A View From Europe: Fall 08
Welcome
... to the Fall edition of our quarterly newsletter, where you'll find news and information of interest and value to your business.
This quarter, we are utilizing a slightly different approach, with an analysis of three key industries important for the United Kingdom's investment in Arizona: Aerospace, Nanotechology and Optoelectronics. In February 2009 the Arizona Department of Commerce, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Commerce, is planning a trade mission for companies in these sectors. To promote the mission and provide important information, there will be pre-mission seminars planned in Tucson on November 12th and in and Scottsdale on November 13th. Please join us at either or both of these events, and stay tuned for more details on the trip.
The three sector briefings are designed to provide insights on the businesses already established in the UK, as well as an overview of the research programs that could help you with your next market-leading product.
As an added bonus, we will also look at how Great Britain is viewing the upcoming election and the implications for trade depending on who wins, and some thoughts on ways to stay competitive during the anticipated slowdown in the economy. And there's a reminder that our European Director is coming to Arizona in November to share information with businesses about the upcoming trade mission and other exhibition opportunities.
Finally, please remember that the Arizona Department of Commerce team is here to help you: our sole mission is to do what we can to help Arizona businesses succeed. For an overview of our programs, please visit our website at www.azcommerce.com, and please feel free to contact me with any questions or comments.
Best regards
Karla
International Business Development Manager
International Trade and Investment Division
1700 W. Washington Street, Suite 220
Phoenix, Arizona 85007
602-771-1156
Fax: 602-771-1204
We Are Here To Help
ADOC has personnel on both sides of the Atlantic dedicated to helping you do more business in Europe. Your two main points of contact are:
Karla Teixeira
Based in Arizona, Karla is the Department of Commerce’s International Trade Specialist. She can be reached on 602-771-1156 or at karlat@azcommerce.com.
Nick Deane
Based in England, Nick can be contacted on 01144 1743 860309 and by email at: nick.deane@sectormarketing.co.uk.
Tell us how we can help you
We are constantly looking to improve the services and programs that we provide to Arizona’s small and medium sized businesses. To achieve that, we have set up a short web-based survey. The information you provide will help shape our services to better meet your business objectives.
Click here for the survey.
What ADOC can do for you
If you’re an SME hoping to break into the European market, you don't have to do it alone. Use ADOC’s suite of free services – dedicated to bringing in business to Arizona companies. From market research to setting up distributorship opportunities, we’re here to point you in the right direction. Click here for more information on our services.
Come to Scottsdale or Tucson for UK partnering opportunities
This November, specialists on U.S. - U.K. investment will meet in Scottsdale and Tucson to discuss opportunities for Arizona companies to form commercial and technical collaborations with leading U.K. businesses and research organizations.
The emphasis will be high tech - focusing on Aerospace, Defense, Nanotechnology, Optics and Security. The workshops are sponsored by The Arizona Department of Commerce and our partner, the U.S. Commercial Service. The first takes place at Tucson Regional Economic Opportunities offices in Tucson on November 12th and at the Arizona State University's SkySong Facility in Scottsdale on November 13th. Both events start off at 8.00am.
These events will feature speakers from the British Consulate General in Los Angeles, as well as sector experts Matt Whiteley and Nick Hooper from U.K. Trade & Investment. Topics will include the current business environment in the U.K., the opportunities to partner and trade with U.K. companies, the availability of free business support services, and strategies on how to successfully grow your business in the U.K. - Europe Market.
To reserve your place at the event, call Karla Teixeira at 602-771-1156 or visit: http://www.azcommerce.org/BusAsst/International/UpcomingTradeEvents.htm
Join the mission!
Arizona's European Director Nick Deane will spend a week in Arizona beginning November 10th to help Arizona businesses find out how they can tap into the European market or what they can do to increase their trade there.
His visit will include the two seminars, in Tucson and in Phoenix, which will provide businesses with an opportunity to find out more about a forthcoming trade mission in February 2009 and overseas exhibitions - including the Paris Air Show.
Attendees will also have the chance to talk to Nick and the rest of the Arizona Department of Commerce team on the support and advice available to companies seeking to strengthen their trade ties with Europe.
For those in the aerospace sector, June 15-21, 2009 are the dates to mark on your calendar to attend the Paris Air Show. For more information on this trip, or to speak with Nick Deane, contact Karla Teixeira at 602-771-1156 or by email at: karlat@azcommerce.com
Sector briefings
1. Aerospace
Flying high through collaborative projects
Only the United States has a bigger aerospace industry than the U.K., borne of its long history of being a leader in aviation technology. The aerospace industry directly employs 124,000 people in the U.K. and supports an additional 152,000 jobs in a sector that generated nearly $35 billion in 2006. An estimated $4 billion is invested annually in R&D, making it second only the pharmaceutical industry in terms of research intensity.
