The UK economy has benefited from a £11.06 billion trade and investment boost through businesses securing contract wins, additional sales and new foreign investment.
The £11.06 billion figure includes £130 million of contracts won by UK companies for the Brazil 2014 World Cup and the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games. More than 60 UK companies have also won contracts for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, most of them mid-sized enterprises.
UK Trade & Investment’s (UKTI) British Business Embassy at Lancaster House started the Olympic legacy drive last year by hosting a Global Investment Conference and a series of 17 business events.
The target was surpassed during the UK’s biggest ever Export Week which has seen around 5,000 companies taking part in regional events to encourage UK companies to export and a raft of new deals signed up and down the country.
Trade and Investment Minister Lord Green said: “The delivery of London 2012 on time and on budget led to hosting nations turning to the UK to help deliver their own events with supply opportunities running into the billions.
“UK Trade & Investment has played a key role in helping British companies maximise these opportunities and the result is a £11.06 billion boost to the UK economy from the Games, reaching our four year target in just over a year.
“The UK’s future prosperity will not come from relying on domestic markets alone and we have seen a major push to encourage firms across the UK to sell overseas during our biggest Export Week yet.”
During Export Week a new national campaign, Exporting is GREAT, launched targeting almost three million people to generate 3,000 appointments with UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) Advisers and drive £1.2 billion in export revenue. One of the businesses featured as part of the campaign engineering consultancy, Cundall, prepared the engineering design for the Lee Valley White Water Centre for London 2012 and is now contributing to the engineering design of the Rio 2016 Olympics white water canoe course venue.
Carole O’Neil, a partner at Cundall said: “London 2012 showcased UK expertise and talent to the world and has helped us to win work at RIO 2016. Our ambition now is to win work at every Olympics.
“I would encourage other companies thinking about growing their business to look overseas and exploit the demand for products that are made and designed by British companies.”
