Birmingham’s fintech sector, valued £474 million and increasing to £1 billion, relies on local higher education for skills, research, and industrial growth.
The Impact Report, which was ordered by SuperTech, the West Midlands-based digital supercluster in the UK, also showed how Birmingham’s and the region’s fintech companies have produced £474 million in economic production so far, and are expected to reach £1 billion.
Higher education institutions in the area have played a pivotal role in this economic development by helping to build skills and draw in talent from around the world. They have also been instrumental in producing cutting-edge research and working with businesses to encourage the region’s thriving fintech ecosystem to continue growing.
The Gillmore Centre for Financial Technology at Warwick Business School is one such higher education partner. By facilitating connections between companies and creating curricula to draw in top talent, the center is assisting SuperTech in expanding the fintech industry.
The report was released in response to a reception hosted by the City of London Corporation to showcase potential prospects for next-generation services in Birmingham.
The Gillmore Center’s honorary research fellow Matt Hanmer stated: “SuperTech’s Impact Report demonstrates the significance of the emerging fintech industry to the area. Through our courses and research, we will cultivate the next generation of employees to help with this expansion.
“The Gillmore Centre is dedicated to collaborating with local companies to deliver and inform our research. By doing so, we leverage the global research community’s reach to further the development of fintech in Birmingham and the West Midlands.”
Higher education is essential to the development of any successful tech cluster, and the Gillmore Center supports this with a number of innovative projects, such as the development of a “Crypto Index” and a “GillmoreAI” to assist the area’s financial companies.
Birmingham is where fintech is “taking shape”
In an effort to unite the fintech industry in the area, the paper presents it as a vibrant hub of innovation with the ability to boost output, encourage further inbound investment, and ignite a skills revolution.
The executive lead for SuperTech, Hilary Smyth-Allen, also stated: “Technology is dominating the headlines about the future of our economy.” Similar to the initial industrial revolution, Birmingham has been witnessing its emergence.
The basis of the potential for next-generation services is located in an area that gained notoriety for innovation and disruption. The intersection of talent and assets is where we are.
“We have drastically changed the narrative surrounding inward investment in the ProfTech space over the past two years, which has assisted in attracting new companies from throughout the globe to the area. But money will quickly move elsewhere if we don’t support this cluster. We must invest heavily to boost creativity and talent.
As part of the West Midlands Plan for Growth, there will also be a Mayoral Roundtable led by Andy Street, the mayor of the West Midlands, to talk about the next stages in realizing ProfTech’s promise.
