On 15 and 16 April, techUK organized a members delegation to the 8th edition of the UK-US SME Dialogue in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
The SME Dialogue is convened by the UK Department for Business and Trade, with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the U.S. Department of Commerce, and the U.S. Small Business Administration.
The SME Dialogue brings together SMEs and stakeholders on both sides of the Atlantic with government officials to identify ways to deepen UK-U.S. trade and investment ties and strengthen cooperation on issues of interest to SMEs.
The techUK delegation included:
- Ricky Doyle, CEO, DayOne
- Paul Moorby, CEO, Chipside
- Antony Murphy, CEO, Causeway Sensors
- Steve Rick, CEO, Forensic Analytics
- Phil Wilkinson, Head of Product and Engineering, IOTICS
- John Witt, Co-Founder and CEO, Stotles
Aside from the dialogue itself, Ed Bevan, Head of SME Engagement at techUK, led members on a day engaging with Northern Ireland stakeholders, including InvestNI, Software NI, FSB NI and CBI NI.
Throughout the day the delegation was able to discuss the opportunities within the Northern Ireland digital economy and the thriving tech clusters across the area. There were also discussions around some of the challenges for SMEs scaling up in Northern Ireland, and some of the areas techUK, government and stakeholders need to focus on to ensure more tech SMEs grow and develop in the Northern Ireland economy.
Sabina Ciofu, Associate Director for International Policy and Trade, at techUK said:
“We are excited to bring a delegation to the dialogue for the second time and contribute to these important conversations on increasing transatlantic trade, while also offering members the opportunity to network with peers from across the UK and the USA. There is so much work to do to make SME trade easier and we very much look forward to working with our members and policymakers on both sides to boost trade and cooperation.”