Compare places
Two or three clusters, read side by side across sectors, research, companies, capital, infrastructure, government designations and UKIZ relevance. There is no score and no ranking: British clusters are different from one another, not better or worse than one another.
Choose up to three clusters
- London
- Cambridge
- Oxford
- Manchester
- Birmingham & the West Midlands
- Bristol & Bath
- Sheffield & Rotherham
- Leeds & West Yorkshire
- Liverpool City Region
- Newcastle & the North East
- Teesside & the Humber
- Edinburgh
- Glasgow & the Central Belt
- Belfast
- Cardiff & South Wales
- Southampton & Portsmouth
- Cornwall & Plymouth
- Nottingham & Derby
- Norwich & the East
Side by side
| Dimension | Nottingham & DerbyEast Midlands | Southampton & PortsmouthSouth East | Birmingham & the West MidlandsWest Midlands |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sectors | Advanced Manufacturing, Clean Energy, Mobility & Transport Technology Supporting: Advanced Materials, Digital Technologies, AgriTech & FoodTech | Defence & Security, Robotics & Autonomous Systems, Advanced Manufacturing Supporting: Clean Energy, Digital Technologies, Advanced Materials | Mobility & Transport Technology, Advanced Manufacturing, Quantum Technologies, Advanced Materials Supporting: Clean Energy, Digital Technologies, Defence & Security |
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| Companies | Not recorded on the map. | Not recorded on the map. | Not recorded on the map. |
| Infrastructure | Not recorded on the map. Propulsion and nuclear engineering facilities, rail test capability and chemistry research centres. | Not recorded on the map. Naval and maritime engineering facilities, photonics research centres and port infrastructure. |
Automotive research centres, battery and vehicle test facilities and major logistics assets. |
| Capital | Corporate and supply chain finance; limited venture activity. | Prime contractor supply chain finance and public programmes rather than venture capital. | Corporate and supply chain finance dominate; venture capital is thin relative to industrial output. |
| Government programmes |
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| What exists | Aerospace propulsion and small modular reactor engineering, rail technology, sustainable chemistry research and one of Europe's busiest air freight hubs. | Maritime, naval and defence engineering, marine autonomy, photonics research and a major port and logistics complex. | The largest manufacturing base in the UK by employment, automotive and electrification engineering, rail and mobility research, and a young, large working-age population. |
| What's missing · UKIZ interpretation | Diversification of the supply chain beyond a small number of large primes, and company formation from a strong engineering research base. | Routes for smaller innovators into defence and maritime procurement, and a civil market for capability developed for defence customers. | Ownership of the value in electrified vehicles: battery, power electronics and software increasingly sit outside the region and outside the UK. Innovation-active SME supply chains are under-capitalised. |
| What could connect · UKIZ interpretation | Propulsion and nuclear engineering connected to Sheffield manufacturing research and Midlands electrification — one Midlands industrial mission rather than three sectors. | Marine autonomy and photonics connected to Plymouth marine capability, Bristol robotics and offshore energy operations — the same technologies serving defence, energy and shipping. | Midlands manufacturing paired with battery and power electronics research, North East battery production and Coventry testing capability as a single electrification value chain. |
| UKIZ relevance | Propulsion and nuclear capability sit alongside the Midlands mobility mission. The proposed Midlands zone connects them. | Marine autonomy is where defence, robotics and clean energy meet. The proposed Cornwall & Devon marine mission connects to this capability directly. | The region's transition depends on owning the new value in a vehicle rather than assembling someone else's. The proposed Midlands zone focuses on batteries, power electronics and software. |
| Last verified | 15 August 2026 | 15 August 2026 | 15 August 2026 |
Proposed by UKIZ · independent · not a government designation