Leading UK clinicians and pioneering medical companies will be visiting California this week in a bid to forge stronger relationships.
The mission, which is supported by the UK Government, aims to strengthen export links between the UK and California and create demand for UK-designed healthcare technologies.
The UK's Medical Technology (MedTech) sector has been identified as a key driver of economic growth post Brexit, with the US viewed as a primary region for enhanced trading relationships.
As the UK enters a new era for trade and business, the UK Government has highlighted MedTech, and the broader life sciences sector, as having a critical role in its Industrial Strategy to propel UK productivity once it leaves the EU.
The UK’s MedTech trade association, the Association of British Healthcare Industries (ABHI), has worked with its 260 members to identify key markets for future international relationships, of which, the US has been flagged as vital to the process.
The recently-published independent Life Sciences Industrial Strategy demonstrates the world-class expertise the UK already has in this area and I welcome the opportunity to champion the sector and support the work the ABHI is doing here in the US
Throughout the seven-day trip, UK companies will exhibit their innovative technologies at the MedTech Conference, the leading event for MedTech officials in North America. The objective is to forge lasting relationships and to drive sales for UK products.
Such is the importance of the visit, the conference will be attended by Lord David Prior, the UKs Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.
Commenting on the visit, he said: “The Life Science sector is hugely important to the health of the UK economy, with a turnover of £64billion in 2016 and employing nearly 235,000 people.
"The recently-published independent Life Sciences Industrial Strategy demonstrates the world-class expertise the UK already has in this area and I welcome the opportunity to champion the sector and support the work the ABHI is doing here in the US.”
MedTech is now worth over £17billion to the UK and is part of a £64billion industry that is UK life sciences.
The Life Sciences Industrial Strategy been welcomed by senior government ministers and provides the framework for increased funding and support for the sector.
