There are two things that must be said first - the British really know how to throw a seminar, and they really know how to name their experts.
Dave Gorkhov, the ICT sector champion for United Kingdom Trade and Investment, came to Seoul to have a seminar on investment opportunities in the budding UK industry of Intelligent Transport systems at the UK Embassy on May 21. Note that he isn't a senior analyst, and he isn't a chief information officer; he is a Champion of Information and Communications Technology. There is really nothing else to say after that.
Trade and Investment
The champion was prefaced by Tom Matlock, the Embassy's Head of Investment. He gave a brief overview of the UK Trade and Investment organization. It is basically designed to give two-way help for Korean and UK companies looking to expand into the market of either country. The company gives free, confidential business advice and is always available for businessmen looking to expand. They give advice on many industries from engineering, to automotive, to ICT.
Tom Matlock went on to say that the organization has direct access to the UK government, and can accurately explain UK regulations and even influence UK government policy based on the requests of businesses working with them. But the organization also works closely with regional partners to give financial assistance, find partners for businesses, and even can find real estate for foreign companies to open up businesses in the UK. He finished by saying that there are already over 150 Korean businesses in the UK and there are more coming frequently.
He closed by speaking a little about the UK economy. He admitted that last year was a difficult year for the whole world, and that the UK did not escape from this trend. But he pointed out that the UK was still the second most popular destination for international investment last year and was the number one recipient of inward investment, or domestic investment.
The Champion Speaks
Dave Gorkhov, the ICT sector champion for United Kingdom Trade and Investment, came up next. He introduced himself, and said he was on a trip throughout Asia, telling companies about the opportunities available to them in the UK. "The ITS market needs technology, needs entrepreneurship, needs partnership with risk capital. The UK can provide this," he started out by saying.
After that, he introduced the UK's intelligent transportation systems. He went through a short rundown of the UK's transportation system by saying that they have 400,000 km of highways, of which 15,000 are high traffic. There's 16,000 km of railroads as well. You can get to Paris in 2 hours. There are 2,500 stations in the UK rail network. And, overlooking this all, the UK has more CCTV cameras than any other country in the world.
CCTV Not So Bad
The CCTV angle is a potentially lucrative area for any image-related technology company. While one might have heard that there many cameras monitoring people in order to try to discourage crime, there are also a significant amount of cameras used for monitoring traffic and pedestrian patterns, in order to optimize the traffic.
Britain's number of cameras cannot be overstated. Mr. Gorkhov pointed out that there are 16 million CCTV cameras in the entire world, and the UK has 4 million of them. Additionally, the industry anticipates that the number of CCTV cameras in use will double in the next 10 years, and will become IP-based tech instead of traditional analog systems. He noted this as another area of opportunity for any company willing to supply that kind of technology.
He went on to talk about the Intelligent Transportation System market in the UK, which is related to CCTV cameras in that many cameras are used to monitor traffic conditions. There are several incentives that the UK government gives to control speed and reduce congestion based on the data that they receive from their traffic monitoring services. But ITS is not just congestion management. There are many different aspects to the service. The growing industry involves communications, electronics, displays, software, video analytics, and standards compliance in order to process all the information that comes in from the CCTV cameras. Any company that is involved in those fields is invited to open up a branch office in the UK.
Many Opportunities
The champion focused on several of these areas individually, outlining the opportunities present there. First, in communications, he pointed out that the UK is Europe's largest communications market by value. Statistics show that 20% of all cell phone design is done in the UK. There is also already WiMAX deployment and experimental LTE and 4G systems, which are important for vehicle to vehicle communications. UK is leading in this area of technological development, and a good sign of this is that the UK government has already allocated frequencies for the exclusive use of ITS applications, which includes vehicle to vehicle communication. A company wishing to develop technologies along those lines would have a spectrum ready and waiting for it. In Electronics, one of the opportunity areas is in automatic car license plate recognition systems. In displays, the government is using more LED signs to give information to commuters, and is always on the lookout for companies which can offer efficient alternatives to their existing products, and new innovations.
After outlining new opportunities in different IT sectors, Mr. Gorkhov said that the 2012 Olympics and the 2014 Commonwealth Games were excellent opportunities to test out large crowd-based technologies and insanely heavy traffic loads. Also, the companies which have won contracts for the 2012 Olympics are obligated to subcontract out 20% of their work to smaller companies, as part of their agreement with the Olympic committee.
After spelling out this and more opportunities for Korean businesses, Mr. Gorkhov ended by saying, "The UK is truly the global springboard for global success."
Then Mr. Matlock opened a door next to the projection screen leading out of the white and spartan presentation room. He invited everyone in for lunch, and when we followed him through the door we entered an authentic, fully stocked British traditional pub, with excellent catered food. I think every company should consider following in the steps of the British embassy and having a pub connected to their main seminar room. The world would be a much better place.
