Midlands businesses go global new report reveals

Published by

Nicky Godding

Fifty Businesses from across the Midlands have been praised for their innovation and achievements in a new report.

The Midlands Innovation Report, published by Mills and Reeve showcases companies which are putting the region on the map.

Worcestershire is one of the fastest-growing economies, and several businesses from across the county were highly praised within the report, published earlier in the Autumn.

Jessica Antley, Senior Project Manager of WINN at Worcestershire County Council said: ”This report is a clear indication of how businesses continue to put the Midlands as a region on the map in terms of Business and Innovation. It’s wonderful to see Worcestershire businesses, such as Airband and Wearable Link playing a big part in this progression. I’d like to congratulate all of the businesses mentioned for helping our county to prosper.”

Airband, highlighted in this report, a Worcestershire-based broadband service provider is currently the largest provider in South Africa and offers a market-leading wireless service to rural regions. The rural areas they are working on in the UK are rural Devon, the South West and Wales.

With the support and funding of Worcestershire Innovation, WINN, the firm has won multiple awards. Its success has enabled investment in the development of an innovative ‘fibre to the premises solution’, ensuring higher broadband speed with minimum disruption.

Redmond Peel, the owner of Airband, said: "The great thing about what we do is that people appreciate broadband. It's like bringing water to the desert.”

A further £16m investment will expand its network to an additional 50,000 premises in England by 2021.

Another concept funded by WINN and mentioned in the report was Worcestershire based Wearable Link.

Making hazardous environments a safer place to work, the company specialises in wireless ‘genius’ technology; using location based information to help improve the safety, productivity and compliance of workers on U.K. construction sites.

Having been awarded a contract with Betaden - one of the UK’s first 5G testbeds, Wearable hope to introduce its concept to professional surfers, families and vulnerable adults.

Other companies from across there region mentioned in the report include:

Comtec, a Leamington-Spa based translation agency working across numerous sectors, from manufacturing and technical to e-learning and creative.

University of Birmingham and Renishaw. The University of Birmingham is working with Gloucestershire-based engineering and scientific technology firm, Renishaw, to develop the next generation of personalised medical implants. By using metal 3D printing, the team can tailor devices to the patient’s anatomy, helping to reduce patient recovery times and contributing to efficiencies within the NHS. The team is working to create surfaces on these devices that will help the healing of the patient’s tissue and prevent threats to the implant, such as infection.

The university team’s strategic partnership with Renishaw is enabling it to contribute to cutting-edge research throughout the medical device supply chain, building relationships with SMEs and contributing to the growing life science agenda in the West Midlands.

Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe. After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts. She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.