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Preparing to export

Help for businesses inexperienced in exporting or considering entry into new overseas markets

Purpose

To strengthen UK productivity growth and future economic prosperity by ensuring that UK businesses, especially high productivity, innovative, and research and development (R&D) intensive businesses, are able to identify and exploit opportunities in overseas markets successfully, and to respond rapidly and effectively to changing international opportunities.

How will this be achieved?

By providing information and advice to businesses considering exporting or entering new overseas markets, or who have limited experience in exporting or other aspects of international business development, and need help to develop the requisite knowledge and capabilities.

Why offer public sector support?

Public sector intervention is justified by the wider benefits from the dissemination of knowledge about exporting that are not necessarily internalised by companies, and hence warrant some subsidised public support to ensure these accrue to wider business community and the UK economy.

What will be offered?

The specific types of assistance to be provided are:

• Information and advice (including referrals) to UK registered companies who are: considering exporting, entering new overseas markets, developing international business (for example, through supply chains, partnerships, licensing, increasing inward investment by overseas companies and investors) in new overseas markets, bidding for development aid contracts and/or
• Limited part-funding to invest in capabilities generally to export, and undertake export market research.

Co-funding is available for projects as part of an export capability development plan which enable companies to develop their export capability based on a strategic assessment of their strengths and weaknesses.

Who will be eligible?

• Information and advice on beginning to export or seeking to do business in new overseas markets – UK registered companies of all sizes.
• Co-funding for agreed export capability development projects - for small-medium sized enterprises seeking to enter new markets. Support for general export capability development is restricted to SMEs who are either ‘new to export’ or innovative and between 1 and 5 years old.