NORTH East firms are being urged to adopt a healthy outlook for exports as UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) hosts a special event to help more companies take up the "export for growth" challenge.
The Healthcare and Life Science Business Summit will be held at Sunderland University on Thursday.
It is one of a series of Olympic-themed events linked to the “British Business Embassy” events that took place during the London 2012 Olympics to highlight what makes Britain great.
During the North East event companies will be able to view a special presentation filmed during the national British Business Embassy Life Sciences summit, held in August, when Lord Darzi, British business ambassador and eminent surgeon, discusses “Meeting the challenges for healthcare in the next decade”.
North East companies, including Graham Dotchin, commercial director of Prudhoe-based SCM Pharma and Gary Todd, managing director of Newcatle-based UK Haptics, will also be on hand to share their own experiences of exporting, the opportunities available to North East companies and the pitfalls to be avoided.
David Coppock, UKTI’s regional director, said: “Many North East companies are already proving time and again that we can compete on the world stage and our performance continues to be at a record high with more than £14.04bn worth of goods exported in the last year.
“The UK healthcare and life sciences sector is huge and we continue to be world leaders in this field. The UK medical technology sector has over 3,100 companies generating £15bn turnover and employing around 64,000 people; biotechnology boasts 945 companies generating £3.4bn and employing 23,000 people and the UK pharmaceutical sector has 365 companies, with a combined turnover of £31.8bn,employing around 77,800 people.
“The North East too has more than its fair share of successful companies and we’re hoping this event will help inspire others to follow in their footsteps. We’ve set ourselves an ambitious target to help create 500 new exporters in the North East by 2015 and I’d urge anyone considering starting to export or looking to enter new markets to come along to find out how we can help.”
During the event delegates will also be able to share their own experiences and best practice during a buffet lunch.
