Business Weekly - Cambridge, UK

The delegation included representatives from Fujitsu, Matsushita, Murata, Panasonic, NTT DoCoMo, Ricoh, Sanyo, Sharp and Softbank Mobile.

Their primary mission was to identify companies and university research groups in Cambridge and the East of England with the potential for future collaboration and R & D. They were also looking for partners for joint product development, joint sales activities and for the supply of specialist products and services.

Following presentations by companies at St John’s Innovation Centre, the delegation visited technology consultancies, Cambridge Consultants and Plextek.

The local companies giving their pitches included Cambridge Semiconductor, Zinwave, Displaylink, IOT & Approval Solutions, Screen Technology, Qi3, MARGO Technologies, XJTAG, Kecrypt, Object Security, 2sms and 3GA.

There was also an academic interface through the involvement of the universities of Cambridge, Essex and Hertfordshire – arranged by Kate Duggan, who coordinates meetings of the East of England University technology transfer group with the help of the i10 collaboration

The event was jointly organised by the UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) Communications Sector Group, the East of England Innovation Relay Centre (IRC) and East of England International (EEI).

Andrew Goldsbrough of the IRC in Cambridge said: “This event provided an excellent opportunity for local companies to showcase their offerings at minimal cost.

“One of the advantages to local companies is that they meet a pre-selected set of senior managers from Japan. Not only do they save the time and trouble of a visit abroad but they save the effort of tracking down the right people.”

This is the second event this year jointly organised between UKTI, IRC and EEI and illustrates increasingly close collaboration. In February a delegation from Korea visited.

Steve Ireland at EEI said: “We are really pleased to be working so well with Cambridge business support organisations in putting on these events. It provides added value to all concerned and maintains the East of England’s profile in international markets.”

• More events are planned for the future and companies wishing to take part in presenting to delegations from abroad should contact This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or call 01223 421117.