Recently I presented to the All Party Manufacturing Group's think tank, Policy Connect, chaired by Chris White MP, Leamington & Warwick, highlighting some of Birmingham's credentials as the 'Original Design City', to be showcased at the forthcoming Birmingham Made Me Design EXPO, 15th - 22nd June, the Mailbox, Birmingham, which is now able to boast over 50 business exhibitors alongside the student exhibits from Birmingham City University and Engineering Design at Aston University.

Thanks to former colleague, William McGrath, Chief Executive of AGA Rangemaster, I was able to bring with me to this meeting at Portcullis House a copy of Patent No. 380, granted to Abraham Darby in 1707, during the reign of Queen Anne.

This historic and extraordinary document, housed at AGA Rangemaster, still making AGAs in Abraham Darby's original foundry at Coalbrookdale, Shropshire, effectively launched the industrial revolution. The 1707 Patent states,(in fulsome legal language, amply demonstrating that profession's ability to use many complex words in varying combinations was already, even as early as the 18th century, well- practiced),

After months of planning with colleagues at the Birmingham Institute of Art & Design, business partners and engineering design colleagues at Aston University we are finally in the countdown to Birmingham's first Design EXPO in over 100 years which runs from 15th-22nd June and is being hosted by the Mailbox, Birmingham.

We're thrilled to have some of our best-known Midlands brands exhibiting - Jaguar Land Rover, AGA Rangemaster, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Brintons Carpets, Glenn Howells Architects, Acme Whistles, Deakin & Francis and Emma Bridgewater, together with some big national and international names including JCDecaux, the outdoor advertising business.

Obsessionistas, a site dedicated to those passionate about collecting will provide a digital display covering around 20 design archives highlighting our authenticity as the home of design.

Birmingham's reported business start-up rate amongst 18-24 year olds is, at around 3%, less than half the level for the same age group in London, which stands at about 7%.

Assuming these figures are correct why is our 18-24 year old business start-up rate so much lower?

....Not from any lack of talent or interest amongst our young people, would be my observation.

It is emerging talent like this as well as our established brands that IDEA Birmingham is aiming to showcase at the forthcoming Birmingham Design EXPO 15th-22nd June, at the Mailbox Birmingham.

Ian Callum, RDI, Director of Design, Jaguar Cars and founder Chairman IDEA Birmingham recognised that innovative cultures and approaches drive results when receiving his Honorary Doctorate from Birmingham City University yesterday.

Speaking to over 2000 people - those just graduated, their families and friends assembled in the ICC Birmingham, Ian said, "IDEA Birmingham is about bringing creativity and industry together. It made this region what it is today and it is what we need to embrace further as a region, and it is what this country needs to embrace."

Today IDEA Birmingham launches Birmingham's first Design EXPO in over 100 years, running from 15th-22nd June at the Birmingham Mailbox, and the 2012 Design Awards, at www.ideabirmingham.co.uk.

Speaking earlier in December at a Design Council Debate Dr Tim Bradshaw, Head of Enterprise and Innovation at the CBI strongly supported the need for a national design strategy.

"With economic growth stalling, the public deficit at 7.9% of GDP and debt at 84% of GDP and growing the UK needs a design strategy that is active and ambitious, setting a clear direction of travel; developing our competitive advantage both across all areas of government and in terms of all of its interactions with the public and wider economy."

Music to my ears was Dr Bradshaw's emphasis on the need to break the link, either explicitly or implicitly equating design with just the so-called 'creative industries'.

Patrick Fuller, Chairman, Weston Beamor is interested in how you change market dynamics... "I'm always looking at how to change the way markets operate," is how he puts it. And it's something he can speak about with some confidence given his past experience.

Meeting him in the jewellery quarter I am instantly impressed by his distinctive yet effortless taste, the abundance of striking artworks hanging on his head office walls, the immaculate condition of the manufacturing facilities and offices, and the imagination and attention to detail put into their jewellery displays - a glittering range of exhibits greeting you on entering their showroom. Last year they invested £100k or ½% of turnover in this facility and they're currently undertaking a similar commitment to their trade counter in London.

Having held our joint Birmingham City University and Big Innovation Centre 'Innovation Hub for a Day' on 21st November, attended by over 80 from regional businesses, universities, and the public sector, we know how much emphasis is still required on stimulating innovation and design excellence in our economy.

The focus on high value added goods and services together with brand differentiation are ways that we can build additional market share both at home and abroad. It is up to us now to build on the 'Chancellor's Plan A Plus' to deliver for our region.

It's plain we need to coordinate more of our efforts across the public and private sectors. Only by pulling together to drive synergies through the skills and knowledge transfer desperately required will we create the opportunities for entrepreneurial regeneration of our economy. Birmingham City University realises the lead role that the higher education sector needs to take here and we are ready to play our part.

Birmingham City University were delighted to collaborate with Will Hutton's Big Innovation Centre in bringing together an 'Innovation Hub for a Day' on Monday 21st November at Aedas Birmingham.

In welcoming Will Hutton, Chairman of the Big Innovation Centre, who was joined by no less than five of his colleagues for the event, Vic Cocker, Deputy Chairman of Birmingham City University emphasised the need for new solutions to tackle the growth challenge.

Will Hutton stressed that the UK was facing the worst recession since the 19th century - worse than the 1930s.

The knowledge economy had driven the recoveries of the '80s and '90s and it would drive this one too. SMEs in the knowledge economy had been drivers of job creation and one key challenge was providing the means to help them to grow faster and scale up. The answer was in the Innovation eco-system.

"Traditional sources of growth have dried up. With the West Midlands' over-dependency on the public sector there is a need to boot strap up and act fast," he said.

"Manufacturing isn't a skill it's a culture," says Simon Topman, Chief Executive, Acme Whistles.

"It's a culture and by both understanding your product and making it, you come to love it. That's part of the magic."

...A magic that comes to life as I climb the winding stairwell, covered in glorious crackle-glaze tiles of lemon quince, to join Simon in the company showroom at their Victorian head office in Barr Street, Aston.

Not many businesses can have had much more media coverage, especially in relation to their size. But then with an extrovert like Simon Topman at the helm it's hardly surprising.

"For what but eye and ear silence the mind
With the minute particulars of mankind?"

Through October (6th-28th), the Birmingham School of Art's gothic splendour hosts a new exhibition, Perspectives, displaying images created by emerging and established photographers from Birmingham City University working with Chris Steele-Perkins, Magnum Photos, and representing one of the City's latest celebrations of an art form dating back to its official birth in 1839.

This magnificent building seems an apt host for photographic reflections on life today in the City's Colmore business quarter, given its own role in Birmingham's rich heritage.

I find myself at the launch reception of Perspectives, where I bump into Pete James, Head of Photographs at the Birmingham Central Library who regales me about Birmingham's photographic roots stretching back to the birth of this art form which I find stunning, both in being previously completely unaware of it and in its importance to our city.