Global Investment Summit to showcase Midlands opportunities to leading investors

Midlands Engine Chairman, Sir John Peace will be helping promote our region’s green investment opportunities and innovative companies to an exclusive audience of global business leaders at the inaugural UK Global Investment Summit in London.

Hosted by the Prime Minister and supported by Members of the Royal Family on 19 October, the Summit will demonstrate Britain’s commitment to a green industrial revolution in the UK and abroad ahead of COP26, and promote the UK as a top destination for foreign investment.

Midlands-based companies Rolls-Royce, Worcester Bosch and Aurrigo-RDM Group will be showcasing world-leading green technology developed in our region including small modular reactors, all electric aircraft, autonomous vehicles and home appliances that utilise hydrogen.

The Mayor of the West Midlands Combined Authority, Andy Street, will also attend the Summit and join a panel of Metro Mayors to discuss how to use investment to spread prosperity throughout the UK.

The Summit will launch the UK Investment Atlas, featuring an initial portfolio of green investment opportunities selected for the event by the Department for International Trade (DIT).

Midlands opportunities featured at the Summit include:

• The £3.2bn Arden Cross development in Solihull – the scheme consists of a residential community, an innovation district and a transportation plaza all wrapped around the new BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ £800m HS2 Interchange station.
• The £160m Spalding Battery Energy Storage System in Lincolnshire – delivering one of the largest battery energy storage systems (BESS) in the world. Battery Energy Storage Systems will play a key role in the UK’s drive to bring all greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.

DIT will also be promoting a number of ‘High Potential Opportunity’ areas to international business seeking to invest or locate in the Midlands. These include:

• Food processing automation in Greater Lincolnshire – at the heart of the UK food chain and the £125 billion UK agri-food industry.
• Precision farming, Sustainable farming systems in Telford and Wrekin – providing a gateway opportunity for the design, build, testing and operation of agri-technologies. With 10% of England’s farmland area and a high agricultural gross value added (GVA), Telford and Wrekin an ideal place to test technology in a farm environment.
• Net zero transport in Coventry and Warwickshire Coventry and Warwickshire – already a global centre of future mobility R&D in many sectors, including aerospace, automotive, rail, marine propulsion and last mile delivery, Coventry and Warwickshire is home to world-class universities and major brands in such as BMW, Jaguar Land Rover, London EV Company, GE Power Conversion and Rolls Royce.
• CAM modelling and simulation in Oxfordshire and the Midlands – companies in the £100bn global market of connected and automated mobility (CAM) can access the Testbed UK region of Oxfordshire and the Midlands, which are leading the move to zero emission vehicles and green public transport.
• The Circular Economy in Telford – the UK is leading the uptake and recycling of electronic waste (e-waste) and in Telford, investors can access a growing cluster of circular economy companies.

Over 200 investors attending the Summit will see the latest cutting-edge innovation that is helping deliver key areas of the Prime Minister’s Ten-Point Plan, helping cement the UK’s position as a science superpower and the world’s number one centre for green technology.

The Midlands contributes more than £90bn to the national economy through its international activities and is responsible for a 20% share of England’s exports and nearly 20% of England’s new jobs from FDI projects.

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