People

At City-REDI we are focussed on creating successful places through people. Understanding how people drive economic growth, by applying their skills, knowledge and expertise in firms and public sector organisations to add value. Also how they benefit from growth, and why these benefits are persistently unevenly and unequally distributed within and between regions.

Our research looks at how we can create the conditions for inclusive growth at a local level. This includes understanding wider social aspects and impacts of growth, and the underlying capabilities of people which underpin the growth potential of places.

People compete for jobs, firms compete for talented people and places compete for both. In an increasingly knowledge-based global economy regions need to attract skilled people and innovative firms. In our work City-REDI is examining the national skills deficit and the regional mismatch between the demand for and supply of different kinds of labour. The efficient operation of local labour markets underpins both the productivity of firms and the well-being of people in regions. We seek to understand how we narrow disparities between communities in skills and education and remove barriers faced by workers from underrepresented groups in realising their potential.

City-REDI is looking to explore how everyone can improve their skills throughout their lives, increasing their earning power, contributing to productivity improvements and adding more value to the places they work and the communities in which they live. We are developing new impact methodologies to understand the potential of interventions to influence structural and emerging challenges faced by people and their communities now and in the future.

Research projects

Commercialisation: Bridging the University-Industry Gap

Description
The commercialisation project aims to understand the role social sciences can play in bridging the divide between technology and research developed in universities, and market opportunities where value will be added.

Developing a Strategy for Economic Resilience in the West Midlands Combined Authority: The Role of Skills and Industrial Structure

Description
The project aims to understand what factors can affect regional resilience. This will inform policymaking in improving the capacity of localities to adapt to negative shocks in the future.

Dynamic Economic Impact Model (DEIM) – Skills and Business Support

Description
The West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) commissioned a new, bespoke economic modelling framework which was delivered in summer 2016.

Industrial Strategy Council Skills and Places Secondment

Description
This project examines skills investment in the UK and how the UK system compares to international skills systems.

Productivity From Below: Addressing the Productivity Challenges of Microbusinesses

Description
This project aims to lift the lid on the challenges facing microbusiness by focusing on three key sectors: retail, catering and creative.

Raising Productivity in Low-wage Sectors and Reducing Poverty

Description
This research, funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, looks at the role of productivity in employers' wage setting decisions in low-paid sectors in the Greater Birmingham and West Midlands region.

Rural Workforce Response to the NHS Workforce strategy to 2027 – Facing the Facts, Shaping the Future

Description
This research is concerned with applying a rural lens to the workforce challenges facing the NHS in England.

Skills and Productivity Commission – Business and Professional Services Sector Deep Dive

Description
This research was commissioned by the West Midlands Combined Authority for the Skills and Productivity Commission, as part of developing a local Industrial Strategy.

Socio-Economic Impact Model for the UK: SEIM-UK

Description
SEIM-UK is a UK Multi-regional Input-Output model being developed by City-REDI to provide detailed sector and place-sensitive economic analyses.

The Democratic Foundations of the Just City: Urban Planning Politics in Three European Cities

Description
This project investigates the roles of leadership, stakeholder cooperation and democratic scrutiny in different institutional and regulatory settings for pursuing urban planning policies to create a "Just City".

The Impact of Universities on Regional Economies

Description
This project aims to identify the economic impact of universities in their regional economies by focussing on the effects of increased spending associated with HEI activities.

The Midlands Engine Economic Observatory

Description
The Midlands Engine Economic Observatory has been created to deliver an Independent Economic Review of the Midlands as well as a sector assessment of the potential impact of Brexit for the region.

The Realities, Challenges and Strengths of the External Funding Environment at LEP Level

Description
This project investigates LEPs and their partners' experiences of securing funding, seeking to shed light on the challenges they face as well as the strengths of their approaches.

USE-IT! Unlocking Social and Economic Innovation Together

Description
The USE-IT! project aims to develop new mechanisms to unlock the potential of poor communities and connect them to the resources they need in order to remain resilient and escape poverty.

Wolverhampton Economic Assessment

Description
The Wolverhampton Economic assessment draws together an array of data and information to understand the key issues for the Wolverhampton economy and to inform a response to the key issues which exist.
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