Professor Lord Bhattacharyya, today, told West Midlands SMES that developing an international product will assist in their export efforts. He joined a panel of well-known business specialists at an IoD breakfast event held at the University of Warwick.

The event, hosted by the IoD in association with the Guardian Small Business Network and Lloyds TSB Commercial, focussed on how the regions SMEs can access new markets and expand beyond the local region.

Attended by business leaders who were keen to ask questions and contribute to the debate. Professor Lord Bhattacharyya highlighted how businesses can exploit opportunities and offered his thoughts on how to build partnerships to achieve success.

Professor Lord Bhattacharyya said “Great Britain has some fantastic SMEs and many are exporting and trading successfully across the world. In order to be successful overseas, SMEs need to have an international product to sell alongside a market pull. It can be difficult for companies if they don’t know the local market or customers, this is where developing partnerships can help to access countries and lead to success.”

John Rider, Chairman, IoD Midlands said “The UKTI are a conduit to assisting SMEs in their drive to export, but it is vital that SMEs research the markets that they are seeking to export to. Being aware of the current climate is important and accessing the wealth of information available to assist them in understanding what the export landscape looks like. We are doing well and companies should have confidence to invest, if we don’t do anything we won’t achieve anything.”

Also on the panel were Dan Milmo, Industrial Editor for the Guardian; Neil Jones, International Business Manager, Lloyds TSB; John Rider, Chairman, IoD West Midlands and Julie White, Managing Director, D-Drill.

After the panel debate attendees toured WMG’s newest building the International Institute for Product and Service Innovation (IIPSI). Funded by the University of Warwick and the European Regional Development Fund, this digital innovation space will translate WMG’s innovation into commercial outcomes, enabling regional SMEs to access the very latest cutting edge product and service design technology, leading to the creation and testing of market leading products and services.

IIPSI is the new destination for companies looking to innovate and compete in the digital economy. Through the building three of WMG’s research areas are demonstrated, Digital Innovation; Polymer Innovation and Experience Led Innovation. The building also features a range of demonstrators and examples of the three technology areas in practice.

Through an Innovation Programme the WMG SME Team are expected to create or safeguard over 200 jobs and catalyse start-ups through a funded support programme for West Midlands SMEs that will run till the end of June 2015. During this three year project the Team will work with innovative West Midlands SMEs to exploit new ideas through an established knowledge exchange programme. The SME team has recently created over 200 highly skilled jobs and 13 new start-up businesses on the successful digital lab programme. Companies will be able to access WMG’s academic experts, who will be showcasing the depth of the research that can be achieved to embed new capabilities into their business, as well as supporting research bids. SMEs will be able to test the demonstrators and explore ways in which the technology can work for their specific business needs.

For more information on how WMG can assist regional SMEs email wmgsme@warwick.ac.uk or telephone 02476 574 299

For more information on the Guardian Small Business Network visit http://www.guardian.co.uk/small-business-network

For more information on the IoD visit http://www.iod.com/Connecting/Local-networks/West-Midlands