No matter what anyone predicts for the future, it will definitely be digital. So, for businesses, ensuring that digitisation and digital opportunities are taken advantage of is a must. That’s why its such positive news to hear that Innovation Birmingham and National Express have teamed up to create opportunities for digital tech businesses in the West Midlands.
By collaborating on digital transport measures in the future, the city’s biggest technology campus is able to help with the digitisation of one of the most common experiences of living in the modern world: transportation. The scheme, titled NXIS, will work with other partners and incubator hubs to identify what the next big thing in tech may be and to work on incubating the tech giants of the future, who may be students at Innovation Birmingham. Showing such a dedication to the digital way of the future shows the Midlands’ continued dedication to the future.
The Start of the Midlands’ Tech Journey
The NXIS incubator is open to SMEs across the West Midlands and partners with the team behind 845 million journeys a year, National Express. National Express chief digital office Rob Muir claims that the transportation giant will be providing their expertise in the sector, contacts in tech, networks, and infrastructure in exchange for the next big tech solution. By partnering up, the digital-and-tech-minded among Innovation Birmingham will be supported to carry out work on how transportation in the Midlands can be digitised. This can be done through disrupting how the industry currently works or creating new models, products, or services to enhance the market. The offer is a six-month co-working space agreement at the iCentrum building in Birmingham. Innovation Birmingham already has more than 170 businesses linked together, so the networking opportunities for smaller businesses is already promising. The scheme is likely to drive healthy competition for business in the region.
The Future is Digital
Ensuring the digital future is maintained is critical, which is why so many resources have already been diverted to the cause. But what happens if we don’t embrace tech? The opportunity is so useful, as those who haven’t embraced the technology that was on the horizon – regardless of whether or not it affected them at the time – have lived to regret it. A case in point is the collapse of Blockbuster’s multimillion-dollar industry – which reportedly took in a revenue of $6 billion per year from more than 9000 stores. Netflix launched a rival mail DVD company, and later one of the most successful streaming services globally. According to Betway, Netflix offered a partnership that would cost Blockbuster $50 million to help launch the mail-order DVD service, and have since gone on to attain a market value of $152 billion. Blockbuster remains a thing of the past. Famously Kodak didn’t catch on with the tide of digital cameras during the 1970s and 1980s and misunderstood how important they would be to the future of photography. The 1888 start-up spent 2003 to 2011 losing 47,000 jobs, 13 plants and 130 labs, as covered by PhotoSecret. They lost their entire film printing division, clinging on just through the invaluable machinery they made and filing for a Chapter 11 in 2012.
Birmingham’s Tech Credentials
Birmingham is home to 6000 digital firms, employing 36,000 people, and bringing £1.6 billion to the economy of the region. The amount of firms surpasses any other city in the country – including digital oasis London. Recently, Birmingham became the home of BBC Three, and a new BBC News youth team. The city is also home to a quarter of the country’s video games developers and has 1000 students working on digital tech degrees in the city. Allowing for such strong tech credentials to flourish in the city shows a further commitment to the future, which will be driven by motivated young people with a digital mindset. Innovation Birmingham itself is already soaring with the amount of talent contained within and continues to show that the best and brightest of the new digital recruits will be from the area. While other cities may discount Birmingham, the numbers speak for themselves, and the continued development for the digital sector shows that, while other cities may falter, Birmingham and the Midlands region will continue to reach great digital heights.
This isn’t the first business incentive to help the Midlands soar in both industry and the digital space. Ensuring that the strongest in business are currently working towards safeguarding the future of their industry by moving with the changing technological advancements is crucial to their own success. By partnering with a different kind of business, best practices can be shared and both can come away with a greater understanding of business on the whole. With any luck, both National Express and Innovation Birmingham will be more effective businesses once their partnership into the digital transportation future of the Midlands comes to fruition.
