Insights & Publications

The Office for Budget Responsibility’s reference scenario implies that the manufacturing sector will be one of the worst hit by the Covid-19 crisis with a fall in output of 55% in the second quarter. Manufacturing is particularly important to the economies of the Midlands and North of England, so the impacts of Covid-19 will hit these areas disproportionately hard.
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Over recent years, the future of towns has attracted much debate. This Viewpoint argues that the current COVID-19 crisis makes the focus on towns more, not less, important. It also considers how towns might use the tools that have been made available to them to define a new and stronger future.
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The first ever Midlands Engine Independent Economic Review (IER) was published on the 30th April 2020. SQW led a team of consultants and academics to complete the IER, which was commissioned by the Midlands Engine partnership and formed part of a wider programme of research undertaken by the Midlands Engine Economic Observatory.
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Our chapter in the recently-published book, Productivity Perspectives, reviewed the changes in aspects of productivity policy from 1997 to 2018. It traced the overarching narrative associated with productivity policy, and focussed in on policies relating to innovation, business support, skills and regional development.
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SQW’s study into the economic and wider benefits of the UK Innovation and Science Seed Fund (previously known as the Rainbow Seed Fund) has been published.
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