Millennium Products
is all about celebrating what's happening in the UK - the forward-thinking,
creative ideas which are being developed into exciting new products and
services all around the country.
Research has shown that people's image of us is often outdated and that
national image is a factor in decisions whether or not to do business
with us. This is why the Design Council has been working with government
to promote a more modern and dynamic image of the UK to the world - using
Millennium Products as a rich source of real-life examples of innovation
and creativity in business.
Millennium Products are increasingly playing a role in the Government's
drive to increase UK exports. Trade Partners UK has been working
with the Design Council to involve Millennium Products companies in a
broad range of trade promotion activities and to ensure that Millennium
Products companies wishing to develop their export capacity have access
to the available support.
Trade Partners UK is a government body - established in May
1999 - dedicated to helping UK businesses develop new overseas markets.
As a joint operation of the Department of Trade and Industry and the Foreign
& Commonwealth Office, it benefits from the business links of the former,
the global network of the latter and the international experience and
expertise of both.
A Millennium Unit has been set up within Trade Partners UK
specifically to co-ordinate Millennium Products export activities. The
Unit aims to ensure that you have every opportunity and are given every
encouragement to exploit the export potential of your innovations.
You will all have received a brief export questionnaire from the Design
Council. Based on the responses to this questionnaire, we have been able
to identify companies interested in particular markets overseas so that
they can be contacted when promotional opportunities arise in those markets.
The Millennium Products export initiative aims to get you involved in
a number of ways.
Details of Millennium Products companies have been forwarded to all
Export Development Counsellors in Business Links around the country and
their counterparts in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, as well as
to commercial staff at Embassies and Consulates around the world and Trade Partners UK staff in London. Since small and medium-sized (SME)
businesses are most likely to benefit from this initiative, the focus
has been on raising awareness throughout government export support services
of these Millennium Products companies and their products.
Each company will be contacted by their local Export Development Counsellor
or equivalent. If you are an SME, interested in exporting but have not
been contacted by the end of February, please contact
your local Export Development Counsellor (or equivalent). They will
be able to talk to you about export opportunities and support available
from government.
In addition to making sure everyone on the government side dealing with
exports is aware of Millennium Products as exemplars of British innovation,
various specific opportunities for promoting your products have been identified.
Trade Partners UK organises visits to overseas markets for
companies, intended to give potential exporters an opportunity to assess
a market. In some cases financial support is available, and in all cases
you can benefit from local knowledge and a network of local contacts.
High profile visits are accompanied by ministers, and organisers are being
encouraged to involve Millennium Products companies where possible.
If you are starting out and want to explore potential export opportunities
in a 'friendly' market close to home, Trade Partners UK organises
Market and Trade Fair Explorer visits to markets such
as Belgium and Sweden which are seen as a good place to start. They can
help set up you up with contacts or at trade fairs.
A Market Explorer visit to the Irish Republic dedicated solely
to Millennium Products companies is being organised for later this year.
Conversely, Trade Partners UK also organises inward missions.
These are visits to the UK by foreign business people and VIPs. They take
in UK attractions and also visit individual companies. The Spiral of Innovation
at the Dome has been added to the list of worthwhile attractions for these
high-level visitors to see. This is an opportunity to inform senior decision
makers from other countries about British innovation, leaving a lasting
impression which will hopefully influence their decisions back home.
Aside from these specific trade promotion activities, Millennium Products
are being promoted worldwide through various showcasing activities.
The Design Council and The British Council have jointly developed international
touring exhibitions of Millennium Products. One exhibition has been touring
Asia - it visited Singapore and Brunei in 1998; India, China, South Korea
and Australia in 1999.
A special one-off exhibition was organised in South Africa in November,
which attracted extensive interest in the local media and among local
businesses at a time when world business and government leaders were gathered
there for the Commonwealth Business Forum and Heads of State and Government
meeting. HRH Prince Philip attended the opening of the exhibition.
A new exhibition has been developed for Europe in 2000.It opened in
Warsaw in March, with more than 20,000 visitors during a two week period.
This exhibition will also be featured at the new British Embassy in
Berlin as part of a year-long UK-Berlin 2000 festival. A version of this
display has been prepared for a tour of South America.
The exhibition programme provides an opportunity to take individual
Millennium Products to the heart of overseas markets. Seminars and other
events are being organised in conjunction with the exhibitions to raise
their profile, particularly among a business audience. These events afford
company representatives an opportunity to meet local business people,
while promoting the UK as a centre of innovation and design excellence.
Millennium Products displays have been installed in more than 20 British
government buildings around the world - from Los Angeles to Tokyo, São
Paulo to Paris.
In addition to these specific services, Embassies, High Commissions
and Consulates overseas offer a variety of services to UK exporters -
e.g. they can carry out local market research for you. A small fee is
charged for some services, but they can offer valuable insight and local
contacts at a very competitive cost, enabling you to make a better informed
approach to new markets.
Further details about all of the services offered by Trade Partners UK
and how you can benefit from them is available at www.tradepartners.gov.uk
or from your local Business Link or equivalent.
Business Links in England 0345 567765 (central enquiries) 
Touring Millennium Products exhibitions
Scottish Trade International (0141) 228 2812/2808
Welsh Office (Industry Department) (01222) 825097
Trade International Northern Ireland (028) 9023 3233
Trade Partners UK (020) 7215 5000