The Business Exchange Bath & Somerset Issue 4: Summer 2017 | Page 4

BUSINESS NEWS
South West exports rise
by 30 percent HIGH-TECH START-UPS
TAKE ON CANARY WHARF
New figures from HMRC have revealed that the
value of goods exported by companies in the
South West rose by 30 percent in the first three
months of 2017 versus the same period last year. Two of Bath’s most exciting high-tech, high
growth potential start-ups recently showcased
to big name corporates including EDF Energy,
Rolls-Royce and Samsung for the chance to
have their product adopted by the business
giants at KPMG in Canary Wharf, London.
The event, the Open Innovation Showcase,
was organised by SETsquared, the global
number one university business incubation
programme.
The aim of the programme is to develop
mutually beneficial partnerships or investment
deals with the corporates discovering new
technologies and products, while the start-ups
get the chance to seal deals with business
giants that they would never normally have
access to. With angel and venture capitalists
also attending, the entrepreneurs had the
chance to raise investment too.
The Bath businesses showcased at the
event were, Vaccines with refrigeration, who
have created a method for preserving vaccines
to avoid high amounts of medicine wastage,
and Verv, a self-install advanced home
energy monitor that turns all your appliances
In the three months to the end of March,
exports from South West-based companies
reached £6.3bn, up from £4.8bn in the
same period last year.
Exports to EU countries accounted for
42 percent of the total value, followed by
North America on 21 percent and Asia and
Oceania on 16 percent.
Machinery and transport exports
made the