The British Columbia Trade and Investment office in Canada House in London in partnership with Vita Healthcare Solutions, set up a virtual inward mission by 16 British Columbia based Medtech and Digital Healthcare companies on 26-29 April 2921.

The visiting companies are SMEs with 2 start-ups and 13 scale-ups ready for their next expansion.

On Monday the 26th of April the Mission opened with a welcome and introduction by the hosts, followed by brief introductions by the visiting companies. After presentations by the Canadian High Commission, DIT and the Canada-UK Chamber of Commerce there was a session of inward investment presentations by three UK regions. The Innovation Core presented in a UK Innovation Corridor slot along with London & Partners, alongside Manchester (MIDAS) and Scottish Enterprise.

David Burrows gave a brief overview of the Innovation Core, including location (putting the short distance between London and Cambridge into perspective for companies based in Vancouver), key sectors and opportunities in Medtech and Digital Healthcare. As an example of a suitable location for SMEs and start-ups to locate we invited Fiona Bodle, Assistant Director, Strategic Innovation at the Research and Innovation Development Office at Anglia Ruskin University to present the Arise Harlow Innovation Centre situated on the Harlow Innovation Park campus.

Following the main presentation on Monday, David and Fiona held a series of one to one conversations with the companies on the mission to better understand their requirements and to provide assistance where possible. It is hoped that some of these companies will be so impressed by the offer in the Innovation Core that they will consider setting up operations here, or at least establish commercial and research links that can lead to later investment decisions. The level of interest in our region expressed by companies that we have been talking to is really encouraging and we hope to nurture and develop these relationships towards commercial outcomes.

In the post pandemic world, virtual missions like this are becoming increasingly popular as they eliminate the need to travel, eliminating health risks and lowering the carbon impact resulting from air travel over long distances. We believe that participating in missions such as this will benefit local businesses in the Innovation Core by providing supply chain opportunities and create additional employment during this critical period of rebuilding our economy. We are therefore working with other locations, such as Portugal, for future inward missions and considering participating in outward missions in partnership with the Department of International Trade and other local partners.

We hope that you will join us on this journey as we take the Innovation Core onto an international stage.

By David Burrows, Economic Development Advisor to the Innovation Core