The West Midlands is the innovative home to the UK’s first multi-city 5G test bed trial. The multi million-pound trial is paving the way for the future rollout of 5G across the UK, making the West Midlands the first region in the UK ready to trial new 5G applications and services at scale. 

The region is already home to the UK’s most entrepreneurial city, and now businesses both domestic and foreign have a unique opportunity to capitalise on a project that’s the first of its kind globally. 

5G is the next generation of mobile technology and is seen as critical in developing networks that are faster, more powerful and more responsive. The West Midlands is now the UK’s best-placed region to support high-tech start-ups through to large international corporations, with greater capacity to handle next-generation innovations such as autonomous cars, internet of things and “smart city” projects. 

When it comes to intelligent transport systems and low-carbon technology, the West Midlands is leading and not just in the UK. The opportunity is significant, connected and autonomous vehicles (CAV) are worth between £50 – 100 billion to the UK economy. From the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre to the 5G self-drive test bed, the region is a hot-bed of R&D with hundreds of millions of investment The region’s connectivity and economic landscape is being transformed by High Speed 2 (HS2). The country’s new high-speed rail network, and Europe’s largest infrastructure project, will increase capacity and bring people and goods to and from London within 38 minutes. HS2 will provide even quicker rail connections to Heathrow Airport and continental Europe, as well as to regional hubs in the north of England and Scotland. Manchester, Leeds and London will all be within an hour of the region. The West Midlands Combined Authority’s HS2 Growth Strategy contains approximately £1.2 billion of transport connectivity investment to be delivered by 2028, that will improve the wider transport network, expand the economic area and increase productivity. 

A growing trend in companies relocating parts of their operations from London to Birmingham has made the city the top destination for relocation outside of the UK capital. 

PWC’s move to One Chamberlain was its largest single office investment ever made outside of London and BT announced in early 2020 it was to move 4,000 workers to Snow Hill, quintupling the amount of staff it already had in Birmingham and making it the city’s biggest employer. In February 2019 HSBC made Birmingham the new headquarters for its ring-fenced bank at Centenary Square, a homecoming of sorts for what was once The Midland Bank. Outside of these major office moves, co-working space accounted for 22% of office take up in Birmingham 2017-19. 

In the last decade alone 108,000 people have relocated to Birmingham. Now with the population predicted to grow to 1.3 million from 1.1 million by 2040, employment in Birmingham is expected to increase by 10% over the next decade. The ONS predicts 3,145 households will have to be created every year to accommodate this trend, with the present housing pipeline estimated to deliver 2,555. 

When online fashion retailer ASOS launched its same day delivery service in Birmingham in 2018, its first ever outside of London, it cited the city’s tech talent as a major motivator. Silicon Canal is a non-profit organisation creating a major tech pool throughout Birmingham and the West Midlands. It broadcasts that tech talent costs 50% less than in London, whilst tech professionals are attracted to Birmingham for its greater affordability. Over 6,000 tech companies are registered, and along with the support of Innovation Birmingham, a dedicated campus for the digital and tech community, the industry is beginning to rival the proliferation of financial and professional service providers in the city. 

Another contributing factor to Birmingham’s growing tech economy is its ‘sticky’ graduate community; the majority of Birmingham’s graduates choose to remain and work in the city, making it easy for firms to attract top talent. It's easy to see why Birmingham is the number one city for start-ups outside of London. 

By Air:  BHX, Birmingham’s International Airport is ever-growing its flight path span, its expansion making it the fastest growing airport in the UK, with major airlines including British Airways, Emirates, Qatar Airways, PIA, Lufthansa and EasyJet. 

By Rail:  Birmingham has three main stations; New Street, Snow Hill and Moor Street, the former two being the closest to The Copperworks, around a 10 minute walk. The proposed HS2 would put Birmingham at the epicentre of the UK's new high-speed rail network slashing journey times to London down from 1 hr 21 mins to 45 mins.

By Road:  Birmingham is served by several major roads such as; the A34 which runs from Manchester to Winchester; the A38 from Mansfield to Bodmin; the A41 from London to Birkenhead; the A45 and A47 from Birmingham, as well as the A4540 'Middleway' ring road and the A4040 Outer Ring road. 

By Bus:  Local bus services run regularly throughout the City, though Birmingham is set to become the most walkable city in the UK. It is an often quoted fact that the city has more waterways than Venice.

Education is held in high esteem in Birmingham, the city’s Central Library being the largest public library in Europe. As well as five top UK universities, Birmingham has an excellent schooling system, known for its outstanding state comprehensives and grammar schools. And like the trend in many other UK towns and cities, having good sought-after schools drives local housing demand as families relocate to ensure they are in the required catchment area. 

West Midlands universities educate 160,000 students and produce more than 55,000 graduates each year. Working closely with business and industry, their individual research and innovation specialisms combine to secure the region’s economic future. 

Rooted in the West Midlands, their impact is global. Their universities are at the forefront of positive change: improving health, driving transport forward, storing energy, improving construction, advancing manufacturing, enabling entrepreneurs and making people’s lives better. 

Each university makes a vital contribution, offering leadership and game-changing innovation in specialist fields. Their universities are researching, designing and building new business opportunities that drive the West Midlands forward. 

Birmingham City University’s roots can be traced back to 1843, and for more than one and a half centuries it has driven developments in art, commerce and industry in the West Midlands and beyond. 

This impact continues today. Birmingham City University, produces some of the country’s most employable graduates having established an enviable reputation for providing quality, student-focused education in a professional and friendly environment with state-of-the-art facilities. 

Within the Jewellery Quarter, the School of Jewellery, now forms part of Birmingham City University’s faculty, the Birmingham Institute of Art & Design, one of the largest dedicated faculties in the UK, showcasing the JQ as a real centre of excellence, past and present.

Birmingham is famed for its shopping; malls anchored by big names like Selfridges and Harvey Nichols fused with a booming independent fashion culture. Its main shopping centres are the Bullring & Grand Central and The Mailbox, whilst smaller independent shopping-destinations include the Grade II listed Victorian Great Western Arcade and the Custard Factory. In November, people from all over the UK flock to the city’s Frankfurt Christmas Market, the most authentic German Christmas market outside mainland Europe.

There are hundreds of boutiques catering to all styles and budgets, with local favourites such as the Liquor Store, a clothes shop-cum Speakeasy and People, a carefully curated lifestyle store. Swordfish Records on Dalton Street enjoys a celebrity music following and Disorder Boutique saw itself hailed by Queen of Shops Mary Portas as one of the cleverest retailers she’d seen in years.

Gosia Weber Handmade is well worth a visit in the JQ, curator of leather goods made with cast offs and scraps, Peter Forson hats is run by local fashion graduate Daisy Nyamie, and lit up in popularity with devotees of the TV series Peaky Blinders seeking out the flat caps as worn on screen. Vincent Vandoodle, an art and homeware pop-up has made a permanent home – and following – for itself in the Bullring.

Birmingham is famous for its arenas, sell out musical and conference venues; the O2 Academy, Arena Birmingham and the International Convention Centre of which Symphony Hall’s nationally famous concert hall, forms part of. Concerts are also regularly performed in across the city’s churches, St Paul’s in the Jewellery Quarter, in particular. 

Culture: Galleries are abundant and Birmingham has one of the largest collections of Pre-Raphaelite art, visible at the Birmingham Museum. Modern works can be viewed at Ikon Gallery and popular exhibitions are always to be seen at Halycon. The Barber Institute of Fine Arts is only one of five institutions outside of London to be commended for its breadth of works of national significance.