This priority aims to increase enterprise in the West Midlands in order to improve regional economic performance. This will be achieved through the provision of tailored business support together with a limited range of integrated access to finance measures. Specifically the aim is to:
• improve company productivity by supporting business creation and diversification into higher value knowledge based activities;
• develop applied innovation activity;
• support regional businesses to improve their resource efficiency and contribute to reducing the regional carbon footprint;
• encourage a stronger entrepreneurial culture and promote the engagement of more women and black and minority ethnic groups into business; and
• within all these measures to improve access to finance for business investment in order to facilitate this transition.
Supported by £90m, the direction of Priority 2 is aligned with the existing regional partnership established for enterprise, the Enterprise Board. Priority 2 will also ensure alignment with the Business Support Simplification Model.
Details of how the priority will be delivered are summarised in an Investment Framework, which is located in the 'Related Documents'.
Additional information on the management of this priority is available within the Partnership and Governance section.