Last week, I had the privilege of being part of the Swedish Chamber of Commerce’s Ecosystem Exchange Greentech event. It was so refreshing being able to meet so many passionate individuals in person and to hear about the fantastic products and services they have to offer.

The panel discussion on “Upcoming areas and opportunities across the UK” explored the opportunities in the UK for foreign businesses looking to come to the UK and certainly showed that we have a lot to offer. Some key and interesting points from that discussion were:

• Look outside of London: the UK is a hotbed for innovation whether that’s renewables in Scotland or agriculture in the East there’s a home from home for every business so consider what it is you are looking for when setting up in the UK and where you may be best located e.g. are your customers largely located in a certain area?
• Collaboration: shift away from the competing mindset to one of working together and collaborating to find more wholistic solutions but also consider carefully who you look to partner with e.g. is a big corporate a good fit with your business? Do your homework and consider the messaging so that you have a clear articulation of the problem that you are solving and how that benefits the businesses you are seeking to partner with.
• Design led thinking: Jie Zhou (Programme Manager, University of Cambridge) made a really interesting point about designing our waste. Rather than focusing on how waste can be recycled as part of the process look at the end to end value and supply chain as part of the upfront design and explore ways you can minimise the waste.
• Support: consider the support available be that peer support, supportive environments e.g. incubators or innovation hubs or more formal support e.g. through the Department for International Trade and the right advisers, as learning from those who have experienced similar challenges to those you are facing can be invaluable.

Beyond this the workshops looked at the practical steps for setting up in the UK e.g. choice of structure, those all important tax and accounting requirements and how to attract the right talent.

It was a brilliant event and we wish the businesses the very best for their journey in the UK.

If you are thinking about setting up in the UK please get in touch, we have a team ready to help through our UK investment Launchpad.