The Birmingham Offer

Birmingham is ideal for business

Due its position as a premier entrepreneurial and business-friendly culture, Birmingham has been placed as one of the top world-wide corporate destinations*, while the city has a quality of life above locations such as Rome, Dubai, Prague and Hong Kong**.

Birmingham offers a world class cultural scene, a diverse and lively mix of shopping, tourist attractions, nightlife, major international events and exhibitions, and access to some of the country's most beautiful countryside.

The National Exhibition Centre is Europe's busiest convention centre, staging around 180 exhibitions every year and attracting up to four million people. It is home to many high profile events such as the British International Motor Show and Crufts Dog Show. Twelve of the UK's top international trade fairs take place at the NEC.  For example Ipex, one of the world's largest print and visual communications conventions which brings in 80,000 visitors, and the Spring fair, which attracts 85,000 visitors and covers 20 halls.

In October 2003 the NEC hosted ITMA, the cutting edge exhibition for textile machinery manufacturers and textile industries, which visited the UK for the first time. In all, the event attracted over 125,000 visitors, while approximately 95% of these delegates came from overseas.

The International Convention Centre is one of the busiest conference venues in the UK. Since opening, the centre has staged over 2,400 conferences, including the G8 Birmingham Summit in 1998 and the 1992 European Summit. It is the regular venue for the CBI national conference.

With its strong research base, Birmingham can offer a number of world class facilities. Aston Science Park is a high-spec destination for both new and established knowledge-based businesses, The University of Birmingham Research Park offers purpose-built accommodation to companies and projects seeking to work with the University in research, development, or training. Birmingham is also a leader in the nanotechnology and photonics clusters.

Birmingham's education and training facilities are second to none. The City’s universities have a graduate population of over 17,000, while within a one hour drive, there is access to a total regional graduate population of nearly 41,000.

The West Midlands has long been established as a premier European region for attracting inward investment. In fact it is currently the UK's most successful region for attracting foreign direct investment, and is amongst the top five in Europe.

*Source: BTI UK, 2002
**Source: Mercer Human Resource Consulting, Worldwide Quality of Living Survey, 2007

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