The Milton Keynes Business Achievement Awards will return on Thursday, 20^th March 2025 and the organiser  has announced that the theme for next year’s event will be ‘Bridging the Gap: Skills & Learning for Our Future Workforce’.

Milton Keynes’ location, combined with its excellent transport links and a comparatively low cost-of-living, make it an attractive place for businesses to start-up, scale-up, and relocate. As a result, we have one of the fastest growing economies in the UK, with technology, finance, logistics, and professional services, being its fundamental pillars.

However, the dual effects of (1) the lack of an undergraduate university (which results in too many of our young people being lost to faraway university towns), and (2) poor investment in universal education for all our young people, combine to create a skills gap in Milton Keynes that has become a stubborn problem that businesses could do more to help solve.

As a business community, we have our part to play. We cannot, and should not, take a backwards step and then be surprised if the alumni of our educational system do not match our precise requirements. We must learn from each other about what approaches work, then in partnership with our educational institutions, ensure not only that they reach all sections of our community, but also that the graduates of our educational sector have the skills that we require and are work ready. 

Deadline for Stage 1 entries is Friday 8^th November at 17:00.