The investment agency’s end-of-year figures, released today, show that across 70 successful projects, MIDAS created 3,114 jobs and also assisted in the safeguarding of 460 jobs – bringing the total number of jobs supported to 3,574.   

Of the 70 projects, 36 were Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), from markets including North America (42%); Asia-Pacific – including China and India (36%); Europe (19%); and the Middle East (3%). 

Tim Newns, chief executive of MIDAS, said: “These results show Greater Manchester in a very strong light, against a year with an economic backdrop heavily affected by the Eurozone crisis and wavering investor confidence globally.”

“Growth markets such as India and China have come to the fore with highlights including Indian firm Aegis’ creation of 600 jobs and Chinese company ePro’s investment in Trafford.”

“North America still continues to provide significant investment, with companies such as Americhem and Tygavac adding to ASDA Wal-Mart’s investment in a new distribution and recycling centre at Kingsway, Rochdale creating 800 jobs in the area.”

“Looking ahead, it is important that we continue to enhance Manchester’s reputation as a Science City in international markets, exploiting not just the potential of leading research areas such as Graphene, but the wider research and development opportunities in sectors such as biomedical sciences, advanced manufacturing, energy and environment and digital and ICT, underpinned by the strengths and opportunities at the universities, science park and Enterprise Zone.

In addition to its funding from the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, MIDAS has been bolstered by further support from the Sector Investment Programme, an ERDF-funded initiative aimed at generating growth in key sectors. It has also been working closely with UKTI on a more integrated approach to trade and investment, following the signing of an MoU last year.     

Michael Oglesby, chairman of MIDAS, adds: “There is no doubt that market conditions remain challenging but with the investment that is going in to infrastructure through projects such as the Northern Rail Hub, Airport City Enterprise Zone, Metrolink expansion and Next Generation Broadband, Manchester can continue to grow its reputation globally as a first-class business location.”

“Looking at the level of success from overseas markets, it’s great to see that Asia-Pacific, including China and India, is representing a significant amount of investment into the city.  MIDAS has been focusing on these growth markets as part of a targeted strategy and it’s encouraging to see that these efforts are paying off.

“The Internationalisation agenda is vital for Manchester’s continuing economic growth in terms of inward investment and exports and it is important that we now build on our work in the BRIC economies and also look to the next growth markets such as Turkey and Korea.” 

MIDAS consists of a core team of sector and market specialists who pro-actively generate and nurture investment across the following sectors in Greater Manchester: biomedical sciences and healthcare; creative, digital and ICT; energy and environment; financial and business services; and advanced manufacturing.

MIDAS offers an extensive package of expert, free and confidential advice for potential investors and location consultants. For more information: + 44 (0)161 875 2239  www.investinmanchester.com

Led by President, Patrick Coveney, and CEO, Gina Quin, this visit is the perfect platform for North West SME’s and Larger Companies to attend pre-arranged one-to-one meetings with Dublin companies. 

Ireland is a modern knowledge economy focusing on services and high-tech industries and ranked as one of the wealthiest economies in the OECD. The UK remains Ireland’s key trading partner (Ireland is UK’s fifth largest export market) and the bilateral relationship between the two countries has never been stronger.

Strengths of the market: – Open Economy, used to imports – Same time zone – Low-cost regular flights from all over the UK to international airports: Dublin, Cork, Shannon and Knock. Also UK flights to regional airports: Kerry, Galway and Waterford. – Ideal starter or test export market with similar regulatory and legal framework to UK 

AGENDA

Wednesday 30th May 2012

14.00-17.00

Pre-arranged one to one meetings Location: Warren Bruce Court, Trafford Park, M17 1LB

Thursday 31st May 2012

9.15-11.15

Pre-arranged one to one meetings Location: Crowne Plaza Hotel, Manchester City Centre

Who is this suitable for?

Companies in Financial and Professional, Leisure, Hospitality, Tourism and Hotels, ICT, Consultancy, Education, PR and Public Sector. Targeted at SME’s and Larger Companies

In this session John will seek to define the term more precisely and distinguish hype from reality. John will discuss the power of insight, and how Big Data solutions can provide greater visibility into the factors impacting the performance and health of your business.

John will also discuss some of the challenges you may encounter implementing Big Data solutions, and some recommended best practices for overcoming those challenges.

John Spens heads ThoughtWorks’ Analytics Practice, where he brings over twenty years of experience in delivering custom software and business intelligence solutions.

It’s good news for Manchester, which was named the UK’s seventh best destination. London dominated the awards and was named the world’s, Europe’s and the UK’s best destination – with the Diamond Jubilee and Olympic Games fast approaching, it’s a well-timed triumph for the capital.

