Member Article

That's Grand - IFB 2014 announces royal patron

The International Festival for Business – Britain’s greatest business showcase in more than a generation – has announced His Royal Highness The Duke of York KG as its Patron.

His Royal Highness is a strong supporter of British enterprise and developing a more entrepreneurial economy. The Duke of York is focused on initiatives that work to ensure young people have the opportunity to develop relevant employability skills.

HRH is also keen to encourage more Science and Technology in the United Kingdom. All of these themes will be touched on during the Festival, which will take place in Liverpool and the North West in June and July.

More than 100 individual events have been confirmed so far, ranging from key industry events to creative and cultural showcases, displaying the fantastic diversity that the festival will offer delegates this summer.

The programme of events covers a wide range of industries and sectors, from education, enterprise, cities, port and logistics, to creative, digital, science and low carbon, and everything in between. A key area of focus for the festival will be around education and skills, and how to best prepare young people for the 21st Century workplace.

Highlights from the programme include:

· BT Global City Leaders’ Summit: A two-day gathering of 150 city mayors from across the globe that will focus on how sustainable economic growth can best be generated

· British Business Embassy: A showcase of the best of British business with a focus on developing connections with emerging markets including China, India and the US

· Horasis’ Global India Business Meeting: The foremost annual gathering of Indian business leaders and their global counterparts, which has been described as an ‘Indian Davos’

Accelerate 2014: Britain’s only festival dedicated to fast-growth firms

UCGL Summit: This signature event has been developed with United Cities and Local Government, a leading international organisation that counts more than 1,000 cities across 95 countries and 112 national local government associations amongst its members

International Trade Expo: The event will target services at innovative SMEs to encourage more companies to export, and help existing exporters to reach high growth and emerging markets

British Chamber of Commerce: A collaboration between the British Chamber of Commerce and the International Chamber of Commerce, the event will give export advice for British companies and also provide best practice to other Chambers of Commerce UDT: The global event for the undersea defense and security community, bringing together professionals from across military, industry and academia to focus on the latest cutting edge technologies and developments

IFB will offer unique opportunities for businesses, both large and small, opening the door to the world’s most promising markets, and bringing hungry investors and potential partners from across the globe to the UK.

Max Steinberg CBE, Chairman of IFB, said: “The countdown is well and truly on for IFB and with the festival programme growing each day, this is set to be Britain’s greatest business showcase in more than a generation.

“We’re thrilled to announce His Royal Highness as Patron of the festival and look forward to welcoming him to Liverpool this summer and showing him the very best that the city has to offer.”

Joe Anderson, Mayor of Liverpool, added: “I am delighted that His Royal Highness has agreed to be the Patron for the IFB 2014. Our hosting of the festival is a reflection of Liverpool’s reputation as a city of enterprise and innovation and our commitment not only to driving business growth but securing the future for generations to come.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Simon Malia .