Government pledges new technology hub for Birmingham

Andy Street

A new technology hub is set to be created in Birmingham to increase the amount of tech visas available to West Midlands businesses.

The hub is part of a package of measures announced by the Government to boost innovation and the technology sectors.

Support for the West Midlands also includes a £2m pilot scheme to provide high-speed broadband in Coventry and Warwickshire.

The measures are part of negotiations between the West Midlands Combined Authority and the Government ahead of next week’s Budget.

The measures have been welcomed by the Mayor of the West Midlands, Andy Street, who has pledged to improve the region’s digital sector because of its potential to spearhead economic growth.

The measures announced by the Prime Minister and Chancellor include:

· Doubling to 2,000 the number of visas available to the best talent from around the world, including in digital technology
· An investment of £21m to expand Tech City UK into a nationwide network called Tech Nation, to accelerate the growth of the digital tech sector across the country
· A new £20m fund to help public services take advantage of UK expertise in innovative technologies
· Helping roll out a programme of support to help young people stay safe online

The new funding for Tech Nation will see the organisation expand its hub model to more cities around the country, including Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Birmingham.

The Government said that building on the work of existing regional clusters, Tech Nation aimed to support 40,000 entrepreneurs and up to 4,000 start-ups as they scale their businesses.

Mr Street said: “Traditionally, we talked about digital and technology as a standalone sector within the economy. Now, it’s the golden thread which runs through all of our sectors, from manufacturing to life sciences.

“This is how our region will lead the world in the development of connected and autonomous vehicles, changing the way mankind connects and at the same time combating both congestion and air pollution.

“And this is how we will cement our position as a global centre for life-saving transitional medicine trials.”

He said these and other emerging industries – some of which may not even be established yet – would provide jobs for the future.

“That’s why the Government’s support for our requests is so encouraging. We recently hosted Digital Minister Matt Hancock here in the West Midlands and outlined our digital strategy and how the Government could help us,” he added.

“In terms of the national measures, I am really excited about the Tech Nation funding which will see a hub created in Birmingham.

“And the £20m fund to help public services take advantage of UK expertise links to the WMCA’s UrbanTech Challenge which we launched to get link up tech start-ups and some of the big challenges facing local Government.”

On the boost to Coventry and Warwickshire, he said he was delighted it had been chosen as one of five pilot areas to benefit from a voucher scheme to help pay for the “gold-standard” full-fibre gigabit connections.

“This will help revolutionise our digital infrastructure and it is great news that the east of our region is trialling this,” he said.

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