Think of South West England and images of lazy summer holidays, Devonshire cream teas, and Cornish pasties spring to mind. But how about the South West as a hub for future business prosperity?

A consortium of major businesses, Local Enterprise Partnerships and higher education institutions believes that the South West England and South East Wales regions can lead the UK and compete with the world in the fields of advanced engineering and digital innovation.

The consortium findings come after the government established an Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund to foster collaboration between business and the UK’s science base.

The Government has earmarked £4.7 billion for 2020-21 in research and development funding to help boost UK productivity, and the consortium is looking to use its own findings to launch initiatives to take up the new opportunities on offer.

The Government invited the audit, which was led by six universities working with key organisations including Airbus, the Met Office, Rolls Royce and Johnson Matthey, and Local Enterprise Partnerships across the region.

The consortium identified South West England and South East Wales as home of the largest aerospace sector in the UK, along with pioneering automotive, nuclear, marine and marine renewables and microelectronics industries.

The region is also a beacon for digital innovation: it’s home to the largest silicon design cluster outside of the USA; there’s more climate expertise here than any other area worldwide, it’s a global powerhouse for microelectronics industry, and it’s a national exemplar for smart cities.

Productivity is set to be raised with the integration of the scientific and industrial strengths of the region, such as investment in the Compound Semiconductor Applications Catapult, the proposed Institute for Advanced Automotive

Propulsion Systems, and a National Composites Materials Centre. This really is a South West success story worth celebrating. The audit process undertaken by the consortium is an encouraging example of Government working in partnership with the private sector. It’s shown that the South West has world-leading capabilities to make a real impact on productivity across a variety of sectors, which means the region can really hone in on its specialisms to help not only local but national growth.