At A Glance: Birmingham Creative Hubs

Birmingham is at the heart of the West Midlands creative and digital development industry and is home to some of the UK’s top creative and technology hubs.

For the latest in our ‘At A Glance’ blog series, we list a few of these hubs that provide support to start-ups and SMEs around Greater Birmingham.

The Birmingham site has links to Amsterdam, Johannesburg, Singapore and San Francisco, offering possibly one of the largest collections of start-ups and SMEs for networking. The Birmingham space is currently accepting applicants and their office is part of the historic industrial sector in the city. The space is open to companies that work in all sectors of business, with no restrictions on the type of organisation able to use the space. With so much going on, there’s sure to be a variety of talent and influence at Impact. To find out how you can visit Impact Hub and become a resident, visit their website.

The mission of Digital Birmingham is to encourage investment and generate economic growth and sustainability. In doing this the hub hopes to positively affect social inclusion and improve the local quality of life. The organisation achieves these goals through their influence on SMEs, by supporting collaboration and the development of innovative ideas. Although Digital Birmingham have no physical office space for businesses, they do help to source funding and create opportunities for creative enterprises in Birmingham to thrive and succeed with the local council. Currently, the hub’s main project for development is the instalment of ultra-fast broadband services in particular areas, with a vision to expand across the city. Click for more information on the work Digital Birmingham do and how they could help your business.

Located just minutes away from the famous Bull Ring, the hub is at the centre of creativity in the city and its redevelopment in 1933 by architect Glenn Howells is famous across the world. The Custard Factory now services more than 400 businesses and creatives from the West Midlands who use the space for offices, meetings, seminars and workshops. The hub is home to some mentionable businesses and organisations, including the Prince’s Trust and the BBC’s new Digital Innovation Unit, and can provide office space to companies, freelancers and SMEs. The office space allows companies to connect and network with other local businesses as well as socialise during monthly events and tenant parties. The buildings are that of historic eggless custard manufacturer Alfred Bird and provide all the modern requirements for today’s creatives, encouraging inspiration and collaboration. For more information on The Custard Factory and how to apply for office space available visit their website.

The organisation is not-for-profit and voluntarily ran by tech business CEO’s in the area and their aim is to inwardly help businesses in the city. Silicon Canal gives small businesses and start-ups the environment they need to network and grow locally and globally. Although the investment and aid is internal, the hub isn’t afraid to shout about the work and progress made by its companies in Birmingham. This, they hope, will encourage the world’s best talent to swarm to the city and develop their ideas within the West Midlands. Birmingham’s canals have long linked the city to its surrounding areas, providing transport for trade and work and this is reflected in the mantra Silicon Canal stick by: connecting tech businesses throughout Greater Birmingham. The company also help businesses find office space for developing their company, with links to the aforementioned Custard Factory and Impact Hub and also Open Media and Boxxed. Silicon Canal offers a variety of choices available for companies looking to survive, find out more on their website.

The hub brings together innovators and investors to develop relationships and encourage sustainable growth in the sector. Innovation Birmingham is the home of the Entrepreneurs for the Future (e4f) programme that offers multi-occupancy hot desking allowing start-ups to work in a creative rich environment. The Innovation Birmingham programme is backed by ERDF and the hub is perfect for SMEs to set up a small office and benefit from the number of events and accelerators available. With a catalogue of over one hundred business helped so far, the e4f programme offers flexible working space and encourages sponsorship and investment from the public and private sectors.

The site will open with a new incubator programme that promises individual office space, event space on location and technology demonstrations. The office is due to open its doors later this year and the space will be available to all businesses across Greater Birmingham to promote partnerships and innovation between businesses and grow the creative and digital community in the area. To find out more about the Birmingham Science Park Aston and the development of iCentrum click here.

All of the hubs mentioned above provide start-ups and growing businesses office space to develop ideas and boost the creative industries which supports the UK economy. Many of the hubs also back accelerators in the region, for more information on the accelerators we provide visit our Business page.

For more information on creativity in Birmingham, visit our new online content portal created in partnership with the Drum and the IPA.