ICT

The South West of England is home to the largest microelectronics sector in Europe. There are more silicon designers here than anywhere in the world outside the US - up to 50% more than the next largest cluster which is in Cambridge. The knowledge and expertise in this region is second only to Silicon Valley.

It is this concentration of talent that has earned the South West's M4 corridor the title of Silicon Gorge. Among the world class companies located here are STMicroelectronics, Motorola and Toshiba, all of which are involved in leading edge R&D, such as Motorola's work on LTE.

Global impact

The work being done here in the South West has a truly global impact. Silicon designers create the microchips that go inside every single electronic device and estimates put the world's electronic device market at around £2 trillion a year. The South West's dynamic silicon design sector is growing rapidly. Start-ups in the region have succeeded in attracting hundreds of millions of pounds in venture capital in recent years: since 2004, five local start-ups alone have secured in excess of $250 million (Source: Calibre One). Prestigious names like Icera, picoChip and Clearspeed have all emerged from this region and many of the world's leading semiconductor companies have established a presence here to tap into the South West's rich seam of engineering talent.

Innovation

This spirit of innovation in the South West is not new. The groundbreaking work of companies like Inmos in Bristol and GEC-Plessey Semiconductor in Swindon trained a generation of silicon designers and, while the organisations themselves have changed beyond recognition, their legacy lives on. In the 1980s, Professor David May from the University of Bristol's Faculty of Computer Science was lead architect for the Transputer, the microprocessor design which changed the face of modern-day computing. His colleague, Professor Joe McGeehan from the Department of Communications Engineering, pioneered the technology that would subsequently lead to the development of mobile communications.

Strengths

Today, world class engineering and creative skills converge to make this region one of the most fertile breeding grounds for innovative technologies. The South West is particularly strong in wireless communication technologies, photonics, software, information storage and security. And there are also, exciting pockets of growth in robotics and biometrics. The Bristol Robotics Laboratory - the largest of its kind in the UK - leads the field in bio-engineering and intelligent autonomous systems and OC Robotics, which is the leading commercial manufacturer of snake-arm robots in the world, won the 2009 Queen's Award for Enterprise in the Innovation category. In Exeter, the MetOffice - which provides global environmental and weather services - uses one of the most powerful computers in the world.

Support

Industry support is provided by Silicon South West - a dedicated electronics sector support organisation which offers networking opportunities and resources to support growth and innovation. It has more than 500 active members and among its support services is FASTtrack, a new programme to accelerate high-growth potential companies by providing customer contacts, mentoring and networking tailored to their needs. It is just one of the ways that the South West is continuing to ensure its place at the forefront of ICT developments worldwide.