Digital Mission

The Digital Mission series is back for 2016. Our first adventure will be the Digital Mission NYC to attend Social Media Week NYC, 22-26 Feb 2016.

This week-long trip, organised with UK Trade & Investment USA, features a programme specially designed for both tech startups and agencies covering media, marketing, content, mobile and social media including AdTech, MarketingTech, MediaTech, analytics and, of course, social media.

It’s almost the holiday season! Christmas is coming and we’re hard at work creating some new and exciting Digital Missions and events for 2016.

We like to keep it simple, so we’ve put it all into one easy calendar (sorry, it doesn’t contain any chocolate :-()

We’d really like to know if you’d like to join a Digital Mission, Pitch NYC or have any suggestions / other destinations you’re considering for international expansion.

We're delighted to announce the Digital Mission to Maker Faire Shenzhen is open for applications. Designed specifically to support the UK's maker movement, the trip features a UK pavilion designed by car-makers MINI as part of their Modern British Roadshow and a specially designed programme for makers.

Designed for the UK's leading Makers - creative technologists and entrepreneurs - the mission combines a high-profile presence at the Maker Faire with visits to local hardware accelerators, manufacturers and local experts. It's a unique chance for insight into the Chinese market covering manufacturing, distribution, market entry and more.

When Dave Birch from Consult Hyperion was first asked to sit on a panel about the impact of fintech disruption he sent a tongue in cheek tweet to his followers to ask if they’d seen any yet.

The event, Unbundling the Bank, was held at Cass Business School on 9 April and highlighted the challenges to true disruption in the banking industry.

Dave Birch's point was around the use of the word disruption and whether the existing fintech industry, for which London is mostly acknowledged as the leading global hub, has disrupted the existing rails on which banking infrastructure sits.

In the same way as many industries before it - think music, travel, publishing - financial services is in the midst of dramatic change. Fintech startups are nibbling away at every part of the traditional banks' value chain, and with London's firms attracting $500m investment last year there's clearly a few investors banking (pun intended) on it.

Unbundling the Bank - book here - Thursday (6-8pm, 9th Apr) brings together some of the country's top entrepreneurs and commentators to examine whether financial innovation is likely to be driven by the banks, start-ups, or through partnership between them.

Taking place 9-14 Feb the mission includes a week-long programme of briefings, company visits, networking receptions and pitch sessions coinciding with the Mayor's visit to Boston and New York in February.

Organised by the Mayor's Export Programme, UK Trade & Investment and TechCityUK with support from Chinwag, this is a unique opportunity for the UK's top FinTech and EnterpriseTech firms. The catch? The deadline for applications is: 14 January.

London's Mayor, Boris Johnson added his support to this week's Great Tech Expedition to the US, organised by the Mayor's office, UK Trade & Investment with support from Chinwag's trade mission experts, who programme the Digital Mission series.

He said, “We are a city packed with entrepreneurs who are experts in their field and my commitment to them is to provide whatever assistance I can to set them on the path towards international success. The opportunities that this whirlwind tour presents will convert into dollars for the companies and regeneration, jobs and growth back home in London."

We’re excited to announce the next Digital Mission trip, the Great Enterprise Tech Expedition, a collaboration with UK Trade & Investment, the Mayor of London and TechCityUK, supporting 20 of the UK’s fastest growing cloud software firms on a whistlestop 3-city US mission covering Chicago, Boston and NYC from 5-10th Oct 2014.

The biggest spenders on mobile content? According to recent reports, Japan leads the world in paying for mobile content. Spend in Japan and Korea has grown 40% since 2012.

Monument Valley from London-based ustwo has been a huge hit, reaching number 10 in Japan's April 2014 download charts. There's clearly an appetite for British content amongst Japanese mobile consumers.

UPDATE: The recording of the webinar is now live [free registration required].

Is your startup targeting the Asian market? The 2014 StartmeupHK Venture Programme offers a US$500,000 package of support for the 12 competition winners looking to setup in Hong Kong, recently cited as number one for startups by Forbes.

Alongside the sporting elite headed to Glasgow for the Commonwealth Games, UK Trade & Investment are launching a series of high-profile international business sessions including Digital Health and Space/Satellite Applications.

The sessions taking place at the City Chambers, which for 23-25th July will be transformed into the British Business House. Other sessions include agri-tech, global sport, energy, rail, transport, security, and opportunities in the growth of African cities as well as showcases of British expertise.

The final preparations for the Digital Mission to China taking in Maker Faire Shenzhen are being put into place, all that’s left to do is pack our bags, find someone to feed the cat/dog/chinchilla.

And of course some homework, read through this handy guide of 12 and a half top tips from Tom Whitwell, on what to read to be in the know and what to expect from this sort of faire.

The digital mission to China and the Shenzhen Maker Faire is approaching ever closer, but fear not, there is still time to apply if you’re a maker, creative technologist or entrepreneur and want to come along and partake in our specially tailored week-long programme.  

It’s almost time for us to head off to the bright lights of New York City, but before we do, there’s just time to let you know who’s coming and what we’ll be doing.  

This year, we have a very impressive list of start-ups and agencies joining us

• Coull is a technology company that's reinventing the way online video advertising works. 
• Easyfundraising has been at the forefront of developing technology platforms that harness the power of customer loyalty to generate donations for good causes across the globe.