The business and professional services (BPS) cluster in the West Midlands is strong and growing. It has strength across a very wide range of activities and is second only to London in its breadth.
The cluster's particular strength is in corporate finance and banking with three banks and five building societies headquartered in the West Midlands, including the Islamic Bank of Great Britain.
The Birmingham Law Society is the largest local law society in the country with over 2,500 solicitors and 300 practices.
Achievements
• Local networking groups such as Birmingham Forward, Coventry First, Finest (North Staffordshire), Telford Business Partnership, SucceSS (South Staffordshire) and Alliance 4 the Black Country bring together the best professional services providers in our region, providing a forum for growing expertise and a first point of reference for any organisation needing access to that expertise.
• West Midlands Intellectual Property Forum (Fillip) provides a network for patent attorneys and other professionals involved in the exploitation of intellectual assets. It also develops case studies to demonstrate the value of exploiting and commercialising the intellectual assets within a business.
• Birmingham Professional DiverCity has won awards for its work in assisting some 400 BPS firms to recruit more ethically and ethnically.
• Creating Opportunities for 16-19 Year Olds has so far enabled 500 young people to undertake work placements encouraging them to enter a BPS career. These projects are helping to provide the skilled staff needed to sustain the sector’s future growth.
Target Markets 2008 - 11
To identify and focus on particular strengths within its existing markets and become a market leader for professional innovation in significant emerging markets such as:
• Environmental technologies: Developing professional services for the growing number of environmental businesses and addressing the environmental impact of all businesses.
• Ethnic opportunities: As parts of the region become majority ethnic, the demand for services such as Islamic banking will increase. The Islamic Bank of Britain is headquartered in Birmingham, and the region is well positioned to become a centre of excellence.
• Cyber-business and ICT: There is strong demand for professional advice and services to support the growth of e-commerce (especially where cross-border trading is involved).
• The ageing population: Professional services are required by the growing market place to support older people.
• Multi-disciplinary consultancies: There is an emerging trend for alliances between firms. Service providers should be encouraged to embrace this change to improve competitiveness.