Canada’s High Commission in the United Kingdom has issued a challenge to Canadian companies with innovative products and services for the built environment to explore the U.K. through a new business accelerator program.
The Canadian Construction Export Challenge: UK Selected Solutions (CCEC) will identify and assist small and medium-sized Canadian companies with products or services ideal for the U.K.
The High Commission is calling for applications to the CCEC. They will be screened by a panel of U.K.-based experts who will select up to five leading Canadian products or services with a high potential for success in the U.K. CCEC will then match these Canadian companies with U.K.-based mentors to ease market entry.
The mentors will advise the selected companies on potential markets; link the companies with customers, distributors or partners; and help identify trade and regulatory barriers. The mentors will help these companies find and build a market in the U.K.
A wide range of Canadian companies are encouraged to submit their innovative product or service for the design, construction, renovation and operation or maintenance of the built environment. The CCEC is not limited to housing and buildings – it is open to products or services for other sectors such as energy, transportation, water, waste and other community infrastructure.
CCEC builds on the High Commission’s Canadian Innovation Competition, which selected innovative green Canadian products and introduced them to the U.K. market. The CCEC goes further, helping to accelerate each company’s business development activities in the U.K.
The High Commission has contracted Canada’s Energy Efficient Exporters’ Alliance (EEEA) to deliver the CCEC, and to act as a program contact in Canada. The deadline for applying to the CCEC program is November 30, 2016. An online application for Canadian companies is available on the web site of the Canada UK Sustainable Building Network – see: www.cuksbn.org.