NE1 Ltd, in partnership with Invest Newcastle, will play host to a delegation of 15 high ranking, IT business delegates in Newcastle from Chandigarh India on a two day visit to the city. The delegates arrived on Sunday 18 March and leave on Tuesday 20th.
Among the delegation will be founders and Chief Executives of some of India’s leading IT businesses accompanied by the British Deputy High Commissioner of the Chandigarh region, Andrew Ayre.
The aim of the trip is to encourage greater investment, trade and export between Newcastle, the North East and India and provide information and advice to these Indian delegates about the potential for setting up business in the region and the support available for trade and exports.
The trip has been organised as a reciprocal visit following NE1’s inaugural trip to Chandigarh, India in November. NE1 joined the outbound trip, arranged by the Federation of Asian Businesses last November.
On the Indian trip, NE1 Ltd met the Deputy High Commissioner, Andrew Ayre and learnt that a delegation planned to come to the UK. NE1 Ltd then worked to bring the trip to Newcastle and with Invest Newcastle and Ward Hadaway’s support have drawn up an itinerary which will highlight Newcastle’s burgeoning digital, IT and life science sectors.
The visit will introduce delegates to some of the city’s leading IT and digital practitioners and highlight all that the region has to offer potential businesses and investors. Delegates will spend time at Science Central visiting Newcastle University’s Urban Science building, will learn about data visualization and the urban observatory, and hear about the National Innovation Centre for Data that is planned for Newcastle. The visit will also include company tours of both Hedgehog Lab and Performance Horizon, two fast growing and specialist IT companies headquartered in Newcastle. Workshops in Trade and Export, Investment and UK incorporation will also be on the agenda delivered by Ward Hadaway.
The itinerary will also make time for cultural, historic and sight seeing tours of the city with dinner at Trinity House on Monday evening.
Adrian Waddell of NE1 Ltd, Business Improvement District Company for Newcastle city centre said:
“As we prepare to exit the EU we are extremely keen to help shape Newcastle’s destiny and to forge our own business links for the city and the wider city region. With a population of over 1.2 billion, India is an obvious target for developing business links. Newcastle and the North East already enjoy strong and healthy cultural, business and educational associations with India and this delegation will help us build on this for the future. We have a burgeoning IT and digital sector in the North East and the visit will highlight the strength of our capabilities and encourage Indian investors and businesses that the North East is a great place to do business as well as being an ideal UK base for trading internationally.”
Catherine Walker, inward investment director at Invest Newcastle, a service delivered by NewcastleGateshead Initiative on behalf of Newcastle City Council, said:
“Building on the existing relationships between our regions, it is fantastic to welcome an Indian delegation to Newcastle and showcase what we have to offer as a city. Newcastle is one of the fastest-growing cities in the UK and we have developed a reputation as a thriving hub for digital companies. This growing reputation within the digital economy, alongside our great national and international transport links, makes us an attractive location for expanding international companies.”
“With India seeing rapid year-on-year growth in this sector, there are clear opportunities to strengthen trade relationships and for Invest Newcastle to enable inward investment from this area of the world.”
Matthew Cormack, Commercial Partner at Ward Hadaway, said: "It is a privilege to be welcoming this group of business leaders from Chandigarh, India to our city. As an advisor to many premier technology businesses in the North, including many with international operations and headquarters, we are ideally placed to give strategic support to these businesses on setting up a UK operation.
"At Ward Hadaway, we recognise that commerce is global, and with India's place on the global stage being more important than ever before, it is fantastic to be able to showcase the support and advice that we can offer as a region, and hopefully to encourage and assist these businesses in growing some successful commercial collaborations and inward investment into our region."
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