Midlands Engine

After a decade of pan-regional partnership, the Midlands Engine has concluded – but our legacy continues. With government funding coming to an end in March 2025, the Midlands Engine has now ceased operations. But the influence of our work together – across local government, business, academia and communities right across the Midlands – will be felt long into the future. Since 2015, the Midlands Engine Partnership has played a pivotal role in championing the UK’s second largest regional economy.

A new report highlights how the Midlands’ cyber and defence clusters can drive regional and national economic growth through deeper collaboration. Drawing on insights from a high-level roundtable held earlier this year, the report explores how more than 600 businesses across these two sectors are increasingly interconnected.

Date posted: May 23, 2025 The Midlands Engine has returned from another successful year in the Leeds sunshine at UKREiiF. The marquees may get packed down and the blue rectangle logo retired, but it is clear that the legacy of our inward investment work will live on. It was the fourth – and final – time the Midlands Engine has had a presence at the UK’s largest property investment conference.

Today, (Friday 9 May 2025) a coalition of 15 Midlands universities launch a bold new initiative that is set to revolutionise how research and innovation are translated into real-world impact across the region. Forging Ahead – led by Loughborough University and Midlands Innovation – will radically enhance the commercialisation ecosystem, supercharging entrepreneurial activity, scaling innovation, and creating dynamic new pathways for academic ideas to become high-growth ventures.

A new Midlands Engine report offers a roadmap for unlocking the region’s full potential in the global space economy. The result of an extensive roundtable with senior stakeholders, the report focuses on how the cluster – held at Space Park Leicester in January this year – – with its 290 businesses working across the manufacture, operation, application or support of space technology in the Midlands – can collaborate with industry, academia and government.

The Midlands Engine Partnership will showcase a range of fascinating panel discussions from partner organisations from across the region at this month’s UK’s Real Estate Investment & Infrastructure Forum (UKREiiF). Hosting a dedicated Pavilion for the second consecutive year, the Midlands Engine will present £50bn of real estate propositions which constitute the Midlands Investment Portfolio.

A new Midlands Engine report articulates the investment potential of the region’s world-leading aerospace supercluster. The result of an extensive roundtable with senior stakeholders, the report focuses on how the supercluster – with its 500 businesses generating £5.3 billion GVA – can collaborate with industry, academia and government.

The Chancellor’s commitment of an additional £2.2 billion for defence spending represents a substantial opportunity for the West Midlands manufacturing base. That was the message from the corporate team at FBC Manby Bowdler, which works closely with manufacturers across the region. Partner James Sage said the West Midlands had long been a powerhouse of defence manufacturing, supporting thousands of skilled jobs and contributing significantly to our national security.

A new report commissioned by the Midlands Engine sets out a practical roadmap to unlock long-term, socially responsible institutional investment in support of inclusive and sustainable growth across the Midlands.

A new report commissioned by the Midlands Engine sets out a practical roadmap to unlock long-term, socially responsible institutional investment in support of inclusive and sustainable growth across the Midlands.