West Midlands Business Festival to return bigger and better in 2026
Published: 01 August 2025
Mayor Richard Parker has today announced that the West Midlands Business Festival is to return in 2026 following the huge success of its inaugural event earlier this year.
Between 2 and 13 February next year, thousands of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and the wider business community will get another opportunity to come together for a fortnight of inspiration, innovation, learning, showcasing, and networking.
Richard Parker, Mayor of the West Midlands and chair of the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), launching the first West Midlands Business Festival at Grand Station, Wolverhampton, 2025.
This year’s festival – the first to be organised for the Mayor by Business Growth West Midlands (BGWM) – smashed all expectations with 1,500 businesses getting involved and 4,000 tickets booked for the impressive line-up of 100 events.
Plans for the 2026 festival have been unveiled just a week after the Mayor launched the West Midlands Growth Plan to fire up the region’s economy by backing businesses to grow and help create thousands of new jobs.
SMEs are the foundations of our economy and this festival is about bringing them together to learn, collaborate, and celebrate the successes that will get our economy firing on all cylinders.
The response to this year’s event was phenomenal so we’re bringing it back in 2026 – bigger, bolder, and even better.
This is a region that backs ambition, drives innovation, and provides opportunities to put success within everyone’s reach, whatever their background.
We’re investing £15 million this year in grants and expert support to help businesses grow, and that is on top of the £10 million we spent backing 10,000 firms last year. My Growth Plan takes this even further and will make the West Midlands the most dynamic place in the UK to start and scale a business.
Thousands of businesses, start-ups and entrepreneurs who attended events at the inaugural festival back in March helped make it the biggest and most influential event of its kind ever to be held in the region.
Those attending highlighted the value of the networking opportunities offered by the event while two thirds said they would implement changes in their businesses thanks to the knowledge they picked up.
The theme for 2026 is Growth Without Limits - championing growth for all by unlocking opportunity and supporting ambitious businesses to succeed and scale, ensuring fairness and sustained progress across the region.
From today, businesses can apply to host an event. This can involve incorporating their existing business activities into the festival’s schedule or creating new events, ranging from seminars and insight events to product launches.
All events are encouraged to be free to attend to remove barriers for participants, including those early in their careers or in education.
Business Growth West Midlands is run by West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) and delivered in partnership by local councils.
Register an interest in taking part in the 2026 West Midlands Business Festival at www.wmbf.co.uk.
