Showcasing the UK market and beautiful Liverpool to international innovators

Blog by Kevin Moreton, Head of International Programmes

On 16 October, I had the pleasure of welcoming delegations from Estonia and Ireland to the Liverpool city region as part of a brokerage event. It brought together business leaders, investors, academics and health and life science companies to share knowledge, leverage technology and explore collaboration opportunities.

The event was attended by representatives of Invest Estonia and Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs. I had the pleasure of presenting alongside Councillor Mike Wharton, Deputy Mayor of the Liverpool City Region; Estonian Ambassador Viljar Lubi and Sarah Mangan, Consul General of Ireland in Manchester.

Having spent some of my formative working years in Liverpool’s iconic Three Graces on the Liverpool waterfront supporting the delivery of the EU funded Objective 1 programme, I was pleased that the event was hosted in the impressive Royal Liver building, which was looking as magnificent as ever both inside and out. The setting was a great way to showcase the region to our Estonian and Irish friends, and I’m sure it will have left a great first impression of the region.

Interestingly, Health Innovation North West Coast has supported a number of Estonian companies. Despite being a relatively small nation, Estonia has carved out an impressive reputation as a leader in digitised healthcare. It has an innovative digital infrastructure and nurturing entrepreneurial ecosystem that is producing some exciting health and life-science start-ups.

Our NHS operates in extremely challenging circumstances, but innovation is key to navigating these difficult times. There are fantastic innovations coming from both our own shores and around the world that have the potential to be game changers.

After delivering a presentation on ‘How to work with the NHS’, I met with a number of exciting companies and I look forward to continuing discussions and exploring opportunities to collaborate. I’m sure these companies will have been impressed by the event -- and the breathtaking waterfront setting -- and will have returned home eager to build on these new relationships.

As we continue our role supporting international health and life science innovators to engage with the NHS, I look forward to participating in future delegations to the region and witnessing their innovations play a part in improving healthcare delivery in the UK.

Find out more about our international support.