The South West’s aerospace, creative tech and maritime industries are key to igniting the UK’s levelling-up ambitions and delivering growth, the head of the CBI has said on a visit to Plymouth and Bristol.
Some of the South West’s top companies were showcased to the CBI’s director-general Tony Danker during a two-day visit to the region.
Mr Danker visited Plymouth and Bristol to meet a number of key South West business leaders to discuss their ambitions within the CBI’s Seize The Moment economic strategy – which includes stimulating regional growth by building upon successful economic clusters around the country.
The visit – which included two business roundtables organised in partnership with law firm Womble Bond Dickinson – saw Mr Tony Danker spend two days getting a close-up look at how the South West has already enjoyed success with this approach.
In Plymouth, Mr Tony Danker visited one of the South West’s largest employers, Princess Yachts. Princess employs 3,200 people across six sites in Britain’s Ocean City – while the broader maritime/defence cluster which has grown around Princess supports in excess of 17,000 jobs and adds £1bn to the UK economy.
Mr Tony Danker also spent time at the University of Plymouth exploring its Cyber Ship Lab, a unique industry/academic partnership aiming to tackle the growing issue of cyber-attacks on shipping, which have increased by 900% during the past five years.
In Bristol, Mr Tony Danker visited Airbus and Renishaw, key players in a regional aerospace and advanced manufacturing cluster which is leading on pioneering decarbonisation advances while contributing £7bn a year to the regional purse.
He also led a roundtable discussion at the University of Bristol’s enterprise hub, Engine Shed, for key figures in the Bristol and Bath creative and tech cluster, already established as the UK’s most successful tech cluster and contributing £1.7bn to the economy.
At each stage, Mr Tony Danker outlined the CBI’s vision for growing regional prosperity, while also hearing from local business leaders about the key challenges they face.
Mr Danker said: “Building world class clusters is the key to establishing the international competitiveness of our regions, which is vital if we are to build a high wage, high skill, high investment and high productivity UK.
“I have seen first-hand the South West’s excellence in aerospace, crea-tech and maritime industries, and growing clusters like these can ignite levelling-up ambitions and deliver growth and opportunity to all parts of the country.”
Ben Rhodes, CBI South West regional director, said: “It was a pleasure to welcome Tony to the South West, and I’m grateful to all of our partners who hosted sessions during his visit and helped us showcase some of the region’s many success stories.
“The South West is home to some genuinely world-leading clusters that, with some additional support from Government through its levelling-up agenda, have the potential to drive greater regional prosperity."
Adrian Bratt, CBI South West regional chair and director at Princess Yachts, said: “It was great to allow Tony to have a hands-on experience of the sea air and salt water of the marine cluster in Plymouth and the wider South West, and then pop up the road to Bristol to hear and see first-hand the positivity and optimism around the opportunities in the region with a collective desire to address all of the current challenges with the private sector, education and Government working together.”
Marty Reid, director of Engine Shed, Bristol, said: “While there has been remarkable growth in the South West across the digital and tech sectors, clusters of capability in areas like crea-tech, quantum and deep tech are only starting to scratch the surface of the huge potential for impact on business and society.
“Proactive engagement between business networks in the regional cluster and national organisations like the CBI will be crucial for continuing this success. We need a shared and open approach to ensure the growth driven by these clusters is environmentally sustainable and that the benefits and opportunities are accessible by anyone in society.”
