assist further business innovation and collaboration in ‘Future of Mobility’ and ‘Clean Growth’ clusters
  • Expand innovation capabilities in the logistics sector and support a new supply chain centre of excellence at Cranfield University
  • Develop a pipeline of quality employment land and premises
  • Transform the place branding and promotion of the SEMLEP area to attract further investment

 

Read the South East Midlands Local Industrial Strategy.

People, Infrastructure and Place

  • Ensuring inclusivity is central to all growth and development
  • Promote greater business engagement with educators and students
  • Invest in digital and STEM skills –supporting the Bletchley Institute of Technology and MK:U proposal
  • Design and create good quality places, embedding future of mobility and clean growth innovation into future settlements
  • Maximise our connectivity strengths whilst:
    • improving strategic transport (East-West links and first mile/last mile)
    • maximising opportunities around demand-responsive transport, freight and green energy technologies
    • ensuring adequate energy supply including through active network management and renewables
    • enhancing digital connectivity
    • addressing water scarcity and flooding issues

The UK's Industrial Strategy

The UK's Industrial Strategy aims to boost productivity by backing businesses to create good jobs and increase the earning power of people throughout the UK with investment in skills, industries and infrastructure.

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