SuperTech Ecosystem Development As the cluster organisation SuperTech matures to support the WM ProfTech ecosystem and realise the West Midlands opportunity on the national and international stage, GBSLEP - the accountable body - is seeking to commission the services of a suitably qualified person to be embedded within the SuperTech team and pursue strategic goals relating to innovation and place proposition.

GBSLEP - on behalf of SuperTech - is seeking to commission the services of a person to embed and work within the SuperTech team to advance the cluster offering in respect of place proposition and innovation. In line with the emerging regional ProfTech strategy, the initial priority is fintech, although proptech is anticipated to be a higher priority too during the contract period. Lawtech is anticipated to feature, although at lower intensity. Significantly, the ability to connect across, see and leverage the intersectionality of these sub-sectors is important to the overall strategy.

GBSLEP has identified specific sub-sectors within Business, Financial & Professional Services (BPFS) as key for growth and specifically within this, innovation as key productivity driver as a focus for intervention. Hence GBSLEP has been investing to support the creation of a 'ProfTech' cluster (technology-led innovation relevant to BPFS sector) with the express purposes of both accelerating the innovation capacity within the West Midlands business base and also enhancing the place proposition such that the region is also strongly associated with innovative BPFS, with an emphasis on technology-led innovation through the cluster.

SuperTech - the new ProfTech cluster identity - was released in late 2020, with new cluster activities going live from January 2021. Specifically, the cluster industry leadership group represents the initial priority sub-sectors of FinTech, LawTech and PropTech. For more information on SuperTech cluster, see www.supertechwm.com.

SuperTech has reached a stage in its evolution where it requires expertise relevant to the ProfTech subsectors to create and drive meaningful activity that creates value for businesses seeking to engage with a West Midlands cluster organisation. This tender is to invite such expertise to co-design a programme of activity and work within the cluster to deliver the programme accordingly. Through this programme, the intention is to test, learn and refine the future direction of SuperTech activity to realise the overarching economic development ambitions for the West Midlands.