A new campaign has been launched by business and civic leaders to bring a research institution to Birmingham.
Last year, the Government announced it would set up the Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) as an independent body to fund high-risk, high-reward scientific research.
It will be led by prominent scientists who will be given the freedom to identify and fund transformational science and technology at speed.
Regional leaders in Birmingham and the wider West Midlands are now calling for the agency to be based in the city and have identified the old Curzon Street station as a place to locate it.
The building, which dates back to the 1830s, is said to be the world's oldest surviving railway terminus and will also form part of the new HS2 station in the city.
Among those backing the bid are West Midlands Mayor Andy Street, Manufacturing Technology Centre chief executive Clive Hickman, Birmingham City Council deputy leader Cllr Brigid Jones and Julian Beer, deputy vice-chancellor of research, innovation and enterprise at Birmingham City University which neighbours Curzon Street station.
The coalition said the West Midlands was the "natural place" to host ARIA because of its strong industrial heritage and investment in innovation, access to world-leading industry and academic expertise, the region's central location and its record of investment in green tech at sites such as the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre in Coventry.
Mr Street said: "With a fast-growing and diverse young community, our region has the next generation of innovators and inventors who can help meet the Government's ambition to be a scientific superpower.
"In post-pandemic Britain, basing ARIA in the West Midlands will help deliver levelling up by creating high-quality jobs and new skills for residents as well as addressing the regional imbalance of public and private investment."
Mr Hickman added: "With its proud manufacturing heritage and strong track record of attracting inward investment, the West Midlands offers the ideal ecosystem for the next chapter of the UK's innovation story.
"The region is already leading the innovation race….as well as housing several industry powerhouses, providing the next generation of facilities and minds to benefit ARIA in its aim to deliver transformative technological change."
