Raising the Flag for Black Country Innovation at BCIMO

Innovation is core to BCIMO’s mission and, being at the heart of the community within the Black Country, the organisation always welcomes the opportunity to engage with other local innovative projects and programmes; most particularly as we celebrate Black Country Day this weekend.

On Tuesday 9th, BCIMO hosted local entrepreneurs seeking advice and support to innovate within their business, as part of the new Innovate Dudley initiative. The roundtable event, within the Centre’s Meeting & Event Spaces, provided the opportunity for attendees to meet with experts from a range of regional support organisations, including Business Growth West Midlands, MADE Smarter and Innovate UK, and to reflect on their experiences of and aspirations for innovation within their organisation.

The broader initiative, delivered by Dudley Business First, recognises the need for local businesses to innovate, both in terms of new products and services, and the systems and processes to deliver them, and then to collectively showcase what those local businesses can offer. In addition to this week’s event at BCIMO, they plan to hold a series of events, within which innovators can meet, connect, collaborate and achieve their goals, alongside accessing information on the full range of local, regional and national support to help them do so.

Following on from the success of recent skills events, including one called ‘My Future, My Potential’ held at the Merry Hill Shopping Centre in Brierley Hill, the BCIMO team attended an event on Wednesday 10th at neighbouring Black Country Living Museum (BCLM). Entitled ‘All Things Local’, it utilised the historic setting to help pupils across the region identify the links between a range of traditional roles in the Black Country economy and the new roles which have developed from these over time, within which they may aspire to train and work.

In the morning, groups had a guided tour of the site, during which the museum staff explained different exhibits and the tasks of those working within them, with an opportunity for the young people to ask questions and reflect on how working conditions and practices have changed. After lunch, they returned to the BCLM conference centre, where local employers and organisations – including BCIMO – talked to them about pathways into specific careers within their sector, specifically across industry, manufacturing and engineering.

One specific exhibit at BCLM is particularly notable to BCIMO, and so ideal to illustrate this contrast. In 1712, English ironmonger, Thomas Newcomen, invented the atmospheric engine, which utilises steam from heating water to create a vacuum, which pushes a piston into a cylinder, and was designed initially to pump water out of mines. The first successful engine was erected in Tipton, only a couple of miles from Dudley, and a second shortly afterwards just outside Wolverhampton; the only full-scale working replica is now housed at the museum.

Newcomen’s design was subsequently redeveloped by noted mechanical engineer, James Watt, and was fundamental to the Industrial Revolution, with the latter often cited as the primary inventor of the steam engine. Initially designed to be stationary, the early 19th Century brought forth a new innovation, as mining engineer Richard Trevithick’s use of high-pressure steam led to the development of the first full-scale working railway locomotive, installed at the Coalbrookdale ironworks in Shropshire in 1802. Over the next thirty years, the development of Britain’s early steam railways continued apace, with infrastructure and services installed across the country.

Two centuries later, BCIMO is now proud to be at the forefront of rail innovation, with its world-class Rail Development & Test Site facilities being utilised to hone and showcase the sector of the future. And all just a stone’s throw away from Newcomen’s original design. Since opening in 2022, it’s home – the landmark Very Light Rail National Innovation Centre – on the site of the 19th century Dudley station, has hosted a broad range of organisations across the industry, focused on bringing new technologies to life to meet the challenges and opportunities it faces.

Its flagship – or should that be ‘flag train’?! – Clean Futures programme has already supported a cohort of regional SMEs in developing their innovations for rail, working uniquely to successfully bridge the ‘innovator-industry-investor’ gap needed to bring much needed clean technology into the marketplace. But more extensively, BCIMO is focused on working with organisations who are not just in the Black Country but, reminiscent of those early innovators, will have a significant impact on the businesses and thus communities within it.

Each year, on 14th July, those local communities proudly celebrate ‘Black Country Day’. Indeed, the day itself was chosen to celebrate the invention of the Newcomen engine… the epitome of local innovation that went on to change the world.  More than three hundred years later, the BCIMO team is proud to be raising the literal flag for innovation where it all began.

Vicki Wilkes, Commercial Director of local company, Darvick, commenting on LinkedIn after the Innovate Dudley event, said:

“It was great to see new faces, and such a range of businesses, both in terms of what they do, and the stage they were at in the business lifecycle.”

Carol King, Director of Content at the Black Country Living Museum, highlighting its role in creating links between the past and future, noted:

“This isn’t just about preserving the past; it’s about bringing it to life for new generations to experience and understand.”

Mark Drew, Editor for the local Express & Star newspaper, reflecting more broadly on the significance of innovation in the Black Country, wrote:

“Industry has always been at the beating heart of this region and it continues to be. We have a proud heritage having been vital to the Industrial Revolution and we have also learned to adapt.”

For more information on BCIMO and the VLRNIC please visit the BCIMO Website or Contact Us to make an enquiry.