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International Trade Secretary, Dr Liam Fox MP, launched the GREAT Innovation in Action Awards on 14 March 2018 to find the best partnerships between UK and Asia Pacific companies.

Twelve shortlisted trade projects all demonstrate how new ideas can transform the way we work, live, play or learn – the 4 themes of the GREAT Festival of Innovation that begins in Hong Kong on 21 March.

The awards, which provide a snapshot of international trade at its most ambitious and innovative, will celebrate a variety of brilliant partnerships between UK and Asia Pacific companies of every kind, from large corporates to new start-ups.

Shortlisted projects range from cutting-edge UK robotics making construction work safer for engineers in Hong Kong, to Chinese automotive technology cleaning the air we breathe in the UK’s cities.

The Great Festival of Innovation in Hong Kong will showcase some of the best British businesses to the Asian market. The festival, which has been organised by the Department of International Trade, will take place from 21 to 24 March and bring together business leaders, government ministers and the latest ground-breaking technologies from the UK and across Asia.

Other projects up for an award include:

• Go Ahead London and Build Your Dreams of Shenzhen developing Europe’s first all-electric bus garage in London, which will cut 700 tonnes of C02 emissions
• UK architects Foster & Partners and Hong Kong-based Harbour City Estates extending the Ocean Terminal in Hong Kong, to create a new green, gateway to the city for its millions of visitors
• the Met Office and the China Meteorological Administration finding ways to provide industry and citizens with the intelligence they need to make better judgements on coping with extreme weather

International Trade Secretary, Dr Liam Fox said:

I am delighted to launch the GREAT Innovation in Action Awards, which showcase cutting edge collaborations between UK and Asian companies that will change the way work, live, play or learn in the future.

The IMF predict 90% of growth will come from outside the EU in the coming years, so it’s vital that more UK companies develop these business partnerships across the Asia Pacific region.

That’s why, as an international economic department, we are helping UK companies forge new business ties that will boost exports and investment and bring more jobs and prosperity to every part of the country.

The awards are being launched as further good news arrives for related sectors in today’s ONS trade statistics, exports of British electrical equipment rose by 13.3% in 2017, with machinery exports also up by 12.8%. UK exports rose 11.5% (£64.5 billion) to £625.9 billion in total with the overall trade deficit narrowing by £12.8 billion in the process.

Members of the international business community can vote for shortlisted projects, and winners will be announced on Wednesday 28 March. The full list of nominations and votes for the most innovative collaborations can be cast at www.greatinnovationawards.com.

Other projects nominated include:

• coffee roasting UK company IKAWA and Japanese tech giant Panasonic partnered to help the firm expand its home coffee roasting service with the latest in digital coffee roasting technology
• the Busan-Sheffield Inter-City Arts Project is an urban regeneration project that connects Busan and Sheffield, 2 cities that are both undergoing significant change. Made possible by Arts Council England, Arts Council Korea and the British Council in Korea, the initiative seeks to explore the identities of both cities
• Malaysia’s Ministry of Education has been working with UK tech company Frog since 2012. In that time, they have succeeded in making Malaysia the first country in the world to connect all of its schools to a single learning platform, supporting 5,000,000 students and 500,000 teachers in the country

Background

About the GREAT Innovation in Action Awards

Shortlisted projects were selected on the basis of:

• being a trade relationship, joint venture or other form of commercial collaboration between a company headquartered in the UK (or its subsidiaries) and a company headquartered in Asia (or its subsidiaries), requiring significant co-operation
• showing evidence or serious and ambitious intent of changing the way things have traditionally done in their sector
• using advanced technology and/or innovative thinking to achieve that objective

About Department for International Trade

The UK’s Department for International Trade (DIT) has overall responsibility for promoting UK trade across the world and attracting foreign investment to our economy. We are a specialised government body with responsibility for negotiating international trade policy, supporting business, as well as delivering an outward-looking trade diplomacy strategy.

About the GREAT international trade campaign

The GREAT international trade campaign works to promote the strength of UK industries to overseas buyers, forging new business partnerships through DIT Trade experts across the globe. Whether its celebrating close UK-US ties in the creative industries, or the use of UK technology across the world, the campaign creates an online presence through which exceptional UK companies are promoted on a global stage.

A Downing Street spokesperson said:

The Prime Minister spoke with President Macron today following her statement to the House of Commons on the Salisbury nerve agent attack.

the Prime Minister updated the President on the investigation and the measures she had announced in Parliament yesterday, including the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats who have been identified as undeclared intelligence officers.

President Macron said that France completely shares the UK’s assessment that there is no plausible explanation other than that Russia was responsible for the attack and he once again expressed his full support for the UK as a close and strong ally.

The Prime Minister and the President reiterated their condemnation of the use of all chemical weapons and said they would continue to cooperate closely in this area.

The Prime Minister thanked the President for his ongoing support, including at NATO, the United Nations Security Council and in the OPCW, and they agreed to remain in close contact as the situation developed and in the run up to the March European Council meeting where this would be discussed.

The Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, and the Secretary of State for International Development, Penny Mordaunt, said:

Today the Syria crisis enters its eighth year. It has become one of the longest and bloodiest wars in recent history. The impact on Syrians, above all civilians, has been devastating with an estimated 400,000 dead and 13 million in need of humanitarian assistance.

The Asad regime and those who back it bear overwhelming responsibility for the destruction of the country, its infrastructure and the lives of its people.

Despite promises of de-escalation, the violence continues and the civilian death toll continues to rise. Last month the UK supported UN Security Council Resolution 2401 calling for a ceasefire. Yet in Eastern Ghouta – which Russia itself declared to be a de-escalation area – the regime, with Russian support, has continued to bombard and besiege the population, turning it into a hell on earth. Over 1,100 people are estimated to have been killed there since 18 February alone.

We find it utterly abhorrent that the regime is using food and medical supplies as a weapon of war. Civilians continue to be deliberately and indiscriminately targeted by military strikes, and despite promises made by Russia to ensure Syria would abandon all of its chemical weapons in 2013, international investigators have confirmed that the regime has since used chemical weapons in four separate attacks – which Russia has gone to great lengths to conceal.

The UK is committed to ensuring that all those responsible for chemical weapons use and other violations of international law in this conflict are held to account.

The UK has always been at the forefront of the response to the crisis. More than 13 million people in Syria and in neighbouring countries are still in need of assistance. We will continue to help innocent people survive the toughest situations imaginable and, ultimately, help them to rebuild their lives.

The suffering will only end when there is a political solution to the conflict. We will continue to use our position on the UN Security Council to pursue this, as well as to unlock humanitarian access and protect civilians. The UN is ready to mediate a settlement.

The opposition have declared their readiness for negotiations without preconditions. But the regime continues to obstruct progress. The international community must commit to a ceasefire and a political process that ends this conflict for good.

Further information

• Follow the Foreign Secretary @BorisJohnson and @PennyMordaunt on Twitter

• Follow the Foreign Office @foreignoffice and the Department for International Development DFID_UK on Twitter