£99m for firm leading driverless car revolution
ACOMPANY at the forefront of the West Midlands’ driverless cars revolution is one of three that will benefit from £270 million in government funding, it has been announced.
Chancellor Philip Hammond visited the region last Friday to announce a huge boost in funding to ‘catapult centres’ across the West Midlands.
Warwick University’s Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG), a company leading the development of the UK’s largest driverless cars test-site across Birmingham and Coventry, was handed £99 million.
A further £122 million was given to the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) in Coventry.
The remaining £50 million was granted to Energy Systems Catapult in Birmingham, which specialises in clean-energy systems and research.
The ‘innovation funding’ is part of the government’s Industrial Strategy, with ‘catapult centres’ seen as being at the cutting edge of their fields.
The funding has so far led to several new inventions, including a portable pollution sensor that parents can attach to a child’s buggy, cellular therapies to fight cancer and improve recovery of stroke victims, LED treatment for blindness and more-efficient wings for aeroplanes.
West Midlands Mayor Andy Street said it was this “dedication to innovation” that has helped drive economic success. “In terms of job creation, exports and investment, the West Midlands is a genuine economic success story,” Mr Street said. “Innovation is right at the heart of this. “We identified some years ago the sectors and industries in which the West Midlands had a natural advantage and focused our attention and investment on these. “Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG), the MTC and the Energy Systems Catapult are leading-edge research and development centres that are working with businesses on the technologies, products and services of tomorrow and therefore creating the industries and jobs of tomorrow.” the region’s
The catapult network supports sectors and technologies that are going to be in high demand in the years ahead.
It brings together the best of UK business, science and engineering to work side by side in research and development, to help ‘catapult’ products from ideas to market.
Following a meeting with apprentices from the MTC on Friday, the Chancellor said that he hopes the investment can help to drive employment in these exciting fields.
“We are backing innovative British companies to grow and create jobs, as we build an economy fit for the future,” Mr Hammond said.
“Today’s £270 million investment for the West Midlands will support innovators across the region to create the technologies of the future and the better, highly-paid jobs we all want to see.”