KIB Newsletter January 2021
Innovative Sector Exchange (ISE) Legacy – Imagineers International
Our 4 year ISE project came to an end in December. The project connected companies from Kent, Northern France, East & West Flanders and the Netherlands from different sectors. Although the formal project activities and cross-border visits have ended for now, we can still connect you to our partners and businesses on the other side of the Channel. Find out more about ISE and see what we did by clicking here to visit our ISE pages www.kentinternationalbusiness.co.uk/ise/
The digital and creative sector companies in the project were keen to keep the links open and will continue to work together and have recently launched the Imagineers International cluster. Digital & Creative companies from Kent are invited to get involved. You can find out more by clicking here to visit the new Imagineers International Website.
International Trade Webinars & Online Events – diary dates for Jan & Feb:
Why not take a couple of hours to brush up on your knowledge of export processes and get some valuable advice and information to help your business with all things international?
- DIT: Using Social Media to Find New Clients, 12-13 January, Click here for more information
- Kent Business School: Kent Business Summit 2021, 15 January, Click here for more information
- DIT: Harness the Power of eCommerce to Win International Business, 19-20 January, Click here for more information
- DIT: Winning and Delivering Business Internationally, 26-27 January, Click here for more information
- DIT: Managing International Agents & Distributors, 2-3 February, Click here for more information
- DIT: Winning and Delivering Business Internationally, 9-10 February, Click here for more information
- DIT: Boost Your Online Reach with Website Optimisation, 16-17 February, Click here for more information
Customs Declarations
In readiness for an expected increase of over 200 million customs declarations after the UK leaves the EU, Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce can offer a customs brokerage service for traders through its ChamberCustoms programme.
This new service offers traders a high level of compliance with HMRC procedures and offers a direct link for customs clearance through all sea, air and road ports and terminals in the UK.
With KICC’s extensive expertise in facilitating international trade, the service can help reduce the administrative burden of exporting and importing goods.
The service is offered direct to businesses and through freight forwarders, ensuring that customs clearance is accurate, timely and avoids additional costs through delays or errors.
KICC offers
- A high level of compliance and assurance for customers
- Confidence on tariff and data entry to remove fiscal risk; backed by the technical expertise of the market leader in this sector
- A wealth of international trade experience and expertise from across the trusted Chamber of Commerce network
For more information, please get in touch at customs@kentinvictachamber.co.uk or call 01233 503838
Coming Soon: SEED Project
Kent County Council and Kent Invicta Chamber along with counterparts in Essex, Medway and East Sussex have secured funding from SELEP (the South East Local Enterprise Partnership) for a new project called SEED (South East Export Development).
The project will run from March and will organise a series of virtual trade missions and free activities to help companies to access new international markets. The project will focus on the following sectors:
- Agri-food
- Life Sciences
- Digital & Creative
Project planning is currently underway including the targeting and selection of the international markets and we’ll publish further information as soon as it is ready. In the meantime, please email international.affairs@kent.gov.uk to express an interest in participating.
Boost4Health and Life Sciences Update:
The Boost4Health Project connects Kent to Life Science clusters across Europe. We’re getting ready to launch our latest voucher scheme in January 2021.
B4H will be offering Kent companies ‘Connection’ Vouchers (grants of up to €500 to forge a partnership in mainland Europe) and ‘Internationalisation Support’ Vouchers (grants of up to €1500 to facilitate a project with a service provider in another European country. Further details about these vouchers will follow soon but you can click here to visit the Boost4Health website in the meantime.
The Boost4Health online service provider database encourages international business collaborations and partnerships. Our database helps small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) who wish to develop internationally to find service providers who can support them with taking life sciences and medical products to market in another country. Become a B4H Service Provider by clicking on this link.
Global Young Innovators Programme – UK & South Africa
The Global Young Innovators programme will offer 60 forward-thinking, entrepreneurial minds from across the UK and South Africa (aged 18-30), a platform to join forces, ignite ideas and co-design solutions that can help solve five of the greatest challenges facing our global community.
Providing mentorship, industry leading training and the chance to pitch for £10,000 in grant funding, this bespoke 3 to 9-month programme is designed to connect and equip UK and South African young innovators with the resources needed to bridge the gap, and transform their early-stage idea into a viable business.
Please click here to visit the application page.
Who is the programme for? UK-based early-stage or start-up businesses
- Founders and entrepreneurs who are aged 18-30 years
- With an early-stage idea or solution to address one of the five global challenges
- Eager to collaborate with a South African Young Innovator on a joint project
- Have not received more than €200,000 in public funds over the last 3 fiscal years
- Committed to fully engage with the programme’s package of support and attend all events
Programme dates: Applications close: 5.00pm (GMT) 08 January 2021, Phase 1: 15 Jan – 19 March 2021, Phase 2: 19 Mar – 30 September 2021.
EU Transition
- If you missed any of the Kent Trading Standards webinars in December about trading with the EU, you can catch up with them by clicking here to visit the webpage.
- Colleagues at Maidstone Borough Council have published a very helpful list of points to bear in mind for companies continuing to export goods to the EU from 1 January. Please click here to visit their website and find out more.
- Government’s Transition Website: If you trade in any way with the European Union (exporting, importing etc.) there are new rules in place from 1 January 2021. Please visit the please click here to visit the government’s transition pages to find out more.
- Exporting & Importing Goods between the UK and EU from1 January 2021: please click here to visit the government website.
- Recruitment, training and investment in IT to get ready to make customs declarations. Please click this link to find out about government support.
- Business travel requirements from 1 January 2021: please click here to visit the government website.
- Trading Alcoholic Drinks: If you missed the DIT webinar in December, the slides are available to view by clicking here.
SIE Project Ending
KCC’s SME Internationalisation Exchange Project is coming to an end. The project has helped the Kent International Business partner organisations to review the export support available to companies locally and to make improvements.
We recently held our end of project event online and you can click here to view the videos and presentations.
As part of SIE, we created the Kent Export Pathway which you can find out about by clicking here.
We were also able to give out €50,000 in grant funding to provide ‘export manager’ services to Kent businesses. You can find out how Kent-based Karimix benefited from the Kent Export Manager pilot scheme by clicking here.
