Medway's economy has been hamstrung through the loss of the dockyard and more recently the attempt to compete in low value economic activity.
As a SE england economy, most of Medway's economy (arts and culture excepted) makes little strategic sense now, and will make even less sense if Chatham and Gillingham's regeneration is a success. The Medway city estate prevents Medway's economy, environment and society from becoming much stronger, cleaner and wealthier (greater productivity per capita). Medway's universities have potential but are very weak in science and engineering, so organic growth in related economic activity is unlikely to materialise. Improvement here, and a concerted effort to support the research/development sector would be transformational to Medways GDP.