Three Birmingham manufacturers among first to share £1.3m from the mayor's R&D fund

Three Birmingham manufacturers are among the first nine firms to win a share of £1.3 million in research and development grants announced by the regional mayor, Richard Parker, as part of a push to protect and create manufacturing jobs.

The money comes from the Investment Zone Supply Chain Transition programme, a £6 million R&D fund. The nine firms have matched their grants with £1.4 million of their own investment, the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce reported on 10 November.

The Birmingham winners

The Birmingham firms are 4T2 Sensors, Brandauer and Co and Tooling 2000. They are joined by SymbioTex in Wolverhampton, Gainsborough Healthcare Group in Walsall, Darvick in Brierley Hill, European Materials Recycling Group, which has sites across the region, and Plant Carbon and Tecman Speciality Materials in Warwickshire.

The firms will use the money to develop new products, services and manufacturing processes in sectors including electric vehicles, low-carbon construction, defence, aerospace and the circular economy.

From the first industrial revolution to seaweed packaging

The mayor said the fund was backing companies old and new. He described manufacturing as the beating heart of the region's economy, providing jobs for more than a quarter of a million people, and said it was "critical that we futureproof those jobs and capitalise on the massive potential there is to create many thousands more."

"This R&D funding does exactly that by backing a range of companies, from Brandauer, which has a wealth of experience and was even around in the first industrial revolution, to new-generation manufacturers like SymbioTex," he said. "My job is to make sure this is where they develop their ideas, make their products and create the good jobs and opportunities local people deserve."

SymbioTex, one of the youngest firms to benefit, was founded by University of Wolverhampton graduates Olivia Simpson and Dr Mattia Parati and makes products from sustainably farmed seaweed as an alternative to single-use plastics. It will use its grant to develop new anti-static packaging.

"Securing this grant is a significant step forward for SymbioTex and our ambition to develop sustainable, high-performance alternatives to conventional plastic packaging," said Ms Simpson.

Free support for 200 more manufacturers

Alongside the grants, the wider £12.5 million programme, which the mayor secured from government, will give more than 200 manufacturers fully funded business development advice and advanced management training. It is designed to help them move into high-growth markets such as advanced engineering, battery technology, clean tech, medical technology and aerospace.

The programme is run by the combined authority and Supply Smarter, and is one of several funds behind the mayor's Reindustrialisation Blueprint, which aims to turn more of the region's research and innovation into companies that grow, manufacture and employ people locally.

For Birmingham, which still has thousands of small and medium-sized manufacturers in its supply chains, the programme is a chance to move into new markets as industries such as car-making change around them.