Greater Birmingham Tech, Digital, Creative

G R E AT E R B I R M I N G H A M T E C H,

D I G I T A L

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C R E A T I V E

MAKING IT HAPPEN

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L O C A T I O N, V A L U E, Y O U N G, D I V E R S E Birmingham is located in the centre of the UK with connections to all major cities across Europe and the rest of the world, and provides exceptional technological infrastructure at an affordable cost, supported by a highly skilled talent pool and leading national universities. This winning combination creates a perfect ecosystem for tech innovators, start-ups, scale-ups and creatives.

The presence of major companies and a young, diverse population, means that Birmingham is already recognised as a leading tech hub for progressive thinkers and a rich entrepreneurial environment. Acclaimed as number one in the UK for start-ups for four years running, the city offers all the benefits of an international location without the high costs that can quickly drain resources. The city boasts a strong support system providing advice and guidance for all matters property, business, introductions, networking, recruitment, training, PR, marketing and funding-related opportunities.

The city of Birmingham has one of the most culturally diverse and highly skilled tech workforces in the UK with 40,000 employees in the sector, and 20 local universities, within one hour of Birmingham, three of which are world-renowned and located right at the city’s core. Within the universities there are over 100 tech and digital Business Centres of Excellence, with more than 110,000 graduates each year.

As a destination, Greater Birmingham is an international city that competes highly with all other major European cities. Commercial property is less expensive than any other leading UK city, yet the quality of life and infrastructure is world class.

The region is going through an unprecedented period of transformation, and is leading growth and development trends in the UK. With record levels of infrastructure investment, international recognition and countless opportunities for companies to thrive in the region, there has never been a better time to be based in Greater Birmingham.

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MAKE IT BIRMINGHAM Businesses establishing a base in Greater Birmingham will benefit from:

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• One of the leading tech and digital clusters in the UK, which hosts start-ups, scale-ups and international tech giants • Two of Europe’s largest B2B tech businesses, (Advanced and SCC) are based in the city centre, and employ more than 3,000 staff between them • A competitive, internationally recognised and deep talent pool.

Tech companies now relocate to Birmingham from other established key clusters, such as London and Shanghai, based on the strength and availability of the talent • The largest number of tech start-up accelerator and incubator hubs outside of London with the number of programmes having doubled in recent years, according to Telefonica’s ‘Rise of the UK Accelerator System’ report • The youngest and most diverse population of any major city in Europe, with 40% being under the age of 25, and comprising over 180 different nationalities • A rich tech and digital cross-fertilisation ecosystem including: SaaS, B2B, app development, healthcare & MedTech, FinTech, games, serious gaming, advanced engineering technology, auto-tech, transport tech and driverless vehicles • Connections to more of the world for less investment and lower tech talent costs than London and other UK cities • Excellent talent retention rates. Employees often stay in Birmingham due to higher quality of life. More disposable income leads to a higher level of staff retention than the national average • The largest European market for high-end consumer electronic products. invest@marketingbirmingham.com

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4,000 CHOOSE GREATER BIRMINGHAM FOR DIGITAL & CREATIVE SERVICES Greater Birmingham’s reputation as a tech hub is growing. The city is already home to 7,500 tech firms employing over 40,000 people, with tech firms boosting the economy by £2.3 billion every year.

With creativity at the heart of the region, Birmingham contains more digital and creative companies than any regional city in the UK. The creative hubs surrounding Digbeth and the Jewellery Quarter have developed into the perfect ecosystem allowing digital and creative firms, studios, and supporting service companies to prosper. Birmingham hosts a number of Centres of Excellence in the film and animation

industry, including the innovative Creative Skillset Media Academy and the Visual Communication Research Group.

More leading businesses are choosing Birmingham as their innovation centre. The BBC Guerrilla Unit is located in Fazeley Studios, Digbeth the BBC’s innovation team responsible for owning and defining the direction for projects such as iPlayer and BB3’s digital only service.

Leading online retail brand ASOS demonstrates the region’s growing influence within digital media and e-commerce. By opening a new office in the Custard Factory in Digbeth 4

in 2013, the firm took advantage of several high growth clusters in the area that provide talent, support and an ideal environment for both tech start-ups and digital arms of larger corporations.

John Lewis, one of the UK’s leading retailers has also chosen Birmingham as its home for their innovation lab.

The University of Birmingham has been named the ‘leading light’ in the digital sub-sector of serious games pertaining to defence and healthcare, and ranked number one University for Computer Science in 2014 by The Guardian Newspaper in the UK.

