The Department for International Trade (DIT) has announced a series of policies with the goal of increasing tech trade with countries in the Asia Pacific. In this update, we explain how the new programmes could benefit your business – although a lot of the finer details have yet to be announced.

The Tech Exporting Academy will provide advice for companies to help them expand. This is a pro-bono service which will include information on regulation, compliance, legal, tax and intellectual property. It will be done in conjunction with professional services firms including Linklaters, Deloitte, KPMG, BDO, Taylor Wessing, EY and Clifford Chance. The government has committed to ensuring that female tech entrepreneurs are represented when the first cohorts for the programme are selected.

A DIT Platform will help firms to attend international industry events and investor meetings. This virtual events platform will include virtual trade shows and ensure there will be online buyer/seller meetings and company/investor introductions. This will be launched in September.

A Digital Trade Network is being set up by DIT and DCMS. £8 million will be invested in a network to help businesses internationalise, focusing on Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia and Australia. This will involve tech experts located in the embassies and high commissions. Tech Nation will join as a scale-up expert – both as part of their programmes on AI and cyber security and to extend their entrepreneur engagement programme to entrepreneurs in Singapore, Japan and Australia.

The Ready to Trade Campaign began as an advertising campaign launched in February 2020. It was focused on Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, São Paulo, Toronto, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Tokyo, Mexico City, Singapore, Johannesburg, Seoul, Istanbul, Dubai, New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. It will now include specific campaigns on EdTech, MedTech, cyber security, virtual reality, gaming and animation.

A Tech Network to enhance English regions’ ability to grow international trade partnerships will involve export champions across the Northern Powerhouse, Midlands Engine, London and the South. The network will work with the most promising regional scaleups in England while DIT and DCMS will work closely with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland too to facilitate similar opportunities.

The DIT’s High Potential Opportunities Programme will be expanded to include 5G, Industry 4.0, Photonics and Immersive Tech. Current High Potential Opportunities include agritech in the West Midlands and smart materials in Greater Manchester. The goal is for DIT to work with universities, Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) and industry to drive investment into start-ups in regions.

UK Export Finance (UKEF) will increase its outreach and engagement. It will increase its marketing and communications to raise awareness of how they can help with the winning and the fulfillment of export contracts for tech firms. This increase in outreach is in addition to the extra measures UKEF already took for exporters during coronavirus. The first UKEF coronavirus package included export insurance for businesses exporting to The EU, Australia, Canada, Iceland, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland and the USA, increased budgets for other UKEF financing schemes and advice for UK businesses on exporting.

Free trade negotiations in Japan have begun. The Secretary of State announced her intention to sign an advanced digital and data chapter with Japan, looking at areas like the free flow of data, anti-data localisation and ways in which digital can be used to make trade simpler. She also said the UK is looking to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) digital and data agreements, making it easier to do business with the member countries; Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam.

We will keep you updated as more information comes out about these schemes through these Policy Updates and our Friday Newsletter.