Foreword

The West Midlands has long been a centre of innovation and production; generating new ideas, products and technologies since we led the world’s first Industrial Revolution. Our region’s strong manufacturing base today is, in-part, a reflection of our rich industrial history. With so many world class products made here, we face mounting pressure to modernise our production processes and find sustainable energy and waste-management solutions. This pressure has helped to drive our Low Carbon sector, making it the most productive sector in the West Midlands, with GVA per employee far outstripping the national average.

The huge potential that Low Carbon has in our region has prompted me and my team to take a number of actions to support the sector. Our recently-launched regional Industrial Strategy has set a number of targets to help low carbon businesses and organisations meet their full potential. This includes a commitment to clean growth – aimed at inspiring innovative new approaches to energy generation, storage and transmission.

The Fusion Guide, produced by the European Bioenergy Research Institute* (EBRI) at Aston University, offers regional businesses a way of linking into the Low Carbon sector. With Energy-from-Waste and Bioproduct supply chains expanding rapidly, businesses need to be made aware of the wide variety of specialisms that our region has to offer. The Fusion Guide does a brilliant job of making this process easier for businesses, and I commend EBRI for their work.

Andy Street
Mayor of the West Midlands

* Now known as the Energy & Bioproducts Research Institute