But of course these days, the overwhelming majority of its development and production is carried out as part of international collaborations - such as the Airbus Consortium on Civil Aircraft, the Eurofighter Typhoon Programme and the Joint Strike Fighter Programme, a joint project with the U.S.
Inevitably, this has led to the U.K. focusing on its core strengths - notably engines and wings. And while international companies, such as Rolls Royce, grab the headlines when they supply projects such as the A380 and 787 Dreamliner, there are many other companies down the supply chain also playing key roles.
In the last month, it has been announced that Welsh company Tritech will supply components to Boeing through a venture with Japanese aerospace firm Sumitomo Precision Parts, which holds the contract to supply the heat management system used for the Dreamliner.
Certainly in recent years there has been an increasing trend for companies in both the U.S. and the U.K. to break down perceived barriers and become involved in each other's projects through international collaborations and partnerships. This has been accelerated through initiatives such as Arizona's involvement in the major European air shows, such as Paris and Farnborough, introducing the State's smaller aerospace suppliers to an international audience and giving them a foothold in the European market.
Increasingly, the focus in the U.K. aerospace sector, as elsewhere, is to implement strategies to tackle environmental concerns.
The U.K. government has just revised its carbon reduction target. Output is now expected to come down an ambitious 80 percent before 2050, and aviation is one of the main industries expected to rise to the challenge. U.K. aerospace manufacturers, airlines and airports are working together on this, but government targets aren't the only driver: fluctuations in oil prices and uncertainty about future supplies are stimulating initiatives to reduce fuel consumption.
One highly promising area of research is open rotor engines, which could allow single-aisle aircraft to see a 25 to 30 percent decrease in the amount of fuel they use. Research within the U.K.'s aerospace companies, universities and centers of excellence will supply future markets with cleaner, greener aircraft. Rolls Royce is leading the DREAM Research and Development Programme, which is an international collaboration of 47 organizations from 13 European countries.
If your company would like to know more about European companies at all ends of the aerospace supply chain, call Karla Teixeira at 602-771-1156 or get in touch with email at: karlat@azcommerce.com and we can carry out searches and set up meetings on your behalf.
2. Optoelectronics
Shedding light on a growing industry
Optoelectronics - the alliance of optics and electronics and with applications from LED displays and photocopiers to satellite telescope systems and parallel computing - is a sector with a huge future, as Arizona itself has recognized.
So too has the U.K., where a host of major international companies have established bases, and massive research programs are also underway in universities and research centers throughout the region - most notably in the Southwest, Southeast, in Wales and East of England.
- The optoelectronics industry in the Southeast comprises a number of large, mainly multinational companies, including Nortel Networks, Alcatel, Huber & Suhner, Bookham Technology and ITT Cannon, combined with smaller niche businesses. The region is also home to a number of cutting-edge research universities.
- There's a similar picture in the East of England, where companies with major bases include Nortel Networks, Agilent, Alenia Marconi, BAE Systems, BTExact and Melles Griot. Here, the best known research facility is at the University of Cambridge's Centre for Molecular Materials for Photonics and Electronics (CMMPE), while Cranfield University's speciality is the development of optical techniques and tools for application in complex problems in engineering, fluids and medicine.
- Firms operating in the Southwest include Arima Optoelectronics, Bookham Technologies, Sharetree Systems, Qinetiq, Optoelectronic Manufacturing Corporation and Thales Optronics. Key university research projects at the Universities of Bath, Bristol, Exeter and Plymouth include areas such as: Photonic Crystal Fibre (PCF) technology; integrated fibreoptical telecommunication; high quality precision optical components; wavelength division multiplexers and optical wave guides; blue LEDS; and Organic Light Emitting Polymers (OLEPs).
- In Wales, a $25 million Opto-electronics Technology and Incubation Centre, the first of its kind in the U.K., has been set up with government support to grow businesses in optoelectronics and related technologies.
As far as optoelectronics has come, everyone in the industry recognizes that the future holds even greater promise. Being part of that future will depend upon tapping into research that will lead to next generation products - and this is where alliances and collaborations between research companies in Arizona and the U.K. can really pay dividends.
If your company would like to know more about research organizations in the U.K., or companies that could harness your technology to mutual benefit, call Karla Teixeira at 602-771-1156 or get in touch with email at: karlat@azcommerce.com and we can carry out searches and set up meetings on your behalf.
3. Nanotechnology
UK thinking big on small-scale technology
Nanotechnology - "engineering on a very small scale" is proving big business within the U.K., which not only as a growing number of specialist companies harnessing manufacturing techniques but also a world-class reputation in nanotechnology research, with over 1,500 research scientists nationwide in research institutes and universities developing new applications.
