West of England Combined Authority International Market Prioritisation August 2020
Introduction The West of England is a place where ideas flourish and businesses grow, where creative, digital and high tech meet traditional industry and its strength in the global economy is dependent on being a dynamic, globally competitive, outward looking and creative place. In an effort to define international priorities, the West of England Combined Authority has been supported by specialist FDI and trade consultancy OCO Global to work on a ‘Market Prioritisation Strategy ’. This presentation highlights the main points and key findings identified in the final report for the region. 2
Contents OCO Global worked alongside WECA and its partnership organisations, using a multi-faceted approach to identify the key opportunities and markets that the West of England could be pursuing internationally. This presentation will highlight the following: Review of Regional Priorities – A review of the strategies of the organisations that work in the West of 1 England to identify common themes, priorities and opportunities in the region. Supply & Demand Side Analysis – Data analysis to underpin with evidence the key opportunities and markets 2 that the region should be focusing its efforts towards. Benchmarking Competitor Agencies – A review of similarly sized agencies in other regions of the UK 3 (Manchester, Liverpool, West Midlands) to identify the region’s strengths and weaknesses against its competitors. Stakeholders Consultations – Interviews with partner organisations in the region to establish ‘on -the- 4 ground’ insights for the region on an international level. Insights and Recommendations – Key messages for WECA and its partner organisations 5 3
1 Review of Regional Priorities
The West of England – An Overview The West of England contributes £33 billion/year to the national economy and counts on a variety of domestic and foreign investment, trade, tourism and students. GDP FDI Between 2014 and Since 2009 , there have 2018, the regional been 147 recorded FDI GDP grew 8.25%. Per projects in the Bristol and capita GDP for Bristol Bath cities, with more was £34,418 and projects also landing in £33,273 for B&NES, the South Gloucestershire North Somerset and and North East Somerset South Gloucester. regions. Tourism Jobs Over £540 million was Between 2009 and 2019, Higher Education spent by nearly 1.5 over 7,500 jobs have been Four internationally million visitors in 2018, created in Bristol and Bath renowned universities with the number of from FDI, with further such attracting students from visitors from the US jobs created in the all over the world, with market increasing by surrounding areas of over 16,000 Non-UK 15% from the previous South Gloucestershire and students in 2018/19. year. North East Somerset. 5
Who are WECA’s primary internationally -focused stakeholders? West of England Local Enterprise Partnership Bath & North East Somerset Bristol South Gloucestershire North Somerset West of England Combined Authority Bath & North East Somerset Bristol South Gloucestershire
WECA’s Organisation & Resources The West of England Combined Authority (WECA) is made up of three of the councils in the region – Bath & North East Somerset, Bristol and South Gloucestershire, and these areas are where its remit lies. However, it also supports the West of England LEP Board and the West of England Joint Committee, which includes North Somerset Council. As stated on the WECA website, WECA and the Joint Committee make separate decisions on matters falling within their respective remits but will also be able to consider some jointly where this is appropriate. Key Capabilities Funds Sector Capabilities The region also has various funding programmes to drive WECA also has a range of capabilities across sectors economic success, including: The WECA is responsible for in excess of to provide support to the region, including: £500M of agreed funding in it’s initial five • The Economic Development Fund – due to run for • Growth Hub – The region’s free business support years and this continues to increase as 25 years from 2014, supporting capital infrastructure to service Future Bright – offers free career, coaching, new and additional funding streams are unlock job creation in the enterprise zone & other areas training and support West of England Green • The Local Growth Fund – together with local partners directed to combined authorities. Business Grants – offers the chance for small and and the private sector will create over 9,000 jobs for the medium sized companies in the region to improve region from capital investment projects. This funding goes towards various services their energy efficiency • Revolving Infrastructure Fund – to drive economic in the region such as infrastructure, • Creative Scale-Up – a £1.3 million government growth and is used to front end the infrastructure required transport services and business & programme which aims to support businesses in the to enable development. skills , among others. creative industries to pitch for small grants for • Mayor’s Investment Fund – £1.25bn package for specific purposes. innovation, including the Future Fund loan scheme 7
West of England – Common themes, sectors and markets from Strategic Documentation across major stakeholders Priority Sectors Priority Markets Priority Themes Aerospace & United States Advanced Engineering of America Clean Growth Creative & Digital Germany Industries Infrastructure France Energy / Low Carbon Connectivity Spain High Tech Visitor Economy & Tourism Financial and Netherlands Professional Services 8
These link closely to the UK’s Grand Challenges The West of England region will use its strengths in innovation to help address some of the UK’s Grand Challenges, alongside its own regional priorities: The Future of Artificial Intelligence Ageing Society Clean Growth Mobility & Data 9
The West of England’s priority sectors are world -leading and should be at the forefront of the region’s international approach Aerospace & With over 130 production companies Advanced in the region, the creative sector has a The Filton Enterprise Area is truly global reach – over 800 million Engineering world-renowned in aerospace people watch digital content produced in technology manufacturing and Bristol & Bath each month. Channel 4 engineering and is home to the opened its Creative Hub in early 2020 UK’s largest aerospace cluster. Professional Creative & Services Digital A primary alternative to London , Industries many major national and international companies have based their headquarters in the West of England to harness the deep technological and digital skills of the region. High Tech The focal point of the rebirth of nuclear capability in the UK, the The birthplace of the transputer chip, the region contains waste-to-energy and region is home to a number of R&D centres including Oracle’s Cloud Development and the biomass projects from GENeco and Viridor, as well as Suez Universty of Bristol Smart Lab Team, which in Environnement’s Severnside plant. 2018 stages the world’s first public trial of 5G. Energy / Low Carbon 10
2 Supply & Demand Side Analysis
Supply & Demand Side Analysis - Methodology Overview In this section, we conducted a deep data review across the West of England’s priority themes and sectors in order to identify which markets the region should target as part of its internationalisation strategy. We developed a model that collated data on 7 key pillars for international markets (including a forecast for the resilience of the market to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic). Data was gathered for the indicators under each pillar for 157 countries, and then each country was scored on a scale of 1 to 5 on the attractiveness of the market for each pillar, and overall. Foreign Direct Higher Foreign Capital Civic and COVID-19 Trade Tourism Pillars Investment Education Investment Cultural Links Resilience • Market size ( pop’n , • Value of exports from • Number of students • Number of visits • Financial Development • Twin towns with West • Country demographics GDP) West of England from market • Tourist Spend Index of England • GDP forecasts • No of FDI Projects • Growth in export value • Growth in students • Value of M&A into UK • British Council • Growth in visits and • Covid cases per 1m • Growth in FDI Projects • Value of Imports to • M&A projects into UK from market presence • Size and share of spend Indicators • Diaspora population • Capex, and growth destination market market • Growth in import size • Jobs created, and • Trade Reliance on demand for destination growth Exports 12 markets
Supply & Demand Side Analysis – Overall Results The 20 countries which scored highest for overall market attractiveness and sector alignment with the West of England are primarily European countries; with the USA, China, Canada and Australia also making strong appearances. 13
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