A LEADING CITY FOR INNOVATION IN TECH The breadth of creative talent and affordable, dynamic locations in the region have led to some of the country’s leading software firms choosing Birmingham, sitting alongside a strong pedigree of local, highly innovative companies, national heavyweights, R&D departments, start-ups and digital SME’s too.

A large number of Centres of Excellence can also be found within the region, including the Digital Image Centre of Excellence and the CRNI (Collaborative Research Network in Imaging and Visualisation) both based at the

University of Birmingham.

The University of Birmingham is instrumental in developing forward thinking, new initiatives and has established several centres for support. Its School of Computer Science is an official Academic Centre of Excellence in Cyber Security Research (ACE-CSR) authorised by the UK government.

This is a national scheme that is supported jointly by GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters), RCUK (Research Councils’ Global Uncertainties Programme) and BEIS (Department

for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy). Additionally, its Human Interface Technologies (HIT) team is a pioneer in the development, evaluation and uptake of virtual reality and telepresence/ telerobotic technologies.

The university is also noted for establishing the Institute for Digital Experience and Applications, Visual Communication Research Group and Centre for Disruptive Media.

Within less than one hour of the city, 45,000 students are studying tech, digital media or creative subjects each year.

Greater Birmingham BENEFIT FROM AN EXPANDING MEDIA COMMUNITY

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Birmingham hosts several Centres of Excellence within the film and animation industry including the Creative Skillset Media Academy and the Visual Communication Research Group. Both are located at Birmingham City University, which houses four professional standard TV studios, and the largest fixed standing green screen studio in the whole of Europe. Leading media brands located in the city include a variety of specialists including Maverick TV, Comux, Product Resource Group (PRG), and Yamination, and several media innovation specialists within fields such as VR, AR, and MR.

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CASE STUDIES This global online retailer set up an office in Birmingham’s Custard Factory, Digbeth in 2013. ASOS recruited 50 highly-skilled developers, with roles focused on creating new company payment systems tailored to the needs of consumers in growth markets, including France and Germany. Based in one of Birmingham’s leading tech and creative centres, ASOS cited a 50 per cent lower cost for tech talent compared to London, this being one of their main reasons for locating in Birmingham.

The decision to move to Birmingham was the obvious next step for Advanced: “We are passionate about identifying dynamic, high performing and motivated individuals who are invaluable to our future expansion and who will make a major contribution to our company culture. Birmingham is the clear choice given it has the UK’s largest regional urban economy and is the most popular destination outside the South East for mass millennial migration.” Following its acquisition by Vista Equity Partners in 2015, Advanced has undergone significant transformation and investment, creating a platform for further growth. The company’s move to Birmingham demonstrates the strength of the city’s offer for major British brands looking to move to the region.

Being an international company, connectivity is essential to Lombard Risk. Their position in Birmingham offers them exceptional links to both their national and overseas clients, allowing them to make the most of the integrated rail networks and airport facilities in the region. Mike Payne, Lombard Risk’s Chief Technology Officer, highlighted Birmingham’s strength in innovation as another key factor that motivated the move to the Midlands. He added: “Lombard Risk aims to be the employer of choice in Birmingham developing first class software demanded by our clients. Birmingham is a fantastic city with world class universities nearby and a rich pool of talented technologists, it was an obvious place for us to invest in.”

Ben Jackson, Chief Executive of Oxygen Finance, said “The move from London to Birmingham was a strategic decision designed to continue the company’s success. As well as the city’s connectivity, its affordability and ability to attract a high calibre of talent were cited as reasons for the Midlands move. Oxygen looks to employ the best and brightest graduates from across the region, and already has 35 people working at its Birmingham office. According to Jackson, Birmingham’s expertise in tech has “fed their ability to grow”, giving them the opportunity and resources to develop their business.

NetWatch Global is the largest open-source investigation company in the UK, and last year relocated to Birmingham. Claimant profiling is the most popular type of profiling carried out by NetWatch, which uses traditional techniques such as surveillance to investigate insurance claims. The company has expertise in online investigations and social media intelligence. NetWatch has created a number of software tools designed for bespoke location based social media investigation. The firm has also developed best practice methods of searching and finding results from social media. As part of their expansion plans, NetWatch moved from Worcester to join Birmingham’s worldleading digital community in Digbeth in March 2016.

Vanti is an audio-visual, IT systems and Managed Services integrator, which creates tailor-made technology to help grow their client’s business, ensure it is more productive, and save businesses money. Recent work for Vanti has included projects for Canary Wharf, Tottenham Hotspur Football Club and UBM. The company was started by Raj Patel in London in 2000. Vanti located to an office in Birmingham in recent years to support their work in Solihull, moving into the Innovation Birmingham Campus at Faraday Wharf. The company has experienced considerable growth over the past few years. They are one of 15 early-stage companies receiving support from Innovation Birmingham's Entrepreneurs for the Future (e4f) Inspire programme, which aims to accelerate the growth of entrepreneurial tech companies.

