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It’s often said that the way for cities and regions to succeed in the future is to innovate.

The dream is to create a centre of excellence that becomes known throughout the world, such as Silicon Valley in Califonia.

Whilst that might be setting our sights a little high, I am convinced that this region is up there with the best when it comes to innovation. Yes we can all cite the likes of Boulton, Watt and Murdoch and talk about all the things that were ‘invented’ here - x-rays, windscreen wipers etc.

That’s all well and good but what’s more important is what’s happening right here, right now.

With this in mind, I was pleased to hear about a new festival is being held this summer to highlight the wealth of technical innovation, knowledge and skills in Birmingham.

Birmingham City University is holding the first ever Birmingham Techfest at Millennium Point at the end of June.

Dr Peter Rayson, associate dean of the faculty of technology, engineering and the environment, explains it thus: “We wanted to help put Birmingham and the West Midlands on the technology and innovation map, where it truly belongs.

“I think that the second city is often overlooked and that we have a lot to shout about; the region is home to Jaguar Land Rover - a business built around two great British car brands - and we have a thriving computer games industry on our doorstep.

“The university itself works with leading global technology companies such as Microsoft, Apple and Cisco, is researching the use of algae to create an alternative fuel and is collaborating with East Ends Foods to develop an urban farm on the site of the iconic former HP Sauce factory.”

The Techfest will showcase the activities of the university and many of its partner organisations. There will be displays of students’ work from all four schools within the faculty, examples of cutting-edge research and demonstrations.

This is a great idea and I hope they are able to attract potential investors for some of these ideas from this region and beyond.

Hopefully, what it will also help to demonstrate is that sectors such as engineering do not need to seen as dull and unworthy when it comes to making career decisions.

It’s a problem the country has faced for a number of years although there are signs that things are starting to change. A senior representative of one of our local colleges told me recently that it had seen an increase in the number of applications for apprenticeships, partly because of the increase in university fees.

These days doing a non-vocational degree at university is an expensive gamble. Apprenticeships teaching real skills can lead to real jobs in local companies. That’s a simplistic, black and white, way of looking at things of course but there is no doubt that vocational training is proving more popular with employers and would-be employees alike.

I think if this trend continues then the West Midlands could be a key beneficiary. We may have a skills gap but there is no lack off innovation here and the majority of our colleges and universities are business facing and used to working with companies in area such as research and development, consultancy services and training.

The fact that we have a large manufacturing base has often been presented as a problem. Perhaps our wealth of engineering know-how may instead be our way forward.

Any comments? Andy Coyne, Insider