Advantage West Midlands has today announced the nominees chosen to represent the region in the national Cluster Mark competition, run by the Department of Business Innovation and Skills (BIS).
Flying the flag for the region will be the Niche Vehicle, Midlands Aerospace and Ceramics clusters, each demonstrating excellence in manufacturing and showcasing the West Midland’s talent and expertise in these specialised fields.
The Cluster Mark competition aims to recognise where companies, specialist suppliers, service providers and educational institutions are working together to develop a competitive advantage in a global economy.
To be shortlisted for the national awards, entrants to the Cluster Mark competition were required to demonstrate the competitive advantage achieved by the collaborating businesses involved in the cluster. A regional panel of judges, made up of business experts from across the West Midlands, wanted to see entrepreneurial dynamism and productivity, exports or market share levels which exceeded those of competitor businesses outside of the cluster. In addition, entrants had to describe how activity within the cluster is co-ordinated and how it is well placed to adapt to change.
Through its business cluster programme, Advantage West Midlands (AWM) has invested over £100 million to support businesses in a variety of initiatives. Karen Wright, the food and drink Cluster Manager at AWM, and also the West Midlands’ regional co-ordinator of the Cluster Mark awards, said: “The Cluster Mark competition is an excellent opportunity to demonstrate how initiatives to support the clusters have succeeded in creating a vibrant business community for the West Midlands, and for regional businesses to showcase their successes on a regional and a global scale. This is why we actively encouraged clusters from across the region to participate in the competition and submit an entry to our judging panel.
“Such was the quality and strength of entries from our region, that we have put forward three finalists to the national final, instead of the two entries per region recommendation.
“We wish our three finalists the best of luck in the National phase of the competition, and hope that their hard work and success will be recognised and rewarded.”
A panel made up of leading members of the business community and academia and chaired by a Department of Business minister, will select the national winners from all of the regional finalists in March. The winning clusters will be announced and presented with their awards at a special gala dinner to be held later in the year.
The Cluster Mark awards initiative was set out in the Government’s Manufacturing Strategy 2008 and is intended to raise the profile of manufacturers involved in the best clusters and support international marketing of local strengths. As such, the competition is open to clusters which are primarily focused on manufacturing.
The national winners will be able to use the "Cluster Mark Winner" logo on their promotional material, which will be an independent and prestigious endorsement of the quality of the cluster, and an excellent sales and marketing tool helping to attract inward investment.