Emma Shaw, TripAdvisor spokesperson, commented: “The UK is a wonderful place for travellers.  With so many beautiful towns, villages, sites, cities and more on offer, it’s a tremendous honour for Manchester to be named amongst the UK’s best destinations.”

Paul Simpson, managing director of Visit Manchester, said: “We’re delighted that Manchester has been recognised in the TripAdvisor Travellers’ Choice Awards.

“The city is known around the world for its sport and musical exports – and these will be on show all the more in 2012 thanks to the opening of the National Football Museum in July, Olympic Football fixtures at Old Trafford and the return of ‘Madchester’ favourites New Order, The Happy Mondays and The Stone Roses all playing in the city.

“The international connectivity offered by Manchester Airport and the speed and frequency of rail services from London has made the city more accessible than ever before. In 2011, Greater Manchester welcomed over 1.1m international visitors and we’re hopeful we can top that in 2012.”

European category: London comes out ahead of arch rivals

London’s arch rivals on the tourist trail, Rome and Paris, trailed after the UK capital in second and third places respectively in the European category.

The only other UK city to rank in this list was Edinburgh, which took 13^th place.

UK category: Spotlight off the south

Following London as runner-up in the UK category was Edinburgh, with Liverpool claiming third place.

While London may have reigned supreme, the south – well-known for its many famous sites and cities – only had one other destination in the list alongside the capital: Torquay in fourth place.  The north was well-represented with Liverpool, Manchester and Blackpool ranking third, seventh and eighth respectively. 

Scotland had two top ten finishers in this year’s list (Edinburgh in second and Glasgow in fifth) while both Wales and Northern Ireland claimed one destination each (Belfast in sixth place and Llandudno in tenth).

The 2012 TripAdvisor Travellers’ Choice Destinations winners

The Travellers’ Choice Destinations awards honour top travel spots worldwide based on millions of valuable reviews and opinions from TripAdvisor travellers.  Award winners were determined based on the popularity of destinations, taking into account travellers’ favorites and most highly rated places. 

For the complete 2012 Travellers’ Choice Destinations winners, go to http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/TravelersChoice-Destinations. (please note this link will be live from 00:01 Tuesday 1^st May).

SAScon Conference offers delegates Twitter and much, much more

The SAScon conference has over 56 panellists who are all renowned thought leaders in the search, analytics and social media space.

Dom Burch, head of corporate communications & social media at ASDA, Nick Garner, Global Head of Search of Unibet, Ben McKay, Head of SEO at Moneysupermarket.com, Ralph Tegtmeier aka Fantomaster and Martin Bryant, managing editor of The Next Web are just a few of the panellists to sign up.

They join the keynote speaker Bruce Daisley, UK Director of Twitter in tackling topics as diverse as online branding through search, mobile marketing, link building and ‘where social media meets PR.’

SAScon runs over two days (17-18 May 2012) at The Hive, Manchester, and tickets are on sale via the SAScon website, http://www.sascon.co.uk/.  Further keynote speakers and panellists will be announced in due course, along with details of a very special Google+ Hangout.

Richard Gregory, Chief Operating Officer of Latitude and a founder of SAScon, said, “The panellists are drawn from client and agency side, providing a good balance of commercial and strategic insight. We are adding panellists all the time and still have some very exciting people to add to the conference roster, but today’s announcement helps to provide clarity on the SAScon programme for anyone considering buying a ticket.  Buy a ticket now to avoid disappointment.”

The full list of speakers is available to follow on Twitter via this Twitter list.  Their LinkedIn details are available here on the SAScon website.

SAScon 20012 is sponsored by Manual Link Building and Search Metrics.

Comprised of Destiny Pierce, Stina Puotinen, Nick Shiarizzi and Sarah Van Burren, CHERYL are renowned for their video art and installations, dance parties and general artistic performance. They have featured at the Museum of Modern Art, MoMA PS1, New York’s Museum of Art and Design, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the Jewish Museum and more.

CHERYL will utilise the ground floor gallery space of the Mill as they work with local artists, musicians, performance collectives and students of art, media and fashion. During this time they will hold special events open to the public on the Wednesdays of the 9, 16 and 30 May. In addition to these, they will take over the entire Mill to celebrate the Queen’s Jubilee on Sunday 3 June, and will feature at the ‘Sounds from the Other City’ event taking place on Sunday 6 May.

Their arrival in Greater Manchester means great things for the city, and reflects the fact that Manchester’s creative sector and arts circuit is respected not just locally and nationally, but also globally.

