CLN innovates technology corridor

Citigate Lloyd Northover is to begin work on the name generation and brand creation of a technology corridor running between Birmingham and Worcestershire, this week.

The identity will launch in March and be used in the marketing of the corridor, including via a website, promotional materials and exhibitions. It could also be ‘attached to a new organisation formed to market the region’, according to CLN director Sholto Lindsay-Smith. CLN has yet to be appointed to work on application.

The aim of the scheme, which is being jointly run by Worcestershire County Council, Birmingham City Council and regional development agency Advantage West Midlands, is to encourage the development of a more diversified economy.

‘The region is already the birthplace of innovations such as the liquid crystal display and home to pioneering research. We now need to signal this and put the region on the map as a source of innovation and opportunity,’ says Worcestershire County Council principal economic development officer Geoff Palmer.

The group finished research to establish the brand positioning of the initiative this week. It has looked at the strengths and weaknesses of the region and included key stakeholders in the project such as Aston University, located at the north end of the corridor and already with an established science park, and QinetiQ (formerly the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency), located at the south end.

Other interested parties include Malvern Hills Science Park, The University of Birmingham, the University of Central England in Birmingham and University College Worcester.

CLN, which was appointed in January, won the work via a six-way strategic pitch.