Member Article

MIDAS brings 3,000 jobs to Greater Manchester

An investment agency in Manchester has brought more than 3,000 jobs to the region across 81 projects between 2012 and 2013.

MIDAS has created a total of 3,038 jobs from a total 4,143 positions that were created, safeguarded and relocated as a result of the agency’s investments.

The jobs were created from both foreign direct investment and UK-based projects, according to MIDAS, who said these positions added a total £189m to Greater Manchester’s GVA.

As a result of the agency’s recent investments, the IT sector created 23% of new jobs in the region, while the financial and professional sectors created 19% of new positions.

Over a quarter of jobs also came from the media and creative industries with significant investment in projects like MediaCity in Salford and The Sharp Project in central Manchester.

A number of high profile schemes also arrived in Manchester over the past 12 months, including California’s EON Reality, which brought 240 jobs, the Bank of East Asia, Polantis, Worldpay, Bright Futures, Healthforia and Factory Games.

Tim Newns, chief executive of MIDAS, commented: “We’re delighted with these results, especially as the newly created jobs span such a broad range of industry sectors, reflecting the strength and diversity of Manchester’s offer.

“The countries of origin for many of these projects suggest a healthy appetite for investing in the region, particularly from the US market.

“Greater Manchester has also seemingly bucked the trend by continuing to attract a high level of European projects.

“The key to continuing this success will be in keeping the spotlight on Greater Manchester’s strengths; namely its knowledge hubs, its scientific achievements, and the rapid growth of the digital sector.

“We’re also keen to push forward with Manchester’s ambitions to increase connectivity with China.

“The new Manchester China Forum will be essential in helping to boost our capacity to drive investment from this important market and we look forward to establishing similar initiatives in other key markets.”

Chairman of MIDAS, Michael Oglesby, said: “Although economic times remain challenging these are strong results that continue to show Manchester’s attractiveness as an investment location.

“Over the next 12 months MIDAS’ focus will be on identifying as many new business opportunities as possible in order to strengthen and build on the project pipeline.

“This activity will comprise a blend of mature markets, such as US and Europe, and growth markets such as India and China.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Miranda Dobson .