Announced during a World Trade Center San Diego-led trade mission to the U.K., San Diego has officially become the first west coast city to join London’s city-to-city Business Welcome Programme. The partnership program offers direct services and support required to scale San Diego and London-based companies looking to set up locations and do business in the partner’s metro area. This means that it will be much easier for San Diego companies to do business in London, accelerating company growth, trade and investment within both regions.
“ At a time of shifting political ideologies and global uncertainty, trade partnerships help bring down borders,” said Nikia Clarke, executive director of World Trade Center San Diego. “ San Diego and London have taken their success into their own hands and partnered on the City-to-City Business Welcome Programme to ensure continued economic progress.”
In case you didn’t know, the U.K. is a vital trading partner for San Diego:
- U.K.-based companies directly support more than 10,000 jobs
- U.K. companies have poured more than $3.9B in greenfield investment (2003-2015) into San Diego’s economy
- The U.K. is one of the top 10 largest export markets for San Diego-produced goods and services
As part of the official agreement between World Trade Center San Diego (WTC San Diego) and London & Partners, companies will have access to a suite of services. London-based companies looking to open shop in San Diego and vice versa can access reduced co-working spaces, legal consulting and access to a venture capital network and angels, facilitated by WTC San Diego.
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London & Partners, which acts as London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s official promotional agency for both business and tourism, launched the program in March 2017 to build a global network of cities that are collaborating to help businesses transition and grow from one destination to another. With this announcement, San Diego has become the first west coast city to enter the program. Other global cities in the program include Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, Lisbon and many others pending agreement.
“London and San Diego are two cities that share a strong culture of business and innovation. We see a great opportunity to work with San Diego to establish greater trade and investment links and to help high-flying companies maximise the opportunities on both sides of the pond,” said Tony Margiotta, project manager, city-to-city, London & Partners. “The city-to-city Business Welcome programme is already helping businesses in cities all over the world to build their networks and expand internationally. We look forward to helping more San Diego companies make London their launchpad for growth into Europe and beyond.”
The announcement was made as part of trade mission, led by World Trade Center San Diego and Congressman Scott Peters (CA-52), to London and Cambridge from Oct. 16 -19. More than 20 senior level San Diego executives representing business, academia and government will be in the U.K. spur economic activity by creating new partnerships and opportunities.
London businesses interested in setting up shop in San Diego can visit here to learn more.
San Diego businesses looking to tap into London’s network can learn more here or contact Jesse Gipe at jg@sandiegobusiness.org.