Centre for the New Midlands – Creating new ideas to solve the challenges of the region

About The Centre for the New Midlands

An independent think tank focussed on the development and dissemination of new ideas

The Centre for the New Midlands CIC is an independent, not-for-profit think tank focussed on the development and dissemination of new ideas to enrich the lives of the region’s citizens and to enhance political discourse across the area.

Through our collaboration with industry and academia, we will discover new solutions to the region’s biggest social and economic challenges to shape a New Midlands.

We are apolitical; dedicated to the generation of new ideas thanks to evidence based research and we are fully committed to making the Midlands a ‘better’ place to live, work, study, invest and play in.

We do hope that you enjoy learning more about what we hope to achieve through our work and would love to have you on board. Thank you for visiting the Centre for the New Midlands.

The Good…

2.9 million

Population of the West Midlands

As of 2018

£17.8 billion

Worth of goods exported globally from the region in 2017

Making it the export capital of the United Kingdom

131 million

Visitors to the West Midlands in 2018

An increase of 2.6% (+3.4m) over the past year

The Bad and the Ugly…

87.2

Recorded crimes per 1000 population

An increase of 10.9% across the region versus 7% increase across England

41.3%

of Birmingham's neighbourhoods

are in the most deprived 10% of neighbourhoods nationally

283,700

West Midlanders of working age have no qualifications

11% of the region’s population vs UK level of 8% - however this figure is decreasing faster than the UK average (-2.5% vs 0.2%)

We Want You to help us shape a New Midlands

LATEST NEWS AND VIEWS

The auto industry is in flux – the Midlands must take action to safeguard its automotive legacy

Feb 26th, 2021 / 0 / 1

“The campaign to end the cladding scandal is not party political. It is about doing what is morally right”

Jan 31st, 2021 / 1 / 3

OUR EVENTS

16 MarMeet the Mayor

16Mar

Meet the Mayor

ENHANCE THE DEBATE

We want to invigorate debate across the region about how we can build a stronger, more prosperous region. We ask that you comment on and share the articles that you find interesting

SUPPORT OUR WORK

Our work is funded thanks to the generosity of our donors and the individuals and organisations who support our research. We believe in collaboration and want to work with people and teams who share our mission to build a 'New' Midlands

WORK WITH US

We are actively looking for new research on the biggest issues facing the West Midlands and want to support and publish the work of early career researchers (in particular). Get in touch today!