Expansion & Investment Beyond the UK: Survey

A few weeks ago, myself and some of the Chinwag gang trotted off to VIctoria to meet with UK Trade & Invest. If you've not come across them before, then hopefully that's something that will change in the coming months.

UKTI LogoUKTI (the full name is just too much for my chubby fingers), is a government agency that helps UK businesses market themselves abroad and attract overseas investment. They use the UK's embassy network to arrange missions to other countries, enabling UK companies to target specific businesses abroad. Handy to have some diplomatic-style backup!

Web Mission 2008The first Web Mission has just been announced taking 20 Web 2.0 companies to Silicon Valley with backing from the likes of Microsoft, Make Your Mark and organised by Polecats.

"Web Mission 2008 will see 20 UK Web 2.0 companies travel to San Francisco to explore new opportunities for growth with key people in Silicon Valley.

This event will showcase innovative UK web talent, seek meaningful assistance for companies ready for expansion, and provide a platform for those involved to gain valuable media and business exposure."

The outcome of our meeting with UKTI was a discussion about the best way to engage with the industry, especially as they're in the process of putting together a marketing strategy for the ICT sector. The language of government can be hard to easily digest and the guys were really keen to get as much feedback as possible, so we figured the easiest route would be to put together a survey.

It only takes a few minutes to fill out, and there's a chance for all completed entries to win an iPod Touch 8Gb. Importantly, there's a section on how the UKTI should communicate and develop this strategy in the future.

It struck me that a Wiki might be the ideal mechanism for developing this kind of strategy in a proper collaborative fashion. But don't let that sway anyone, I'd love to know what you think and if there's any other examples of Wikis being used for this type of activity. There's an interesting example over at AccountAbility.

14 February 2008 by Sam Michel
Sam Michel

Sam Michel is the founder of Chinwag and blogs here for work, and more randomly at Toodlepip. He runs Chinwag Jobs, Digital Mission and tends to focus on murky place where technology, community and marketing collide. You'll find him on twitter @toodlepip.

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Comments

We met the UKTI when I was

Submitted by James Maltby on Wed, 27/02/2008 - 12:35pm.
We met the UKTI when I was talking at the National Innovation Conference in 2006. They seemed very interested in us and our overseas plans. We had a few meetings and even funding was agreed, but they never sent the forms. After a few months of reminding them, we gave up. I just hope that they can deliver a strategy to the ICT, rather than just talking about it...

UKTI - A Big Organisation

Submitted by Sam Michel on Thu, 28/02/2008 - 4:58pm.

I can only speak about the team that we've met who are trying very hard to consult and get feedback. It's a huge organisation from what I understand, at least I keep meeting departments within the organisation.

Some of the difficulty is likely to arise from the fact that digital media sits between their ICT and Creative Industries teams. Trust us to work in an industry that can't be easily pigeon-holed.