BIRMINGHAM OFFERS A BRIGHT FUTURE There has been significant investment in Birmingham’s infrastructure through the development of several city based tech clusters including: INNOVATION BIRMINGHAM CAMPUS Innovation Birmingham Campus (IBC) is one of the UK’s largest, leading tech campuses and the fastest growing in the country. IBC is the base for Birmingham’s tech community - a place for innovators, entrepreneurs and investors looking to develop or fund tech start-ups with high-growth potential. Campus facilities include the Entrepreneurs for the Future (e4f) multi-occupancy start-up centre with hot-desking facilities and a wide range of flexible office units, enabling a flexible and collaborative environment to fasttrack the growth and development of tech start-ups.

Start-ups in the e4f incubator benefit from an initial six months’ free access to a dynamic coworking centre, with full tech support and meeting facilities.

Medium-sized enterprises and large corporates benefit from a platform for new commercial opportunities with the tech entrepreneurs and businesses based at the Campus, all of which provide a unique opportunity to learn, collaborate and drive forward latest industry trends and developments within all the companies.

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LONGBRIDGE The £1 billion Longbridge regeneration scheme is the area’s largest mixed-use scheme outside Birmingham city centre and one of the largest urban regeneration programmes in the UK. At the heart of Longbridge is the £100 million Tech Park, a new hub for progressive technologies and services, and home to over 60 local, national and international businesses.

A comprehensive refurbishment of the Park’s Innovation Centre houses several data heavy operators benefiting from broadband connections as fast as 1GB per second or higher.

Longbridge West, the site’s next phase, will also provide an ideal environment for fast growing, hightech manufacturing companies.

Properties ranging from 50,000 sq ft to 500,000 sq ft can be tailor-made to meet customer requirements.

SILICON CANAL Birmingham’s voice of the tech and digital community, Silicon Canal is a non-profit organisation run and owned by the tech community.

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It promotes, connects, showcases and supports the digital technology community in the city and is the ‘go to’ organisation for designers, developers and marketers. In addition, it also hosts an array of tech meet-ups, events and its own highly prestigious and well attended awards event.

Silicon Canal has over 100 ‘ambassadors’, all of whom offer free advice and support to tech companies within the city.

THE CUSTARD FACTORY The Custard Factory in Birmingham is one of the largest hubs for digital media and creative businesses in the region. The urban estate has continually expanded since its opening and is now home to around 400 businesses.

FAZELEY STUDIOS Fazeley Studios comprises 45 elegant and fashionable studio offices for 5 – 200 person businesses, ideal for the digital and creative sectors.

The luxurious, elegant studios are at the heart of the burgeoning Custard Factory area, which is rapidly becoming the city’s main media and creative location and a nationally recognised cluster.

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CONNECTING YOU TO A LAND O F TA L E N T A N D O P P O R T U N I T Y

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BUSINESS BIRMINGHAM SUPPORTS YOUR BUSINESS NEEDS Greater Birmingham comprises many accelerators and incubators for start-ups and SME’s to access professional, commercial and financial support to develop their business.

BUSINESS BIRMINGHAM Business Birmingham is the commercial division within Marketing Birmingham, the region’s strategic marketing partner, and has played a key role in enabling the city to become recognised as the sixth most investible city in Europe for two years running, ahead of every other UK city (PwC research Jan 2015; Jan 2016).

Awarded the title of top-performing UK investment agency 2016, by specialist locations magazine, Site Selection, Business Birmingham provides outstanding and award-winning support and services to its clients by understanding their specific needs and requirements.

Some of the services Business Birmingham provide include after care, presenting bespoke solutions, services, and support; tailoring their suite of unique products to each company’s specific requirements.

Business Birmingham’s support is designed to ensure every client is able to establish and grow their operations in the city effectively and with ease; that their company’s profile is maximised within the city and beyond; and that each client has the optimum opportunity for networking, introductions and business development. Business Birmingham acts as a single point of contact for clients, bringing together a project team from relevant organisations across the city, such as property agents, recruitment consultants, public agencies and universities to

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deliver a comprehensive package of support for companies looking to locate in the city and to grow their business.

SOLIHULL FOR SUCCESS Supported by a highly-qualified skills base and strong track record in high-value business activities, Solihull continues to draw interest from global corporations and small entrepreneurial businesses alike, paving the way for innovation and growth.

