UK esports organisations and companies based in the Midlands could benefit from the Midlands Engine Investment Fund.
This new Government fund aims to invest more than £250 million in small and medium sized businesses across the region, which stretches from Shropshire to Lincolnshire, and includes the likes of Birmingham, Worcestershire and Coventry.
The Midlands Engine Investment Fund will be formally launched and open for applications this spring, ‘with the first investments following shortly after’.
Matt Hancock, Minister of State for Digital & Culture, tweeted today:
NEWS: We’ve launched our #MidlandsEngine strategy – inc. £2m to boost arts & culture in Coventry & Warwickshire https://t.co/cLf07Htw3Opic.twitter.com/PCB6Cxp8Ww
— Matt Hancock (@MattHancockMP) 9 March 2017
You can read the paper in full here.
Elsewhere, the government mentions plans to introduce £170 million of capital funding to create a network of Institutes of Technology.
This will ‘ensure sufficient provision of high-quality technical education at higher skills levels, tailored around the needs of employers in local areas, including the Midlands’.
The Midlands Engine Strategy proposals also detail the introduction of 5G testbeds in the region, and the setting up of a Midlands Skills Challenge to improve skills in the area, with £20 million being investedto improve employment prospects.
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“The Midlands Engine Strategy is a demonstration of the government’s commitment to making the Midlands a powerful engine for economic growth.”
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The Government said it would also like to take Midlands ‘interactive games and entertainment’ companies to Gamescom 2017.
Innovate UK, the UK’s Innovation Agency, has invested a total of over £500 million with almost 3,000 organisations across the Midlands since April 2010.
“The Midlands Engine Strategy is a demonstration of the government’s commitment to making the Midlands a powerful engine for economic growth,” reads a statement on the Gov.uk website.
“The Midlands sits at the very heart of the UK economy. Building on our modern Industrial Strategy, the Midlands Engine Strategy sets out the actions we are taking to address productivity barriers across the Midlands, enabling businesses to create more jobs, export more goods and services, and grow their productivity.”
Nationally, the Government’s overall Industrial Strategy aims to increase productivity and drive growth across the whole country, including an investment of more than £4 billion in innovation across the UK, upgrading infrastructure, and supporting businesses to start and grow.
Image source: Simon Gray (Freeimages.com)
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
