July 15th has been established by the United Nations as World Youth Skills Day. Given that young people are disproportionately likely to be unemployed or to be working in precarious and poor quality jobs, the idea of Youth World Skills Day is to draw attention to how young people can be inspired to develop their … Continue reading “World Youth Skills Day: Fostering Learning, Earning and Progression”
Category: Business
Mind the Gap! Qualification Shortages in the West Midlands
Given that the negotiations leading to the United Kingdom’s withdrawal are far from reaching a final consensus, the potential implications of any Brexit deal for bilateral skilled migration between the UK and the EU have attracted a great deal of attention by academics. Recent research has shown that almost one million EU citizens who work … Continue reading “Mind the Gap! Qualification Shortages in the West Midlands”
Supporting Medtech Companies Market Innovations to Health and Social Care Providers
The United Kingdom, like many advanced economies, has been very effective in developing policies and programmes to support early-stage research and development by entrepreneurs. Innovate UK’s R&D Open Programme (based on previous Smart /Grant for R&D scheme) and Knowledge Transfer Partnerships schemes can draw on over 40 years of development, providing evidence on their effectiveness … Continue reading “Supporting Medtech Companies Market Innovations to Health and Social Care Providers”
The Potential Impact of Brexit on the UK Space Sector
Last week, a team from City-REDI attended the RSA Annual Conference in Lugano, Switzerland. In this blog, Dr Chloe Billing provides a summary of the paper she presented at the conference, her co-authors include Professor Raquel Ortega-Argiles, Dr Tasos Kitsos and Dr Wen Chen (University of Groningen). The paper is a ‘spinoff’ from the City-REDI, … Continue reading “The Potential Impact of Brexit on the UK Space Sector”
How Will the Closure of House of Fraser/Rackhams Affect Birmingham?
House of Fraser announced yesterday that it plans to close 31 of its 59 stores across the county, including Rackhams in Birmingham. Professor John Bryson talks about what the closure will mean for Birmingham. Retailing matters for local economic development. It creates local jobs for local people and prevents money from leaking out from a … Continue reading “How Will the Closure of House of Fraser/Rackhams Affect Birmingham?”
What Is Channel 4? Making the Case for Relocation and Knowing What You Are Getting…
The question of the Channel 4 move is an interesting one for me, as in my previous life as Head of Research for the North West Regional Development Agency I did some of the Salford Media City bid work, reviewing the economic case for investment and the bid for the BBC relocation, and now I … Continue reading “What Is Channel 4? Making the Case for Relocation and Knowing What You Are Getting…”
Channel 4’s HQ2: Where and Why?
Channel 4 is moving 300 staff out of London, with most going to a major British city.* The HQ2 shortlist has just been announced, and seven city-regions are on it: Bristol, Cardiff, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Greater Manchester and the West Midlands. The winner will be announced on 1 October. So, who should win? And what effects could the move have on … Continue reading “Channel 4’s HQ2: Where and Why?”
The 2018 Retail Crisis Catches Up With Marks and Spencer
Recently, the UK retail industry has been facing six challenges, namely: 1) a squeeze in incomes; 2) the shift to online shopping; 3) changing tastes; 4) rising overheads; 5) high debt; and 6) simply too many shops. Following the closure of Toys R Us, Maplin and certain New Look stores, approximately 5,500 people are already … Continue reading “The 2018 Retail Crisis Catches Up With Marks and Spencer”
The University of Birmingham’s Impact on the Local Economy
Birmingham was recently ranked as the UK’s number one destination for foreign direct investment – creating over 12,000 jobs in the last 10 years. The West Midlands ranks as the UK’s number one region for manufacturing technology jobs, accounting for 60% of the country’s exports. The focal point for explaining the region’s success often surrounds … Continue reading “The University of Birmingham’s Impact on the Local Economy”
Flexibility Differences between Lean and Agile Production in the West Midlands Automotive Supply Chain
The majority of studies which have investigated lean and agile production have explored each of these production concepts in silos, which is a growing trend in the recent literature. Given that a number of studies assert that flexibility is an essential factor for differentiating lean and agile production there is an important need to explore … Continue reading “Flexibility Differences between Lean and Agile Production in the West Midlands Automotive Supply Chain”