Coventry and Warwickshire has been revealed as the highest-placed Local Enterprise Partnership in the West Midlands for innovation, according to new research.
The Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership (CWLEP) has a higher proportion of pioneering businesses creating state-of-the art goods and services than anywhere else in the region and also scores well across the UK.
The CWLEP has been ranked an impressive 14th in the Benchmarking local innovation – the innovation geography of the UK report which has been produced by the Enterprise Research Centre (ERC), the UK’s leading independent research institute on the drivers behind business growth and success.
ERC’s analysis has produced an innovation league table for 45 LEPs in England and the equivalent zones in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland focusing on six areas of innovation including new products and services being brought to market, collaboration, and research and development.
Jonathan Browning, chairman of the CWLEP, said the findings had been based on analysis from 14,000 firms across the UK relating to their innovation activity between 2010 and 2012.
“It is the first time the UK has been mapped on innovation geography and the findings show that businesses within the CWLEP area are performing extremely well,” he said.
“This report reinforces Coventry and Warwickshire’s growing reputation for innovation, and highlights that we are particularly strong at collaborative working and research and design.
“This area has a strong mix of innovative talent in an array of sectors including advanced manufacturing and engineering, digital gaming and the ground-breaking work carried out at the University of Warwick and Coventry University.
“Inward investment remains strong as more companies who are designing their own products or services or those involved in the supply chain are moving into the area which is creating clusters of innovative excellence.
“All this helps the CWLEP’s drive to encourage growth, create jobs and boost the economy and shows we are the most innovative place in the West Midlands.”
Professor Stephen Roper, who led the ERC research, said firms’ ability to innovate played an important role in sustaining growth and competitiveness.
He said: “Innovation is strongly linked to growth, exporting and productivity – all areas in which the UK economy needs to improve if we want to boost our international competitiveness.
“The significant variation between different parts of the UK suggests that some localities are succeeding in creating a more innovation-friendly environment than others.”