A blueprint to establish Greater Manchester as a leader in digital, health innovation and advanced manufacturing delivering thousands of jobs has been set in the region's first Local Industrial Strategy.
The plans will see the region lead the way in the digital and creative sectors, as well as advanced materials manufacturing such as graphene and health innovation – key sectors that have fuelled recent economic growth.
It will also put the region at the forefront for achieving carbon neutral living by 2038.
The strategy has been launched today by the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham with Greg Clark, Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and Deputy Mayor for the Economy Sir Richard Leese.
'Delivering productivity and prosperity'
Mr Burnham said: “This bold and innovative joint plan between Greater Manchester and the Government puts Greater Manchester back as an industrial and social pioneer. This is a plan focused on people and ensuring we have the good quality jobs to ensure people can succeed now and in to the future. In Greater Manchester, we led the first industrial revolution and are now in a position to lead the fourth.
“We want to be the Ƶ’s leading green city-region, which is why our ambition to achieve carbon neutral living in by 2038 is right at the heart of these plans. We will show that these plans are not just the right thing for people and the environment but also right for our economy.
“We’re also setting out how advanced manufacturing along with the digital and creative sectors will now help to grow our economy and help us become a wholly digitally-enabled city-region.
"The Local Industrial Strategy will enable us to drive our productivity and prosperity as we create the good, green jobs and skilled workforce that will power this thriving city-region’s economy into the future.
“This comprehensive Strategy is yet another step on our devolution journey and will help Greater Manchester to become one of the best places in the world to live, work and invest in.”
He added: “And we are putting together the pieces of the jigsaw to reveal the big picture – a Greater Manchester where prosperity, opportunity, health, hope and happiness are widely and fairly shared across all our people and places.”
Greater Manchester is only the second place in the country to agree a Local Industrial Strategy following West Midlands last month.
The aims of the strategy include;
- Launching the Ƶ’s first city-region Clean Growth Mission to achieve carbon neutral living in Greater Manchester by 2038.
- Establishing Greater Manchester as a global leader on health and care innovation, creating new industries and jobs, and improving population health and extending healthy life expectancy;
- positioning Greater Manchester as a world leading region for innovative firms to experiment with, develop and adopt advanced materials in manufacturing;
- Building on Greater Manchester’s position as a leading European digital city region, to maximise growing assets in cyber security, enable the digitalisation of all sectors and capitalise on the links between digital and creative industries that feed internationally-significant clusters in broadcasting, content creation and media;
- Ensuring that the education, skills and employment system allow everyone to reach their potential and employers have access to the skills required to deliver the Greater Manchester Local Industrial Strategy.
Sir Richard said: “Greater Manchester is known around the world for pioneering innovative collaboration and this plan, owned both by our city-region and Government, once again bolsters that reputation.
“By working with Government and key partners here in Greater Manchester we’re setting out how we will ensure that everyone benefits from the growth in our economy and the quality jobs that we’re creating.
“Central to that will be cementing Greater Manchester’s place as a leader in advanced manufacturing, health innovation and within the creative and digital sectors. These key sectors are going to fuel the growth that all of our citizens will benefit from for years to come.”
Fourth industrial revolution
And Juergen Maier, CEO of Siemens Ƶ and member of the Greater Manchester Local Enterprise Partnership, added: “Greater Manchester was at the heart of the first industrial revolution.
"This Local Industrial Strategy is designed to put the city region at the heart of the fourth industrial revolution, which is now transforming manufacturing around the world.
"The strategy will build on the ground-breaking Made Smarter Review and pilot to help SMEs in the manufacturing sector develop and adopt digital and environmental technologies to boost productivity, revolutionise manufacturing and accelerate commercial growth.
“By investing in Greater Manchester’s global research and industrial strengths, the city region will pioneer new technologies and create new, exciting jobs in future industries such as health innovation, low carbon technologies and advanced materials.”
Mike Blackburn, Chair of the Local Enterprise Partnership, added: “The Greater Manchester Independent Prosperity Review confirmed that our economy is the most diverse in the country, making it resilient and robust.
"And it’s growing – with over 124,000 businesses, Greater Manchester is already a great place to live and work for many.
“The Local Industrial Strategy provides the tools for us to go further and faster, enabling more business births, increasing exports and innovation and continuing to lead the development of new industries by focusing on a shared set of priorities and ambitions into the future.”
