What do you think of the West Midlands as a place to invest, to work, to learn, to visit or to live?
These questions are at the heart of the perceptions indicator, which the Observatory have been commissioned to develop.
The indicator is one of six headline impact measures within the new West Midlands Economic Strategy, Connecting to Success. Whilst the other five measures are backward-looking, providing information about how the region has been performing, the perceptions indicator will tell us about how it might perform in the future. This is because future performance will depend on the decisions people and businesses take about the region as a place to locate. Those decisions will be informed by their perceptions of the region.
The methodology for the perceptions indicator will be developed over the coming months with a pilot survey following, which should deliver results towards the end of 2008. If this proves successful then the full version of the indicator will be launched in 2009.
Whilst the details of how the perceptions indicator will be calculated are still uncertain, we do have some idea of how it will work.
It is likely that it will be a composite indicator built up from five components, covering perceptions of the region as a place to invest, to work, to learn, to visit and to live. Each component will be built up from perceptions of key factors influencing overall views on that dimension.
The indicator will take into account views from both inside and outside the region and those of both individuals and businesses.