Insights

Members of The Greater Manchester Local Enterprise Partnership (GM LEP), Chair Lou Cordwell and Mayor Andy Burnham, joined former Prime Minister Gordon Brown to discuss what the levelling up programme actually means for the region’s economic growth.

The half-day conference, “Realising Regional Growth: What next for Greater Manchester?” was hosted by the Centre for Cities on Wednesday 27 April at The Science and Industry Museum.

As a response to the recently published Levelling Up White Paper, the conference brought together national and regional politicians, academics, and business leaders to discuss how Greater Manchester can build upon existing strengths and new opportunities to maximise growth.

The Levelling Up White Paper outlined plans for all regions to achieve productivity potential, support economic growth and improve living standards across the UK but with little clarity on how this could be achieved in reality.

Speakers at the event discussed the priority areas and sectors, enablers for growth, current barriers and plans for all aspects of Greater Manchester’s future economy.

The speakers and panellists at the event included:

• GM LEP Chair Lou Cordwell
• Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham
• The Rt Hon Gordon Brown, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
• Lord Sainsbury of Turville, former Minister for Science and Innovation
• Chris Fletcher, Director of Policy and Campaigns, Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce
• Jessica Bowles, Director of Strategic Partnerships and Impact, Bruntwood
• John Holden, Associate Vice-President for Major Special Projects, The University of Manchester

The key talking points of the event were the devolution of power, investment, future skills, research and development and the core priority sectors of Greater Manchester including health innovation, advanced materials, cyber, tech and green innovation. Barriers to success included the skills shortage, further education, and transport across the region.

All speakers agreed that the frontier sectors and collaboration would give Greater Manchester the biggest economic growth and create higher-paid jobs across the region. Teamwork across scientific and entrepreneurial innovation will help Greater Manchester to establish itself as a prosperous city-region, attracting the best investment and talent.

However, this focus on the frontier economy will also benefit the foundational economy, creating jobs and a better quality of employment for those working in service industries and non-priority areas across the region.

Lou Cordwell, Chair of the Greater Manchester Local Enterprise Partnership stated:

“In Greater Manchester, we have a clear view of the kind of growth we want and that resonates with the kind of businesses and skills we want there. We now have that critical mass of innovative businesses in our core sectors. Some of the most sizable tech businesses now feel like they belong here. Skilled talent can now move here and comfortably move jobs.

“But we understand the wraparound which will enable our key sectors to thrive, for example, the role of Greater Manchester’s culture and the night-time economy in attracting tech businesses. We can’t let the key sectors overshadow the service sectors. We need to lift as a whole, there’s interconnectivity, not an exclusivity.”

Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham said:

“We have to be much more demanding for change coming out of the pandemic, good jobs for everybody and also attracting the highly skilled jobs in frontier sectors to lift ambition all the way up through the economy. There’s an entrepreneurial spirit in Greater Manchester and there always has been, but never at the expense of others.

“People want to work for businesses with a purpose in cities with a purpose. They want to work in a city that cares, but with a great nightlife and culture. All of this is important in building the regional economy.”

The Rt Hon Gordon Brown, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom said:

“Manchester is proving that it works best when it works together. You can only build where there is genuine scientific, entrepreneurial innovation taking place. The growth areas in Greater Manchester clearly show it’s an economy that is ready for the future.”

A new report from a consortium led by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) reveals that the new space cluster for the North West will bring multiple, sustained economic benefits to the region.

The report, ‘A strategic case for the North West Space Cluster’, identifies that the formal establishment of the regional space cluster will:

• Generate jobs
• Create new skills
• Support new and growing businesses
• Attract commercial investment into the North West
• Inspire new research and innovation

The report comes as the UK Space Agency announces £600k boost to support the development of regional space clusters across the UK.

Levelling up the UK space industry

In collaboration with key local, regional and national organisations including all five authorities across the North West, STFC, based at the Daresbury Laboratory, at the national science and innovation campus, Sci-Tech Daresbury in the Liverpool City Region is championing this regional initiative alongside:

• Greater Manchester Combined Authority and Local Enterprise Partnership
• Liverpool City Region Combined Authority and Local Enterprise Partnership
• Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership
• Lancashire Local Enterprise Partnership
• Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership
• Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)
• Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)
• Innovate UK
• The Innovation Caucus
• North West Aerospace Alliance
• Northern Space Consortium
• North West Business Leadership Team
• Square Kilometre Array Observatory Head Quarters, Jodrell Bank

Launching later this year, the cluster was set up in 2019 as part of a UK Space Agency project to create regional clusters outside of the ‘golden triangle’ of London, Oxford and Cambridge.

It aimed to study the viability of seven new regional clusters that could support the government’s mission to double its share of the global space market to 10% by 2030, and help level up the UK.

A place in the UK’s fastest growing industry

One of the UK’s fastest-growing industrial sectors, the UK space industry has trebled in size since 2010, generating an annual income of nearly £15bn.

A large proportion of this is in digital and advanced manufacturing, for which the North West has internationally recognised strengths that are second only to London and the South East.  The report highlights the potential for these sectors to engage more with the space industry as a significant economic opportunity.

The report includes an independently commissioned review by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC).  It identifies a large number of organisations, such as electronics and telecoms, which could pivot into the space sector to access new markets and customers.  This is just one of several market opportunities for the North West highlighted by PWC.

Read the full report – ‘A strategic case for the North West Space Cluster’.

