Tag Archives: Midlands Engine

The Grant Delusion: Why Government Should Commission, Not Compete, in UK Innovation

David Richards MBE is right, the UK’s innovation economy has become addicted to grants, not growth. But the problem isn’t funding itself; it’s design. Innovate UK and its peers were meant to bridge the early-stage gap between research and market, but instead became destinations in their own right. Government now competes with, rather than commissions, the innovators it should empower. The fix is simple: commission outcomes, not applications; fund practitioners, not paperwork.

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Cyber, Growth, and Regional Futures: A Comparative Synthesis of Six 2025 Reports: From Fragmentation to Framework

2025 has been a year of noise, policy papers, strategies, and growth plans, each declaring the next leap for UK cyber and regional innovation. But noise isn’t movement. Across six flagship reports, DSIT’s Cyber Growth Action Plan, WMCA’s Futures and Growth Plans, the Tech Nation 2025 report, the Midlands Engine Cyber & Defence report, and DSIT’s Cyber Skills 2025, the pattern repeats: good intent, weak execution, no continuity. Together, they map £77 billion in Gross Value Added (GVA), 143,000 cyber professionals, and £17 billion in projected uplift, but no coherent operating model. This paper builds one: treating cyber as economic infrastructure and the West Midlands as the proof-of-concept for a practitioner-led, resilient growth framework.

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Cyber as a Cluster: A Critical Review of the Midlands Engine Cyber & Defence Report (April 2025)

Cyber in the West Midlands is no longer just a business activity, it’s a cluster. With the right action, it can become a strategic economic engine. This review critiques the Midlands Engine Cyber & Defence Report (April 2025) and sets out a ten-point plan to make that transformation real. The opportunity is clear. The data is in. Now we must deliver.

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