Glasgow outperforming Manchester on key metrics – Daily Business

The Glasgow Health Innovation Hub

Glasgow is now outperforming UK powerhouse Manchester on a number of economic measures, according to new data.

The City Region’s average gross investment rate is now significantly higher than Greater Manchester and now comparable to that of the West of England.

The figures from the council’s Intelligence Hub also show that Glasgow generates an equivalent economic output to Manchester in the energy and net zero sector – £8.6 billion – despite having a third fewer registered firms.

The data was presented at this week’s UK’s Real Estate Investment & Infrastructure Forum (UKREiiF) in Leeds, a gathering of property and investment professionals.

Glasgow is also outperforming Manchester on innovation intensity, with higher innovation activity (35% vs 31%), stronger UK Research and Innovation engagement (16% vs 12%), and more patenting firms (8% vs 6%), despite being smaller both in absolute terms (347 vs 760 firms) and as a share of the total business base (2.9% vs 3.3%).

Responding to the data, published by The Herald, Glasgow City Council’s outgoing leader Susan Aitken said she believes they are reward for “hustling”. 

She told the paper: “Glasgow remains relatively very affordable compared to particularly Manchester and we have incredibly high quality of life in Glasgow. You don’t just work in the city. You’ve got an opportunity to actually live in Glasgow and get a great deal out of it.

“I also think the reason we are snapping at Manchester’s heels and now overtaking them on some fronts is that we’ve hustled really hard in the past few years.”

“We have worked really hard to make sure that the proposition that we are putting forward is that Glasgow is really competitive.

“We are not saying we are going to compete with Paris and Barcelona. But could we compete with Bilbao? Yes, absolutely we can.

“Indeed, there was a couple of years ago we were ranked as the best large European city for our foreign direct investment strategy. We are recognised for the work that we’ve done, the work that we’re continuing to do, and the rewards it’s reaping for us.”

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