ID Birmingham has just been launched. Ian Halstead finds out more about the initiative and its driving force, Beverley Nielsen.

Having a conversation with Beverley Nielsen can be like trying to corral cats – the pedigree kind of course.

It’s an interesting and stimulating pastime, but there are moments when she appears torn between the elemental forces of her nature.

There’s creative Beverley – driven by a love of art, fashion, design, history and stage-craft, who studied six languages, dreamed fervently of being an actress, directed award-winning productions of Ayckbourn plays, and worked in the editor’s office at Vogue‘s New York HQ.

“I was so passionate about acting, I was in all the school plays, and sang in local am-dram productions. Even when I finally realised it wasn’t going to happen, I chose law for my degree because I thought I could use my acting experience in court,” she admits.

“I never really saw myself as a lawyer though, and didn’t go to the London Bar after being accepted.

"However, New York really did impress me, and the job at Vogue was all about getting models and clothes to photo-shoots. In a much less glamorous way, it was like The Devil Wears Prada.’’

Then there’s serious Beverley – musing about politics, economic theories and corporate philosophies, the secretary of Fianna Gael at Dublin’s Trinity College, who then crossed the city for an MBA at University College, and presented a CBI strategy paper to the House of Lords as a 23-year-old.

“My first job was with the Confederation, writing policy in the European Directorate, and it was just wonderful. I did a report on trade barriers and Europe, and then I went to their Brussels office,” she recalls.

“I have such happy memories of the CBI, and I think it has become the business organisation because there is such intellectual rigour about all it does. Yes, it’s about policy, but it’s always policy in the real world.”

Inevitably, as Beverley’s thoughts swirl around like snowflakes on a mission, there are times when Yin and Yang head in different directions

However, it’s very easy to understand the forces which have shaped her life, as she reminisces about her idyllic childhood in Malvern. For if ever someone was the child of their parents, it is Beverley.

Dad was a sober-sided scientist of renown, who completed his doctorate in chemistry, worked for the Radar Research Establishment – the forerunner of QinetiQ – and was invited by the Irish government to move to Ireland to devise its new science and technology strategy in 1968.

Mum was the polar opposite; artistic, creative and gregarious, whose love of books, poetry and drama led her to study English at Queen’s University in Belfast, and then to become a dedicated and impassioned teacher.

Contrasting personalities for sure, but they were blissfully happy, as Beverley recalls.

“She absolutely idolised dad. He was like Gregory Peck in The Big Country, her quiet hero. Mum died two years ago, and I still miss her very much.”

Even a passing understanding of her parents makes it very clear why Beverley is so enthused by her role as director of employer engagement, at Birmingham City University.

She’s always passionate and committed, whether selling air-time for Ted Turner’s CNN media empire, penning strategy for the CBI, or persuading a sleepy supermodel to forsake her bed for art‘s sake, but this is something different.

After a career which criss-crossed the globe, passing through myriad business sectors along the way, Yin and Yang are now contentedly curled up in the same intellectual basket.

Beverley’s task – at its simplest – is to cajole the region’s leading academics, architects, and other creative souls into working with manufacturers, large and small, to help drive innovative design into every aspect of their business.

The initiative is based on the premise that the region’s competitiveness will increase, if its long-time expertise in production design can be melded with its cultural and design heritage, creating employment, and raising the area’s profile at home and abroad.

The project’s funding is currently being assembled, its backers already include the high-profile corporates, Aga Rangemaster, Jaguar Land Rover and Morgan Cars, architect Glenn Howells is also on board, and Birmingham City Council has pledged significant support.

Beverley outlines the backdrop to ID Birmingham – Innovation:Design Birmingham – in her shared shoebox of an office perched high above BCU’s Perry Barr campus, with characteristic elan.

“Design is about disruption and change, and most businesses prefer to take small and incremental steps, but already we’ve seen what can happen when fresh eyes are brought to bear on a business,” she says.

“William McGrath – chief executive of Aga Rangemaster – was very impressed at the concepts for night storage heaters which our students came up with in just 72 hours. Another example was using Triumph motor-bike components to create a contemporary design of corkscrew.