England's North West

The North West comprises of Cumbria, Lancashire, Merseyside, Greater Manchester, Cheshire, Manchester, Salford, Liverpool, Lancaster, Chester, Preston, Carlisle, Crewe, Penrith, Blackburn, Ellesmere Port, Barrow-in Furness, Macclesfield, Southport, Rochdale, Blackpool, Oldham, Birkenhead.

England's Northwest is home to a diverse range of strong internationally competitive sectors, including:
* Biomedical: biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and medical devices
* Advanced Engineering and Materials: Chemicals, Aerospace, Automotive, Advanced Flexible Materials
* Digital and Creative Industries
* Business and Professional Services
* Food and Drink
* Energy and Environmental Technologies

Top biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies with a presence include AstraZeneca, Avecia, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Chiron Vaccines, Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, MedImmune, Sanofi Aventis and Unilever.

The Northwest Science Council and industry development group Bionow provide a range of support, development and networking services. The National Biomanufacturing Centre in Speke and Nowgen in Manchester offer specialist facilities.

The region is the largest regional centre for chemical manufacture in the UK, with 800 companies in the chemical and related industries employing 43,000 highly skilled people. It is also the UK's leading exporter of pharmaceuticals.

The Northwest is the largest single centre of aerospace manufacturing and production in the UK and a leading centre of excellence in Europe. It has a manufacturing and service capability that covers every aspect of the aerospace industry.

Over 500 automotive companies and 600 component suppliers in the Northwest comprise the second most important automotive region in the UK, employing over 43,000 people. Vehicle assembly plants include General Motors' Vauxhall plant at Ellesmere Port, where a £15 million press shop for the Astra model is to be installed; Jaguar at Halewood, Bentley Motors at Crewe and Leyland Trucks in Preston.

The Northwest has the second biggest digital sector in Europe with a strong ICT, software and new media sector. Foremost companies located in the region include Cisco, Fujitsu, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Sharp, ICL, Siemens and Philips. Cutting edge software development, including computer games, is carried out in the region by companies such as Hyperion Solutions, Oracle Corporation, Informix Software, Electronic Arts, Sony and Bizarre Creations.

The region's eight universities have a strong technology base, turning out over 15,000 science and technology graduates each year. The new combined University of Manchester is the largest single-site university in the UK with 34,000 students. World-leading companies, such as Nokia, Microsoft and Cisco, are sponsoring or utilising research from the North West's universities. Liverpool was named IT and Telecommunications Capital of Europe in fDi magazine's European City of the Future awards 2004/05 and the BBC is to establish Manchester as its principal broadcasting centre after London.

Innovative centres of excellence include The National Advanced Robotics Research Centre and National Centre for Virtual Environments at Salford; the National Computing Centre in Manchester; Lancaster University's InfoLab 21; and the International Centre for Digital Content (ICDC) at Liverpool Digital. Tailored locations for the digital industries have been created at the Digital World Centre, Salford Quays and Liverpool Digital.

The Northwest is also one of the UK's leading regions for business and professional services. It is particularly successful in attracting and retaining contact centres and shared service centres, covering a wide range of sectors, including banking and financial services, technical support, mail order, product fulfilment and distribution. Over 400 organisations - including MBNA International, IBM, Kellogg's, US Airways, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Arvato Services, Bertelsmann and ExxonMobil operate facilities in the region. Recent investments include The Bank of New York, which has located a new growth centre for its European operations in Manchester, and JPMorgan, which is to set-up a new operation in Liverpool.

In the renewable energy sector there are around 30 onshore wind farms and ten offshore under construction, while the 25-floor CIS tower in Manchester is the largest solar project in the UK.

Key north west facts
* The region is home to more than 230,000 companies
* Circa 3,000 of these are overseas-owned companies.
* Three-quarters of the nations Top 100 companies are based in the region, and enjoy our excellent communications, research and development, culture and people
* The manufacturing sector employs over half a million people, contributing to over 25% GDP
* The region boasts the largest concentration of Universities in Europe
* The region is the chosen location for major ICT companies, including Brother, IBM, Hewlett Packard, Siemens, ICL/Fujitsu and Sun Micro Systemsn

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