Driving growth: supporting businesses in Coventry and Warwickshire

This report, produced for Coventry City Council, Coventry University, Jaguar Land Rover, the University of Warwick and Warwickshire County Council, focuses on the key innovation assets and barriers to innovation and economic growth in the Coventry and Warwickshire LEP area and what role the LEP and other public sector partners play in supporting innovation.

Coventry and Warwickshire boasts some world class innovation-related assets. It is home to several of the UK’s most innovative companies and universities producing cutting-edge research. There is a large concentration of research and development (R&D) activity in Coventry and Warwickshire, and it has one of the highest rates of international patenting in the country. A range of initiatives and partnerships have built up around the area’s assets aiming to further exploit its innovative potential but, despite some positive results, the diffusion of innovation could still be significantly improved. There continues to be a long tail of less innovative, less productive businesses in the sub-region and it is crucial that they are supported to engage in more innovative activity in order to increase the area’s economic resilience and rates of sustainable growth.