UK Innovation Zones

UKIZ Zone · potential location: The Birmingham and Coventry corridor

Midlands

Advanced manufacturing and automotive technology

Proposed by UKIZ · not a government designation

The zone

01THE MISSION

Convert Britain's automotive heritage into leadership in electrification, industrial automation and precision engineering, with the supply chain already in place.

02WHY IT MATTERS

  • Battery and electrification supply chain retained in Britain
  • Manufacturing employment renewed around new technology
  • Export of industrial systems, not only components

Comparable in function to the Guangzhou auto-tech cluster.

03WHY THIS LOCATION

  • The historic centre of British automotive manufacturing.
  • Jaguar Land Rover and Rolls-Royce anchor deep engineering capability.
  • Major engineering universities with industrial research programmes.
  • Existing supply chain infrastructure.

04EXISTING STRENGTHS

  • WMG at the University of Warwick
  • UK Battery Industrialisation Centre
  • Birmingham and Coventry technology corridors

05WHO BELONGS HERE

  • Vehicle and battery manufacturers
  • Automation and robotics suppliers
  • Tier one and tier two engineering firms
  • Industrial investors

06INDUSTRIES

  • EV manufacturing
  • Automotive innovation
  • Battery technology
  • Industrial automation
  • Precision engineering

07UNIVERSITIES & RESEARCH

  • University of Warwick
  • University of Birmingham
  • Loughborough University

08INFRASTRUCTURE

  • Battery industrialisation and test facilities
  • Automation and production engineering lines
  • Grid capacity for manufacturing
  • Logistics and freight connectivity

09THE COMMERCIALISATION PATH

  1. Research
  2. Problem
  3. Prototype
  4. Company
  5. Capital
  6. Customer
  7. Scale
  8. Export

10WHAT SUCCESS COULD CREATE

  • Battery and electrification supply chain retained in Britain
  • Manufacturing employment renewed around new technology
  • Export of industrial systems, not only components

Described as outcomes rather than forecasts. UKIZ makes no projections it cannot evidence.

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