UK Central (UKC) is a unique concentration of strategic economic assets and infrastructure at the heart of the UK’s transport network. Comprising Birmingham Airport, the NEC and the planned HS2 development, UKC is already a key driver of the regional economy, attracting investment and creating jobs. UK Central is located at the core of the UK, less than an hour from London and with direct air links to major European capitals, the United States, Asia and the Middle East.

GBSLEP GROWTH HUB The Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (GBSLEP) is a partnership of businesses, local authorities and universities, which supports private sector growth and job creation. The Growth Hub helps local small enterprises with a wide variety of services to support their business growth ambitions.

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CITY OF THINGS TO COME DIGITAL CROSS-FERTISLISATION Greater Birmingham’s supply of digital talent, world-class institutions, first-rate facilities and entrepreneurial spirit is creating a melting pot of hybrid digital industries, pioneering technological change and innovation as tech becomes increasingly integrated into every sector and industry. Greater Birmingham is home to Centres of Excellence and organisations that are developing technologies spanning many sectors and industries and fuelling this digital evolution.

FINTECH

SOFTWARE SERVICES

FinTech is a rapidly growing industry in the UK that secured over £650 million inward investment in 2015. RBS and Deutsche Bank have recently chosen to be based in Birmingham, with HSBC in the process of relocating their head office from Canary Wharf to the heart of the city centre, all of which is fuelling a large upsurge of FinTech companies moving into the city.

Greater Birmingham provides an ideal location for software services companies that build exceptional products and maximise upon profit targeting the B2B sector. Many of the companies specialise in web development, mobile development, bespoke software, finance software, legal software, business solutions and CRM systems. Already, the city is home to two of Europe’s largest B2B software providers.

In 2016, global FinTech company Lombard Risk, chose Birmingham out of 26 other global cities to open a new tech centre investing in a new wave of products, creating 150 new jobs. Choosing Birmingham as a location was due to the availability of a large highly skilled talent pool within software development and financial analysis.

ADVANCED MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY Manufacturing is critical in the world’s economy, transforming ideas and inventions into real products. Birmingham’s pedigree within advance manufacturing and the automotive industry has paved 12

the way for the city to become pioneers in the absorption of tech into these industries. From major rail innovations, through to auto-tech, driverless vehicles and micro-manufacturing, Birmingham has the expertise and infrastructure to lead the world in advances, innovation and implementation for manufacturing.

The University of Birmingham’s Advanced Manufacturing Centre has strong industrial collaboration with leading manufacturers and participates in pioneering advances in: • Advanced Machining • Intelligent Systems • Geometric Modelling • Process Modelling • Laser Machining / Texturing • Micro Manufacturing

GAMES

SERIOUS GAMING

Home to the UK’s biggest gaming event, EGX at the NEC, Birmingham is acknowledged as a leading cluster for games developers. Home to two long-established games developers, Rare and Codemasters, as well as up-and-coming mobile app makers, and universities training the next generation of software engineers, Birmingham offers it all.

Building on its experience in simulation, robotics and human factors for applications in aerospace, defence and healthcare, the University of Birmingham’s multidisciplinary Human Interface Technologies (HIT) team pioneers in the development, evaluation and uptake of virtual reality and telepresence/telerobotic technologies focusing on humancentred research issues, relating to future interactive technologies.

Birmingham is a hive for the growing independent developer scene, including Trebuchet Games, Digivoodoo, Stormburst and Dojit, based at the Innovation Birmingham Campus, along with Flaming Pumpkin who have offices at the Custard Factory. These developers are self-publishing games across smart platforms, generating significant sales and profile within the world of smart phone gaming.

Additional strength is provided by the local universities supporting the next generation of developers such as Birmingham City University’s game-related courses, including Computer Games Technology, Interactive Entertainment and an MSc in Video Game Enterprise and Production. invest@marketingbirmingham.com

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The centre is also a beacon for applied technology in the armed forces, with studies being conducted for the Royal Navy, including a desktop games engine-based demonstrator, as well as a gaming solution to test navigational and spatial orientation skills of warfare officers.

In addition, the region includes the Serious Games Institute at Coventry University, an International Centre for Excellence in Serious Games Applied Research, Business Engagement and Study.

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Want to know how we can make Tech, Digital and Creative happen?

Get in touch with our Invest Team quoting ‘Making it happen’ T: +44 (0)121 202 5022 E: invest@marketingbirmingham.com Join in the conversation #Makingithappen business_bham BusinessBirmingham BusinessBirmingham To download a digital version of this brochure please log on to businessbirmingham.com/tech 16