ukti

A couple of weeks back I was asked to speak at TechWorld, a conference and expo organised by UK Trade & Investment. This year's event included the addition of the first TechCity Entrepreneur's Festival.

The week-long festival incorporated a bootcamp, access to investors, a giant get-together with Silicon Valley Comes to the UK, pitch training and a pitch competition. In the light of so many overseas companies heading in to London, I thought a whistlestop tour of the UK's digital sector, location of clusters and London, in particular might be handy.

Are you thinking of applying for the UKTI Trade Mission to SXSW, but not really sure where to start? Wondering how long the application process takes and how it's assessed?

When and how should you book hotels? Do you need to buy a SXSW badge? So many questions, so to make things a little easier we have outlined some simple steps that we hope will answer all of your questions.

We have already had a strong group of application for the UKTI Trade Mission to SXSW, but you do still have time to apply. Applications close Friday 25th November, so start applying today. 

Update: Application form now available, see below.

Tech City is certainly making headlines at the moment, with groups of the area's entrepreneurs visiting Buckingham Palace (our invite must've got lost in the post) and a reciprocal visit by HRH Duke of York to open shiny new co-working space The Trampery.

The area will play host to The Entrepreneur's Festival (14-19 Nov 2011) a week-long series of events to help local and overseas entrepreneurs boost their businesses. The event is being organised by Tech City Investment Organisation, part of UK Trade & Investment's initiative to promote the area's digital companies and inward investment.

Around 2000 industry decision-makers, including potential investors and buyers from nearly 50 countries, will gather in one location for TechWorld, one of the UK’s largest technology shows at London ExCel Centre, 16 - 17 November 2011.

It's that time of the year again...when all the geeks around the globe start to get twitchy, flights start getting booked up and Austin, Texas starts to brace itself for the thousands of digital folk that will be embarking on the massive annual gathering that is South By South West Interactive 2012 (SXSW). 

UK Trade & Investment, the government agency responsible for helping firms develop their export potential and encourage foreign investment has announced a number of trade missions taking place this Autumn.

The six trips include five to the USA focused on cloud computing, app developers, 4G, mobile communications and digital media. An additional trip to China is planned to coincide with the UK/China Internet Forum with the delegation led by DCMS Minister Ed Vaizey.

In Chinwag's recent Digital Mission survey looking at which global opportunities were tempting the UK's digital firms, Germany featured 4th on the list.

Update: Panel line-up and Berline startups announced. Just one travel bursary left. See below.

For those digital firms interested in this market, Creative Industries KTN (CIKTN) and Berlin Brandenburg Medianet have announced a one-day session in Berlin to introduce firms to the local market, meeting with startups and local businesses who will provide mentoring support.

During my dreary morning commute this morning, I was flicking through the Metro only to stumble across a feature including UKTI Mission to SXSW Alumni, ParcelGenie.

Social Media Week London generated so much coverage that it's taken us a little while to pull together all the information. This review brings together the video, photos and coverage from "From Silicon Roundabouts to a Silicon World over Breakfast", hosted by UK Trade and Investment (UKTI).

The breakfast event helped attendees to find out more about using social media and communities to develop international business. UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) are a UK government organisation that help UK firms build their export business.

I’m writing this a few days after returning back to the UK after attending “South by South-West” (SXSW) Interactive, Austin, Texas. It’s an enormous conference or festival of all things digital and web related. In Silicon Valley it’s known as “spring break for geeks”, an apt description which describes the attendees and the atmosphere just a little too well.

It’s spread over 5 days, with talks, discussions, panels and keynotes running all through the day with parties running all through the night. There is simply no other conference like it. You won’t see people in suits, instead, flip flops, shorts and a T-shirt branded with your company logo is fairly typical.

After a very busy, very tiring, but very productive week out to the famous SXSW we have returned. All companies in check, no broken bones or more importantly broken laptops and with some great stories to tell - lets start off at day one…

Thursday

As we touched down in refreshingly sunny Austin you could tell it was going to be a good week, with the sun shinning and the geeky vibes buzzing there was a lot to look forward to.

Jumping timezones had left everyone slightly confused as to what day and time it was so we eased the companies participating on the UKTI Mission in slowly with a networking reception at the Moonshine Grill. The Texan food on offer including buffalo meatballs and “corn dog” shrimp definitely got our taste bubs ready for the next few days, washed down with a few magaritas.

It gave the companies a chance to get to know one another a little better as well as meeting the UKTI and Chinwag teams. With the easy start to the busy week ahead most of us headed to bed, minus a few that started the SXSW parties early!