The Greater Lincolnshire LEP welcomed the launch of the Midlands Engine Strategy by the Chancellor Philip Hammond in 2017. Since then the LEP has been working in partnership with the Midlands Engine and is leading on some nationally important themes including food and the visitor economy.

The strategic themes for the Midlands Engine are:

Promotion
The Midlands Engine is promoting the region’s strengths, assets and opportunities to target domestic and overseas audiences and will focus on sectors that provide the greatest opportunities for the region for inward investment.

Midlands Connect
The connectivity of the Midlands Engine is central to its success and the Midlands Connect initiative will set out a credible long-term transport investment strategy for the Midlands Engine, identifying early investment to improve road and rail networks and explore how new technologies can increase the capacity of existing transport networks.

Innovation
The Midlands Engine is driving up business innovation, improving business productivity and competitiveness to bring forward innovations that support the primary sectors and drive this through the supply chain.

Finance for business
Supporting SMEs to grow will increase employment right across the Midlands and help to diversify the business base. SMEs can be a key source of innovation, and medium-sized enterprises are crucial to developing local supply chains that support global brands. 

Access to appropriate sources of finance is essential for businesses to reach their full growth potential and to facilitate the survival of new business start-ups, and the Midlands Engine has launched a single and substantial access-to-finance Midlands Engine Investment Fund.

Skills
The availability of a strong talent pool is crucial to enable employers to improve their productivity and grow more quickly. The Midlands Engine is working to ensure that the employer base links closely with skills providers and that skills provision is tailored to employer demand.

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