UKTI helps green Bristol companies branch out overseas

UKTI’s OMIS service helps Bristol technology companies find partners in Germany.

UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) has helped two Bristol companies to open doors to green partnerships in Europe.

As part of a trade delegation to the Hannover Fair, supported jointly by UKTI and Bristol City Council, both Breakthrough Energy Technologies (BET) and Connolly and Callaghan (C&C) used the UKTI Overseas Market Information Service (OMIS) to research partnerships with other green companies and they are now taking forward a partnership deal with a German sustainable energy company.

Breakthrough Energy Technologies used the OMIS service when they visited the Hannover Fair earlier this year. During the visit, David Saunders from BET and Andrew Baker from C&C were able to meet with UKTI’s team at the British Embassy who arranged meetings with potential customers and partners.

Andrew Baker explained: “UKTI arranged a string of meetings for us, which were all with exactly the right people and pitched at just the right level. There were some organisations we just didn’t even know existed, so we couldn’t possibly have made these contacts ourselves.”

David Saunders said: “We have made some great contacts that we will pursue and which will allow us to develop technologies that can be used in sustainable communities. ARES, a German start-up company linked to Hannover Veterinary University, is developing new anaerobic digester technology based on the bacteria that live in a cow’s stomach. It has already won biofuel industry awards, and we plan to manufacture the technology here to sell in the UK and overseas.”

Both Bristol companies are involved with developing a sustainable village in Frome and will be using the technology of one of their German partners as part of that project. “Adding renewable energy to an eco-village project allows us to deliver buildings that achieve code level 6, the highest environmental standard,” said Andrew.

“The Hannover Fair and OMIS service was a great way for us to explore potential partnerships,” said David. “As Bristol is a green capital it is really important for companies from the city to be able to share their experiences, skills and knowledge with other green capitals. We were able to share our experiences of social enterprises in our own city, such as Coexist in Stokes Croft, with representatives from Munich, one of Germany’s leading green capitals. There is no doubt that an information exchange of this kind will lead to business for us in the future.”

Andrew Fraser, International Trade Adviser for UKTI, said: "Both these companies have very interesting commercial ideas for developing international business in the field of sustainable energy.  The OMIS service has allowed them to start exploring that potential and already has yielded positive results.

"OMIS is ideal for new or fledgling exporters or for existing exporters looking to develop into new markets. UKTI's team of experts on the ground are ideally placed to help source those all-important business leads and arrange meetings with relevant companies."

Robin McDowell, from Bristol City Council Economic Development Team, who led the Hannover Fair delegation on behalf of the Council, added:

“We were delighted with the support and services provided by UKTI to these innovative small firms in our fast-growing local environmental sector and with the practical outcomes emerging from the contacts made. We are extremely keen to build on this and promote further commercial links and co-operation between the Bristol and Hannover city-regions in the coming 12 months. This includes an invitation to Hannover to send a business delegation to a major environmental tradeshow to be held in Bristol by Low Carbon South West in June 2011.”

Contacts

If you are based in the South West region and are interested in developing your business overseas please contact:

South West International Trade Team

Tel: +44 (0)845 60 60 969

Email: enquiries@uktisouthwest.org