3,000 Global Business Leaders Attracted to British Business Embassy during Olympics and Paralympics

The UK Prime Minister, David Cameron, announces a series of business summits to be held during the London Olympics and Paralympics which are expected to generate over £1bn in trade and investment for the UK.The British Business Embassy was developed by UK Trade & Investment as part of the GREAT campaign and will help promote the best the UK has to offer in many of the UK's flourishing industries, such as fashion, architecture, technology, life sciences, advanced engineering, automotive and aerospace.

A Global Investment conference will head the programme which will run between 26 July and 9 September 2012 and will also include a sequence of sector days which will be held at Lancaster House.  Each event will involve UK based and international business leaders from emerging and developed countries meeting with a broad range of British companies including mid-sized businesses and SMEs.

Prior Olympic host China, and the next hosts, Brazil will be promoting trade with two country-specific events.

Prime Minister David Cameron said: “The Olympics will not only bring the world’s best athletes and thousands of sports fans to our country, but the major business players are coming too. This once in a lifetime occasion will provide UK companies with more than a billion pounds business opportunity. The conference and these events will place the UK at the forefront in addressing the challenges facing the global economy, and a chance to showcase UK business, secure new trade and inward investment and give our economy a major boost.”

The series of events during Games time will include:

Global Investment Conference

Opening the Government’s Olympic business programme, the Global Investment Conference will take place on Thursday 26 July and seek to address the challenges facing global business by bringing together top global decision-makers with around 200 business leaders, policy makers and investors from around the world.

Global Business Summits

To highlight global business partnerships and to give UK-based companies the opportunity to grow their business internationally and to help attract inward investment into the UK, the Government will host a series of Global Business Summits from 26 July to 9 September 2012. Focusing on a different high growth global sector, country or sports related issue each day, the programme includes summits on: Advertising, Media, Design and Architecture (July 30th); Film, Fashion, TV, Games and Music (July 31st), Education (Aug 1st), Healthcare and Life Sciences (Aug 2nd), Tech, Telecom and Internet (Aug 3rd), Energy (Aug 6th and 7th), Infrastructure (Aug 8th) Retail, Food and Drink (Aug 9th) and Aerospace, Automotive and Advanced Engineering (Aug 10th). There will be speakers and attendees including famous names from Apple, Google, Facebook, Sony, AstraZeneca, BT, BBC, Telefonica, McLaren Racing, Diageo, Coca Cola and many other global brands.

Regional and International Activity

To widen the reach and impact of the events taking place at Lancaster House, key sessions from each day will be streamed live nationally and internationally. Many of the UKTI regional teams, consulates and embassies around the world will be hosting their own British Business Embassy events to bring together local businesses.

Startup Games

During the Paralympic Games, up to 300 of the world's most exciting new businesses will be invited to take part in the StartUp Games event. Hosted in Tech City, the StartUp Games will give entrepreneurs the chance to share in the Olympic atmosphere and experience for themselves the fantastic facilities of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and the innovative culture of Tech City, while competing to be recognised amongst the world's highest potential startups. The Tech City Investment Organisation will organise the StartUp Games, working alongside partners including StartUp Britain and the Olympic Park Legacy Company, which will also allow new UK startups the chance to learn from some of the best from around the world, and provide the finalists the support they might need to bring their businesses to Tech City.