Leeds City Region targets Chicago, participates in IMTS
U.K. manufacturers look to Midwest to fuel growth.
Leeds and Partners, Leeds, West Yorkshire, U.K., is participating in the ongoing International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) 2014, held in Chicago, Ill. through Sept. 13, targeting the midwestern U.S. as it seeks to fuel growth and further develop its existing associations in the area.
President Obama recently announced a $320 million investment in a new digital manufacturing institute to jumpstart high-tech manufacturing as a core component of Chicago’s economic vision, and the U.K. delegation has specifically targeted Chicago and midwestern U.S. cities because of the similarities between the two destinations, both in terms of the core strengths and economic assets, as well as the commercial challenges they face. Both Chicago and Leeds have resilient, finance-led economies developed while servicing established manufacturers, with future funding to revitalize hi-tech and highly skilled advanced manufacturing and precision engineering.
“The UK is the global number one destination for foreign direct investment projects in Europe, and the record numbers brought in last year are driving economic prosperity and job creation. We’re going to the U.S. to share the immense confidence in Leeds City Region as a place to live, work and prosper, to attract a pipeline of interest in the largest concentration of manufacturing in the country and articulate a vision for future growth,” said James Devitt, associate projects director and manufacturing proposition lead for Leeds City Region. “Many of Leeds City Region’s biggest and most innovative manufacturing companies are headquartered in the Mid-West, and meetings are in place to further develop the existing associations and investments to fuel growth, as Leeds and Partners brokers key relationships and facilitates deal making. The U.S. is the biggest foreign direct investor to the U.K., so Chicago is very significant us.”
Leeds City Region will network with the Chicago Federal Reserve, the Chicago Council in Global Affairs, the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) Center for Economic Development and the Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute / UI Labs through a supporting civic program. The Wisconsin Trade and Investment Agency is also on board, and ties will be strengthened with the Indianapolis, Ind., area.
