The New Industrial Revolution in Britain – Which Regions Are Set to Benefit the Most?
Over the past two centuries, the boom of the manufacturing industry in Britain has been crucial to boosting the growth of various regions. You can trace back one thousand years to when Norwich was the largest city in Britain due its agricultural industry. Since then, the boom of other regional parts of Britain has boiled down to their access to resources and materials. With manufacturing in Britain resurgent once again, it again raises the question of where can new manufacturers thrive now as access to resources and materials is no longer as clean cut as it has been in the past.
Britain can already boast world leading manufacturers in the space, automotive and even 3D printing industries, which emphasises how British companies are now utilising their skills and technology to develop. It is no longer as simple as being able to source the materials for these out of the ground as components used in high tech industries are often shipped in from across the world because of the diverse range of technology which is in use.
However, in the past regional growth has and continues to be synonymous with industries that have supported them such as the textiles industry in Lancashire, the steel industry in Yorkshire and the maritime industry in the north east of England. Immediate access to the relevant resources as well as pre-existing personal networks and technical skills have ensured that certain regions became dependent on the success of individual industries. The impact can be seen more recently in 2015 with the crisis over the steel industry in Yorkshire where thousands of jobs have been lost due to intense competition from Chinese steel manufacturers.
The landscape is changing though and as more manufacturers are re-shoring (returning to Britain), there is increasing optimism for the growth of a new batch of British manufacturers. With that comes the potential to create new regional hubs centred around emerging industries. Rather than access to resources, these emerging manufacturers will be based around access to skilled labour, available land and access to shipping routes. Experts hope such regions will be reminiscent of Silicon Valley in California where expansion into engineering by universities such as Stanford encouraged graduates including Hewlett and Packard to start new companies.
The Silicon Valley model is certainly not easy to replicate, but largely unpopulated agricultural areas in Britain which are combined with strong surrounding educational infrastructure can provide an ideal opportunity for start-up companies on the eve of a new industrial revolution in Britain. While London certainly provides the cultural boost which Silicon Valley enjoyed due to being located next to San Francisco, the cost of setting up there is significantly higher than in other parts of the country. Glancing over university league tables reveals Cambridge, Bristol and Bath as leaders in engineering education which could provide a great basis for areas such as Somerset and East Anglia to be potential hubs for technology start-ups.
While this theory is entirely hypothetical, it is clear that for British manufacturing to succeed in the future, it needs to play to its strengths as a world leader in education and innovation and also provide the suitable base for start-ups to nourish and grow. Universities in Britain have already begun to see success by establishing links with local industries in order to attract talent to their region which is beginning to see an increasing number of fresh British manufacturers begin to flourish.