Setting a strategy

The newly published report also makes a number of key strategic recommendations to support the establishment of a dedicated space cluster for the North West. These include:

• To form a local leadership group to coordinate the growth of the North West space economy.
• Connect regional academic and business communities, within and across sectors.
• Define the potential for regional and national benefits relating to productivity, economic growth and job creation in the space sector

Where science meets business

The North West is home to a vast array of industrial strengths, from chemicals and textiles to nuclear energy and aerospace. It also hosts a remarkable concentration of academic institutions, with 13 world class universities and research institutes, such as the Square Kilometre Array Observatory headquarters at Jodrell Bank and the  UK’s only supercomputing centre dedicated to supporting industry, STFC Hartree Centre at Sci-Tech Daresbury.

As part of the Sci-Tech Daresbury Campus, STFC’s Daresbury Laboratory continues to provide measurable and tangible benefits through support programmes and facilities for small businesses.  Specifically linked to the space sector this support includes:

• The ESA Business Incubation Centre United Kingdom – the world’s largest business incubation programme for space tech start-ups, providing access, business support and funding for businesses that are using space technology to develop new products and services.
• ESA Business Applications Regional Ambassador Platform – helping businesses to access funding for the development of services, such as satellite positioning, connectivity, or imagery.
• Space Enterprise Lab (SEL) – Recently launched in partnership with the Space Applications Catapult, it is one of a national network of SELs across the UK set up to enable businesses to get involved and succeed in the space sector, regardless of their location in the UK.

Paul Vernon, Head of STFC’s Daresbury Laboratory, said:

“The formal establishment of the North West Space Cluster provides the North West with a long-term plan to play an increasingly significant role in the UK’s rapidly expanding multi-billion pound UK space sector.

“This is a fantastic time to be involved in the space industry, as it opens up a world of new opportunities for businesses, which in turn brings economic and societal benefits for our region.  The establishment of the Cluster builds on STFC’s extensive experience in developing successful high-tech clusters, and I look forward to continuing to work closely with our collaborators as we prepare to officially launch the Cluster later this year.”

A series of workshops and information sessions will take over the coming months ahead of the launch of the cluster later in 2022. Further information about the North West Space Cluster, and how it can support businesses is available at the website.

Roku has announced the opening of its Manchester office in the heart of a new tech epicentre, off Oxford Road. Located in Bruntwood SciTech’s No.1 Circle Square, Roku’s Manchester team will now be recruiting for 50+ engineering roles before the end of 2022, as well as offering three-month paid internships to the region’s budding software engineers.

Manchester is Roku’s fourth UK office, following London, Cambridge and Cardiff. The strategic move to the northern tech capital positions Roku next to world-leading academic institutions, such as the University of Manchester, as well as a network of equally renowned digital innovators based in the Circle Square neighbourhood.

Investing in Manchester’s software expertise, the initial phase of recruitment will focus on product engineers who will work with Roku TV brand partners on developing Roku TV models, powered by the Roku OS, whilst continuing to innovate and lead the industry. Currently, Roku TV models are available in the UK from brands like TCL and Hisense, and in the U.S. Roku has been the No. 1 selling smart TV operating system for the last two years.

Roku will also be offering a three-month paid internship programme that has been designed for budding software engineers, with a background in computer science, to gain a foot on the career ladder. The program will be tailored to candidate’s skillset.

Roku is America’s No. 1 TV streaming platform by hours streamed (Hypothesis Group, October 2021). Roku’s platform serves more than 56 million active accounts worldwide as of Q3 2021, and was founded by CEO Anthony Wood, who was born in Manchester.

Alastair McGeoch, Director of Software Engineering, Roku said on the Manchester office opening:

Tim Newns, Chief Executive of MIDAS, Greater Manchester’s Inward Investment Agency said:

For more information about the current job roles available at Roku, see the dedicated recruitment page here.

Manchester has been named in second place outside London in a new Levelling Up Power Tech League, according to analysis for the UK’s Digital Economy Council by Dealroom and the smarter job search engine Adzuna.

Narrowly beaten by Cambridge, tech jobs in Manchester increased by 164.6% in 2021.

The Levelling Up Power Tech League was created by gathering data for each city on venture capital (VC) funding, the number of VC rounds, the number of available jobs, the average salary, the number of Unicorns and the number of Futurecorns for each of the regions.

Manchester was ranked ahead of Oxford, Edinburgh, Bristol, Leeds, Birmingham, Newcastle, Cardiff and Belfast.

Matthew Scullion, CEO of Matillion, a tech business based in Manchester, said:

“These figures are evidence that high-growth start-ups are thriving all across the UK, and it’s no surprise to see Matillion’s home of Manchester appearing so highly. While the city has not always had the playbooks, flow of capital, or awareness that we can build unicorns, the data shows that’s changing and doing so rapidly. We’re very proud to have played our part in this upwards trajectory, as the region’s most recent (and only enterprise software) unicorn, and we hope we can play our part in making the flywheel spin even faster in over the coming years.”

But recruitment/retention challenge could impact growth, says one Manchester firm.

Ashley Ramrachia, co-founder of Academy, based in Manchester said:

“While acknowledging the huge achievements the UK tech sector has made, we also need to realise that difficulty recruiting and retaining talent could affect the success of an increasing number of scaling tech companies. That is why we urgently need to reinvent recruitment and development by putting diversity and inclusion at its heart.”

Full report is available here.