South West Opportunity Investment Guide 2026

Our vast region may be sprawling – a mixture of urban and rural landscapes that in the past has struggled with a solidified concept of exactly what it is we offer.

However, the question that arose at Insider’s Opportunity South West breakfast was: are we being ambitious enough?

As Ahmed Goga, director at Great South West – the private-public partnership covering Cornwall & Isles of Scilly, Devon, Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire – said at the breakfast, California’s Silicon Valley is another vast mass of disparate places, but one that has become the world’s best-known technology hub. So, why can’t we in the South West group together in the same way?

Change is afoot, with a key part of the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority’s newly launched Growth Strategy being that identification of what it means to be based in the West of England (Bath & North East Somerset, Bristol and South Gloucestershire) and the wider South West.

And, with 9,200 square miles of land, it packs quite a punch in terms of its core competencies. From agriculture, marine and defence, to food & drink, clean tech and cyber, the South West has exceptional diversity of talent.

Remy Greasley, Editor, South West Business Insider