Quite simply, the technology promises more for less: smaller, cheaper, lighter and faster devices with greater functionality, using fewer raw materials and consuming less energy. Developing biocompatible materials, new surface coatings, more effective catalysts and faster telecommunications are just some examples of where nanotechnology has been embraced.
UK companies already making their mark include: PsiMedica, which is developing nanoporous silicon for drug delivery; Thomas Swan, which is manufacturing single-walled nanotubes; and QinetiQ Nanomaterials, which looking at how to combat bird flu with nanoparticles.
International investors already developing commercial applications from nanotechnologies include Oxonica, Hitachi, Elan, Nanoco and Solexa.
The U.K. Government has a strong track record in supporting the development of the U.K. nanotechnology industry including a $150 million, six-year program for nanotechnology R&D. And it is this resource that many overseas businesses are tapping into in a series of technical and commercial collaborations.
There's no question that despite all the promise (and no small amounts of hype!) this is an industry still very much in its early stages, and the implications are huge for industries from healthcare and manufacturing to aerospace and environmental sciences. Among the potential achievements predicted are faster computers, more advanced medicines and nanoelectronic implants.
U.K. Government funding has already led to the Micro and Nanotechnology Manufacturing Initiative investing $70 million in establishing 22 nanotechnology centers to allow industry access to the advances made by academia in the field. Typical of these is the Cambridge Nanoscience Centre, which has formed a research partnership with Nokia to find new ways of implementing nanotechnology into the telecom firm's products.
Major growth is anticipated worldwide: the Centre for Economic Growth predicts the worldwide nanotechnology industry, by 2010, will have a materials sub-sector worth $385 billion, while tools and devices could be worth $315 billion and nanobio, $185 billion.
With so much money being pumped into nanotechnology research within the U.K., the door is open for businesses in Arizona looking to develop next generation products through collaborations or partnerships. To find out more about these opportunities, contact Karla Teixeira at 602-771-1156 or get in touch with email at: karlat@azcommerce.com.
Credit crunch doom, recession gloom - and ways to avoid them...
While policymakers, financial experts and commentators ponder ways to get the market back in fully functioning working order, ordinary businesses will be looking hard at how to continue to operate and maximize profitability.
"There's no question that the economies on this side of the Atlantic are in for a deep and possibly lengthy economic downturn," says Nick Deane Arizona's European Director. "But the experience of previous downturns is that those businesses that are imaginative and bold come through stronger and with increased market share.
"The message we want to get across to Arizona businesses is to seek out new markets and new technology collaborations. We're talking to U.K. businesses that are stepping up their activity to avoid a downturn, and we are keen to partner them with Arizona companies wanting to do the same.
"We can bring companies together, help set up trade and distribution negotiations or find suitable technical partners to develop products and services to stay one step ahead of the competition in what will be a tough market in the next year or two," added Deane.
If you'd like to know more about the range of services that the Arizona Department of Commerce team can offer, visit us online at www.azcommerce.com.
Election fever reaches the U.K.
Throughout 2008, British newspapers, radio and television stations have been absolutely absorbed by the battle for the U.S. presidency. In fact, there is plenty of discussion about no one on the British side of the Big Pond having any recollection of any U.S. presidential race garnering this much media coverage or stimulating this level of public debate.
It hasn't simply been the fact that this election, regardless of the outcome, is historic. It is also a recognition that this election really matters to Britain.
The events of the last year - the last few months in particular - have brought it home as never before just how interdependent our two economies are.
The old expression, "When America sneezes, we catch a cold" has never been more relevant. Many British financial institutions have been seriously affected by the U.S. subprime fallout; the slowdown in the global economy is beginning to impact businesses worldwide; and the efforts to get international cooperation have illustrated that the two nations must work together to arrive at a shared solution.
So will it matter to Britain who wins the U.S. election? Great Britain is watching, and regardless of the victor, the U.K. will need to work with the administration of whomever the 44th President of the United States is come January.
Britain's Labour Party has had no problems in the past working with a Republican or a Democrat: President Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair have always had a strong relationship. And former President Clinton's two terms in office coincided with Britain being run first by the Conservative Party, and then Labour. Both amply demonstrated the special relationship that the two countries often talk about, with Politics never getting in the way.
The situation is also colored by the fact that, half way through the next President's term of office, Britain's voters will be going to the polls. At present, the Conservative Party (whose policies might be expected to be closer to those of the Republicans) is considered to be in favor, and anything can happen in two years.
While Britain has worked hard to retain its place and influence within Europe, there is still a widely held belief that the U.S.- U.K. axis is absolutely vital, and if both countries are to work their way out of the current downturn, then increased trade links and cooperation between us will be critical. Britain has said it is ready and waiting to do business with whomever takes over the keys to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue early next year.
To find out more on any of these stories, contact Karla here:
karlat@azcommerce.com