Accelerating towards a bold vision

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In February, Silverstone Museum hosted a dynamic interactive workshop, bringing together over 50 senior leaders from the business, academic and civic sectors to discuss an ambitious Silverstone 2035 Vision.

This meeting is a critical step toward aligning the Silverstone ecosystem with the UK Government’s Invest 2035 industrial strategy.

The workshop was facilitated by the University of Northampton and Whitecap Consulting, with the support of HN Communications and public affairs expert Art Conaghan. The project is being funded by West Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire Councils, Silverstone Park and Silverstone Circuits Ltd.

The workshop addressed several key themes, covering the opportunities and challenges of building on the Silverstone circuit’s 75-year Grand Prix heritage to transform the Silverstone area into a recognised national centre of excellence for advanced manufacturing and engineering, as well as a global innovation hub, by 2035.

Core Themes

Six groups discussed the following key areas, based on developing two key clusters – one for advanced manufacturing and also for Silverstone as a tourism destination.

Invest: creating a sub-regional development platform to attract inward investment, research funding, and with business support for innovation and scale-up.
Destination: making Silverstone a prime destination for both business tourism and leisure activities, drawing in visitors from around the world.
Sport: building on Silverstone’s great motorsport heritage, the vision explores new opportunities in esports and elite sports training, branching into emerging fields such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR).
Campus: developing a coordinated vocational training and educational offering centred on technical, management and leadership skills, to nurture future talent.
Live: addressing the lack of local amenities and improving transport infrastructure is a key priority, to make the area more attractive for businesses, residents and visitors alike.
Connect : strengthening collaboration across the region between business, education and government as well as with nearby development platforms such as the Oxford-Cambridge Corridor.

Key challenges and actions

Several challenges were identified during the workshop that will require focused attention and action:

Leadership: a new Silverstone 2035 delivery platform is under consideration, led by the private sector with a high-profile figurehead, to drive momentum and ensure a strong, business-led approach.
Local Authority Collaboration: greater coordination is needed to support the development of the high-performance engineering and visitor economy clusters.
Lobbying and Communication Strategy: a robust communication and lobbying strategy is essential, with a formal submission to the UK government’s Invest 2035 strategy marking a crucial next step.
Public Funding: public funding will play a critical role in overcoming existing infrastructure gaps.

Key insights

Roz Bird, formerly the Commercial Director at Silverstone Park, was a challenging yet inspirational keynote speaker. Roz highlighted Silverstone’s unique strengths, including a robust R&D ecosystem and rapid problem-solving capabilities. Roz also discussed the Ox-Cam Corridor and ‘super-cluster’ initiative, which she helped create, and which the Silverstone 2035 Vision should benefit from as well as support. Roz’s speech emphasised several key requirements for the region’s development, including investment in the transport infrastructure, and enhanced and extended further education courses tailored to regional needs. Roz also suggested the creation of a new independent research institute at Silverstone to strengthen its academic and innovation credentials.

Next steps

The Silverstone 2035 Vision initiative is an exciting opportunity for the region to establish itself as a worldwide leader in innovation, particularly in advanced manufacturing and high-performance engineering. However, success will depend on swift action, strategic investment and effective collaboration between businesses, local authorities, educational institutions and government agencies. Future workstreams will develop each of the core themes as well as quantitative modelling to build the economic case, spatial analysis and project implementation plan. The event gave a clear mandate for a bold, ambitious, business-led Silverstone 2035 Vision centred on growth in high tech industries, creating a global centre for excellence in engineering and technology innovation, to benefit all who work, study and live in the Silverstone area.