City-REDI Policy Briefing: Which Kinds of Firms Contribute Most to Regional Growth?

In this policy briefing, Dr Fengjie Pan and Professor Simon Collinson look at why some firms and sectors make a larger contribution to local and regional economies than others.   Many City-REDI projects aim to help policymakers optimise the use of scarce public resources to promote economic growth and wellbeing locally and regionally. Some of these policies … Continue reading “City-REDI Policy Briefing: Which Kinds of Firms Contribute Most to Regional Growth?”

City-REDI Policy Briefing: Improving Understanding and Measurement of Productivity

In this policy briefing, Dr Magda Cepeda Zorrilla, Professor Anne Green, Dr Chloe Billing, Professor Simon Collinson and Dr Fengjie Pan report on the findings of their study which collected data from 300 firms across the West Midlands, examining what managers at these companies understood productivity to be, the policy implications of their varied understanding … Continue reading “City-REDI Policy Briefing: Improving Understanding and Measurement of Productivity”

Homeworking and the Return to the Office – Part One

In the first part of a blog looking at home working and the return to the office, Professor Anne Green and Rebecca Riley look at what kind of workers are homeworking, regional differences around the UK, what the situation is in the West Midlands and whether home working impacts on productivity.  Part two looks at … Continue reading “Homeworking and the Return to the Office – Part One”

Economic Recovery Post COVID-19: The MIT Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration Programme (REAP)

Dr Chloe Billing discusses the goals and objectives of MIT’s Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration Programme, the aims of its pilot programme in the UK and what the MIT REAP West Midlands is doing to help the region recover from COVID-19.   In March 2020, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) launched a pilot in the UK … Continue reading “Economic Recovery Post COVID-19: The MIT Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration Programme (REAP)”

Why Is It Necessary to Tackle Youth Unemployment?

Welcome to REDI-Updates, a bi-annual publication which will get behind the data and translate it into understandable terms. West Midlands REDI staff and guest contributors will discuss various topics, with this first publication focusing on how inclusive growth can be a tool to tackle regional imbalances across the UK. In this article, Dr Andre Carrascal Incera … Continue reading “Why Is It Necessary to Tackle Youth Unemployment?”

The Impact of COVID-19 on Firm Innovation: The Case of the West Midlands

In this blog, Dr Chloe Billing explores the impact of COVID-19 on innovation activities in the West Midlands. A full range of business support measures has been made available to UK businesses to help with the current COVID-19 crisis. These were discussed in a recent blog by Professor Raquel Ortega Argiles and include the Coronavirus … Continue reading “The Impact of COVID-19 on Firm Innovation: The Case of the West Midlands”

REDI Updates 1: Director’s Welcome – Regional Research Collaboration Will Be Crucial to Improve Our Economy and Society

Foreword – by Simon Collinson and Ben Brittain When we began writing this, our first edition of REDI-Updates, the COVID-19 pandemic was a small and distant threat. A local crisis limited to a single city-region in China. The world has changed dramatically since then. As we re-focus our research efforts and our analytics towards projects … Continue reading “REDI Updates 1: Director’s Welcome – Regional Research Collaboration Will Be Crucial to Improve Our Economy and Society”

City-REDI Weekly Update – 5th March 2020

Welcome to your weekly update. If you have any feedback please let us know. Blogs Regional Productivity Differences, Skills and Inclusive Growth: Survey Findings What do employers in the West Midlands think productivity is? What acts to constrain innovation in their businesses, do they struggle to find employees with the right skills and are their … Continue reading “City-REDI Weekly Update – 5th March 2020”

Changing Perceptions of Birmingham

This blog post has been produced to provide insight into the findings of the Birmingham Economic Review. The Birmingham Economic Review 2019 is produced by City-REDI, University of Birmingham and the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce, with contributions from the West Midlands Growth Company. It is an in-depth exploration of the economy of England’s second … Continue reading “Changing Perceptions of Birmingham”

Dr Charlotte Hoole returns to City-REDI

I’m excited to return to City-REDI after temporarily parting ways to take up the opportunity to be an ESRC Postdoctoral Fellow. Here’s a quick summary of what I’ve been doing whilst I’ve been away and what I’ll be working on now I’m back. As an ESRC Postdoctoral Fellow, I was very fortunate to be able … Continue reading “Dr Charlotte Hoole returns to City-REDI”