Birmingham leading the way in recession-beating innovation
Mar 5 2009 by Anna Blackaby, Birmingham Post
Birmingham is showing the rest of the UK how to attack the recession head-on and enable innovation to flourish according to the head of a national body aiming to transform the UK’s innovative capacity.
And the massive regeneration project at Longbridge stands the city in good stead to build a long-term economy based on innovation and technology, Jonathan Kestenbaum, chief executive of NESTA, the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts, believes.
“We think Birmingham and Longbridge in particular have a lot to show to the rest of the UK. It’s a very powerful story,” said Mr Kestenbaum.
NESTA, which invests in early-stage companies and shapes public policy on innovation, has identified three habits that increase the capacity of cities to foster innovation and build a dynamic economy - a strong vision of how the economy should look, a cross-sector and collaborative approach and access to finance for early-stage companies.
“Birmingham seems to have all three great habits,” said Mr Kestenbaum, highlighting the £750 million regeneration of the former MG Rover factory and surrounding areas following the closure of the carmaker at Longbridge as an example of this.
“It has an overarching compelling vision. In April 2005 there were to ways to go - the West Midlands had a traumatic event with thousands of job losses.
“What came from that, and it’s an extraordinary testament to civic and business leadership, was a vision of what a new site might be able to project to the region.
“A vision like that is not just about the jobs and houses it creates, it’s about the self-esteem, the self-confidence and sense of purpose of those involved in it.”
Mr Kestenbaum singled out Silicon Valley as a great example of the second habit of innovative societies where individuals and organisations across a vast range of disciplines come together to exchange ideas and fuel a dynamic economy. He believed the Longbridge site also contained the potential for this to happen.
“Sillicon Valley has created a melting pot in which there is a huge interaction across academia, politics, the media, business and industry in which they are constantly reinforcing one another.
“When you find these different elements coming together, powerful things emerge - new industries and new products emerge.”
“Higher education institutions are coming to the Longbridge site, like Bournville