MIDAS will be hosting CHERYL for a day to ensure they get the most out of their visit to the region, which will include helping the artists to network with members of Manchester’s creative sector, as well as learn about the history, culture, architecture and strength of Greater Manchester as a region. MIDAS will be working with Islington Mill going forward to encourage more international collaborations to highlight the talent within Greater Manchester.

Islington Mill is a former cotton spinning mill, over two hundred years of age, which now functions as an inspiring space that houses over fifty studios, gallery space, gig and ‘clubbing’ areas and its own (artist-run) B&B.

For more information on CHERYL, please visit: www.cherylwillruinyourlife.info
For more information on Islington Mill, please visit: www.islingtonmill.com

Tickets for the event cost £125.00 and tables come at the prices of £1250.00 (for ten) or £1500.00 (for twelve).

• Wednesday 16 May, from 08:30 until 17:30, and
• Thursday 17 May, from 08:30 until 16:00

For full details on costs for being a part of the event see: http://www.campaignpartners.co.uk/biba/delregfee.htm

The new £2.7million Business Park will be situated on the Hindley Green Industrial Estate in Wigan, providing 65 brand new jobs – as it opens nine industrial business units to rent.  £1.3 million of the funding for Armstrong Point – which is due to open this September – is provided by the ERDF (European Regional Development Fund). 

In a unique twist, the park will allow all of its tenants to avoid any gas, electricity and water costs, due to its use of cutting edge carbon technologies.

A combination of photovoltaic systems and a wind turbine will provide the site with electricity, whilst filtered rain water will provide water needed in the building. Other costs (gas and electricity) are to be met by the government’s ‘green’ incentive programme. 

Dave Armstrong of Amstrong Properties (NW) Ltd – the organisation behind the venture – launched the project with a speech at Urban Splashes POD development in Manchester.  He was joined by guest speakers The Rt Hon Andrew Stunnell MP, Lord Redesdale and Wigan Rugby League legend William John “Billy” Boston MBE.

Armstrong pointed out the highlights of the development which will be based on a brownfield site (formerly the derelict Britvic building on the Hindley Green Industrial Estate).  It is comprised of 0.47 hectares, and will provide 2,095 m² of business space. This will be through three steel frame industrial buildings, each capable of subdivision into three individual business units which in size range from 125 m² to 300 m².

Explaining further, Armstrong said: “We are using 14 low and zero carbon technologies, some of which have never been used before.  This truly exemplar scheme will raise the bar in terms of sustainability for property development and create an amazing opportunity for occupiers to slash running costs for their businesses.  This development will provide valuable working space to create jobs and assist businesses to meet current and future environmental legislation.

“In addition to helping Wigan businesses we look forward to assisting companies throughout the North West.  This development will help others re-think how property is developed, it also helps future proof our investment against forthcoming environmental legislation and should ensure we have the units let.”  

Tim Newns, chief executive of MIDAS, said: “Once complete, Armstrong Point will be a fundamental part of the Manchester city-region’s strategy to reduce carbon emissions, creating new jobs in Wigan and helping to put us on the map as the UK’s low carbon economic area (LCEA) for the built environment.  This is an excellent addition to the region’s growing low carbon sector, which already employs over 35,000 people across 2,000 companies.”

The demonstration site is situated at Urban Splash development ‘The Pod’ on Worseley Street, Castlefield, and will remain open until September when the site in Wigan launches.

Tony Fulton, Yorkshire Bank Managing Partner, Business Development comments, “Our business clients tell us that to meet their growth ambitions they need help and support, particularly in the areas of access to finance, export advice and marketing. There are other areas keeping business owners awake at night; red tape, the burden of employing people, cash flow issues, skills shortages and taxes.  We are keen to work in close partnership with local businesses to help with advice or guidance about where to go and who to listen to.”

Yorkshire Bank has a fully integrated financial solutions offering for businesses on Spring Gardens, which is equipped with experienced bankers and the full range of specialist advisers focused on supporting businesses around the Greater Manchester and Cheshire areas.

“We want our customers to have access to the right advice to make them more certain of success. That is why we work closely with MIDAS, GM Chamber of Commerce, the Forum of Private Business, Manchester Solutions, Access to Finance to name just a few.”

Yorkshire Bank can also introduce customers to those other service providers who can give them much needed specialist support such as tax, accountancy or legal services. By working as part of a wider regional team, the Bank aims to make sure that customers have a better chance of success and get the best advice available.

 “At a time when so much depends of the health and wellbeing of our business community, Yorkshire Bank is determined to support good businesses to do good business.”

More information is available by calling Tony Fulton on 07919 215048 or online at: www.ybonline.co.uk