Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership has helped to create nearly 2,500 new jobs through inward investment across the area in 2013/14.
The 26 per cent increase in jobs due to overseas investment compared to the previous 12 months in Coventry and Warwickshire, was spread throughout advanced engineering and manufacturing, business and professional and financial services.
The Inward Investment Annual Report from the UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) has revealed that the CWLEP has worked with its local partners – including UKTI, Coventry City Council, Warwickshire County Council, the district councils and two universities – to attract 43 Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) projects in 2013/14 which created 2,427 new jobs and safeguarded 719 jobs, securing a total of 3,146 jobs in Coventry and Warwickshire.
Nineteen of the 43 overseas businesses which were set-up in the area came from Europe, the Middle East and Africa, fourteen from the Americas and ten from the Asia Pacific.
Inward investment projects were stretched across a range of different sectors with the majority in manufacturing, research and development and services.
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Thirty two of the 43 projects came from existing investors and eleven were new investors.
Companies to have benefited include Coventry taxi maker LTI through the Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, CovPress following their sale to Shandong Yongtai, logistics company Deutsche Post AG at Swift Valley Park in Rugby, Domestic and General in Bedworth and Bosch motorsport in Warwick.
Martin Yardley, chief executive of the CWLEP, said the big increase in FDI projects was due to greater collaboration between the LEP, UKTI and its local partners over the last 12 months.
“We are pleased with these figures because attracting this level of inward investment from across the globe highlights the attractive place that Coventry and Warwickshire is to live and work,” he said.
“We have supported many and varied initiatives throughout the last 12 months which have all had one common goal: to boost the economy and create jobs.
“Funding from the Government’s City Deal and Growth Deal has enabled the LEP to concentrate on the sectors in which we excel to attract inward investors and the launch of the Clearing House will be key in focusing on investment opportunities in the advanced manufacturing sector.
“The automotive sector in Coventry and Warwickshire is thriving but we do not want to stand still, which is why we organised for UKTI staff who work in all corners of the world promoting trade and investment into the UK, to visit our area on an awareness tour.
“This two-day trip which was organised with help from UKTI and our private and public sector colleagues was a perfect example of collaborative working.
“In the last 12 months we have also worked more closely with the UKTI to ensure we meet regularly to review our successes and look at opportunities which are available to promote Coventry and Warwickshire at UKTI’s national and international events.
“We will reap the benefits of the work we are doing now in future years and the UKTI report underlines that the CWLEP is a driving force in ensuring there are the right conditions to encourage inward investment and make this a business-friendly area.”