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Chinese, Korean and Indian firms are among the companies now located at Mira’s technology park in Nuneaton, which was officially launched last month.
Some of the names of the ventures at the new park remain a secret but Terry Spall, commercial director of the Mira automotive consultancy, confirmed to PE that a fifth of them came from outside the UK and Europe.
“We have a Chinese tyre company and Indian firms,” he said. “About 80% of the businesses are European but the remainder come from all over the world.”
Spall hailed the launch of the technology park as a “highly significant, tangible milestone”. The 1.75 million ft2 park was granted enterprise zone status by the government last year and business secretary Vince Cable spoke at the opening in November. Mira hopes that involvement in the enterprise zone scheme will boost the park’s prospects in the long term.
Notable companies based on the site now include Lockheed Martin, Norgren, Triumph Motorcycles and Bosch, which is expanding its engineering base in the Midlands. “The Midlands is a good place to be, and that’s why Bosch took the decision to locate here,” Spall said. Peter Fouqet, Bosch UK president, said the company would be increasing services to the region to provide “customised solutions and technical support to vehicle manufacturers”.
The park could host up to 200 companies in the future, he added, saying that 200 jobs had already been created, with “visibility” for another 145. Mira hopes to double its staff and increase turnover to £100 million.
Spall previously worked for Mira’s international operations. “I’m well-travelled and I know the places companies are likely to come from. We’ve been going out to China, Japan, Korea, India, Brazil and Turkey. We’ve just been getting the message out that this place is here and that it exists.”
Spall said that major Asian carmakers were looking to establish technical and R&D centres in Europe and could be convinced to locate them in Britain. “Chinese companies that are up-and-coming will aspire to have a European R&D centre. If they are going to sell their products into Europe then they need to engineer their products in Europe. They need the expertise.”
He added: “It’s a good sell at the moment, the UK. We have a competitive tax regime, and more flexible labour laws than some countries in Europe. Not being part of the euro – whether by luck or judgement – is a definite advantage at the moment.
“We see the inward investment opportunity we can offer here: there’s not many facilities that combine the proving ground, the laboratories and the engineering resources, and it is a facility geared up for development.”
Spall said Mira would also be looking to host the future transport systems Catapult centre when it is established.