UK nations and regions
East Midlands
The East Midlands in England offers a strategic central UK location with multimodal connectivity. It hosts the UK's only inland Freeport with tax incentives and excels in advanced manufacturing, automotive, logistics and aerospace sectors.
The region offers businesses a strategic location at the nexus of Oxford, Cambridge, London and Birmingham with extensive logistics assets including Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal (DIRFT), Magna Park and Midlands Logistics Park. The region aims to be the 'Connected Core' - a central hub of innovation, infrastructure and market connection within the wider Oxford-Cambridge Arc, enabling ideas to be tested, commercialised and scaled into high-growth ventures.
Key facts for the East Midlands
£6.3 billion gross output of universities
Low-carbon energy storage research hub based in Nottingham
£160 million government investment in the East Midlands Investment Zone
East Midlands Airport The UK’s key airport for dedicated cargo flights
5% of the UK's total GDP
Inland freeport The only one in the UK
An industrial strategy for the whole of the UK
The modern Industrial Strategy is a new economic approach – a whole-of-government effort to back the UK’s strengths, with ambitious plans for 8 high-growth sectors (‘IS-8’) and the frontier industries at their leading edge, from quantum to pharmaceuticals. It is a 10-year plan, built on stability and openness, to make the UK the best country to invest in.
Building on the East Midlands' strengths
The East Midlands already has a huge amount to celebrate and the Industrial Strategy’s Sector Plans promote its wide-ranging strengths to investors.
Advanced manufacturing
Home to major employers including Rolls-Royce, Toyota in Burnaston, and the East Midlands Freeport, offering vital capabilities in key sub-sectors. The West and East Midlands also offer shared capabilities including Horiba Mira and trade bodies like the Midlands Aerospace Alliance, while Lincolnshire hosts leading agri-tech innovation institutions including the University of Lincoln.
Clean energy industries
East Midlands Freeport is driving significant investment in clean energy industries, including over £25 million in seed funding and £11.35 million from universities for a Zero Carbon Innovation Centre, alongside a £2 million Future Energy Skills Hub. The Freeport aims to add £9 billion GVA and create 28,000 direct and indirect jobs, while the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) fusion cluster in West Burton could generate 6,500 local jobs and Vaillant's £40 million Belper factory could add 200 jobs to the region.
Defence
With strengths spanning next generation maritime capabilities, cyber, AI and drones and autonomous systems, the East Midlands is notable for hosting Rolls-Royce's key Raynesway manufacturing site in Derby which produces power and propulsion systems, and the innovative Lincoln ISTAR cluster.
Life sciences
The strategic location of the East Midlands strengthens manufacturing and health-tech development, while its Freeport boosts global trade and investment. It has strong diagnostics, device testing and MedTech expertise, with expanding NHS and university R&D assets such as the University of Nottingham, University of Leicester, and Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust. There is also a strong skilled vocational pipeline which supports sector growth.
Foundational industries relevant to IS-8 supply chains
The East Midlands has a construction sector.
Driving regional growth in the East Midlands
The Industrial Strategy introduces ambitious policies to drive growth and investment across every nation and region of the UK. This is a 10-year strategy which will be a living document. We want to continue to work with local government, Mayoral Strategic Authorities and devolved governments to ensure they can drive growth across the UK.
More policies will be delivered over time, but below are some of the specific interventions in the East Midlands that form part of our strategy.
Locally targeted investments in the IS-8 growth driving sectors
- Investing £2.5 billion over the next five years to progress the Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP) programme. This will design and build a prototype fusion power station at the site of an old coal-fired power plant, creating a powerful fusion cluster around West Burton within East Midland Combined County Authority (CCA)
- Investing £2.5 billion over the next 5 years to progress the Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP) programme. This will design and build a prototype fusion power station at the site of an old coal fired power plant, creating a powerful fusion cluster around West Burton within East Midland CCA
- Rolls-Royce Submarines in Derby will benefit from the national £6 billion investment to enable a transformation in the capacity, capability and productivity of the UK's submarine industrial base – to deliver the increase in the submarine production rate announced in the Strategic Defence Review
- A Clean Energy Regional Skills Pilot in Greater Lincolnshire, with funding allocated to support local partners to identify the skills support needed to deliver clean power by 2030
Devolved funding for the local leaders who know their places best to help deliver their Local Growth Plans
- Enhanced support for the Humber and East Midlands Freeports, which specialise in Clean Energy Industries, with streamlined planning processes, better-targeted investment promotion, support for accessing concessionary finance, and coordinated support on skills
- Recommitting £160 million investment to support tax relief and bolster Investment Zones for Advanced Manufacturing and Clean Energy Industries in East Midlands CCA
Connecting city regions and clusters
- £2,038 million for East Midlands CCA through the Transport for City Regions funding to allow mayors to improve public transport connectivity in their city region. This will support the design of a new mass transit system to connect Derby and Nottingham, encompassing road, rail and bus improvements