Robotics and Autonomous Systems Mission to California

23-27 June sees the introduction of the Robotics and Autonomous Systems Mission to California, an entrepreneur mission for ten of the UK’s most promising and innovative SMEs in Robotics and Autonomous systems who are ready to do business overseas.

Service robots, working alongside people but acting autonomously or semi autonomously have a whole host of increasing capabilities and uses in different industries and environments. In particular, Robots and Autonomous Systems (RAS) have application within a number of Technology Strategy Board challenge areas including healthcare, transport, energy, environmental monitoring, agriculture and, manufacturing. 

Due to the success of previous entrepreneur missions in healthcare, web technologies and clean technology, the Technology Strategy Board has joined forces with UKTI to embark on this mission. The UKTI is focussing this campaign around the eight great technologies, which includes Robotics and Autonomous systems and awareness raising mission to key innovative overseas economies. 

The focus of this event is on innovative young companies with growth potential. The mission is aimed at early stage UK-based companies establishing a position within the international business ecosystem for robotics. The mission will provide a step in conquering two key challenges that small, early stage entrepreneurial companies often face. The first is overcoming the “liability of smallness,” that is, they lack a record of accomplishment and an infrastructure that will give prospective customers a comfortable feeling when they are considering doing business with them. The second is being “born global” where in the worldwide marketplace quickly establishing global supply chains is key to the success of early stage technology driven organisations.

Along with assisting in overcoming the liability of smallness and being born global, running the event as a mission to bring UK companies together would give rise to the following specific benefits:

• Accelerating the growth of a set of dynamic UK companies by increasing their understanding of a key international market and their contacts with potential partners, customers and investors
• Benchmarking the UK's competence and identify international partnerships e.g. for inward investment and capability gap filling
• Provide a focus to refine company and product pitches
• Greater media exposure for a set of exciting UK companies and for the wider UK innovation landscape
• The opportunity to establish a cohort of companies to provide informal support infrastructure to enhance motivation
• To signpost the UK as a place for investors to come to find innovative companies

The Mission will help winning companies: develop quality contacts within value chains, gain unique insight, profit from fresh stimulus, and improve pitch and profile.

The winning companies for this robotics Mission will be selected through a competition process, which will soon be open.

If this sounds like this could be the mission for you, register your interest here.  

Photo (cc) David Yu. Some rights reserved.