The Duke of Cambridge opened the government’s Great Festival of Creativity in Shanghai on 2 March, leading the campaign to inspire and educate the Chinese just how much innovation the UK has to offer.
In February, Real Business was invited to a preview tour in London to explore some of the country’s most inventive companies, one of which included Academy Award-winning creative studio Framestore.
Founder and creative director Mike McGee told us how the business grew from a four-person startup to a 1,000 employee-strong company working with Hollywood stars, and the skills that are required to join the team.
Read more from the tour here:
- Taking 500 creative British companies to the ravenous Chinese
- Britain’s advantage in China lies in its heritage
- What UK SMEs can learn from Jaguar Land Rover’s business strategy
As the China-based event led by Prince William has now drawn to a close, a variety of entrepreneurs who were in attendance have offered their thoughts on what could come of a business union between China and the UK.
Technology
Alex Poulson, CEO of creative brand company, which includesrobotics and virtual reality,INDE Appshaker, said: For a product like ours, it is important that people can see it and be inside it. To have this platform is absolutely perfect for us and it’s opened up entire new industries that weve not previously been involved with. Weve started several conversations about having a permanent partnership in China on the back of the past two days.
Fragrances
Having delivered interactive demonstrations of her products, Jo Malone, founder of Jo Loves, said: Weve all taken a step forward together and thats been a very powerful message not only here in China but a powerful message to us being able to pull together. You can see that China wants to touch British creativity; it’s not just about trading together, it’s about creating together.
UK creativity is one of our greatest assets and we have to utilise it and do more things like this. We all feed off one another so it’s not just about Chinese business, British business is being done here too and thats a very powerful thing.
Community
Lastminute.com co-founder Brent Hoberman, also the co-founder of creative community the Founders Forum, said: I think the festival has positioned the UK very well both as a heritage brand and a forward looking one. Its shown the UKs leading role in creativity has succeeded in putting us front of mind for many leading Chinese influencers.
Its been much more intimate than a large trade show. High-level government backing has been a tremendous help and I think well see many other governments copying the trend that Britain is pioneering.
Art
Howard Sansome, CEO of luxury artwork maker Aryma Marquetry, said: As creators of bespoke products, connecting with individuals is crucial to the success of our business. The Great Festival of Creativity has given us a key avenue to people in China, so we can show the creative edge to our business and gain insights on how we can reach into this growing, dynamic market.
Fashion
British tailoring company Gieves and Hawkes demonstrated its clothing business at the event, and bespoke cutter Richard Lawson, said: It was unexpected but weve been able to meet up with other brands doing similar things to what were trying to do, finding out about the problems we share and the successes weve achieved independently.
“Weve gained knowledge and experience on how to expand our presence in this marketplace and met fantastic people who will definitely be helping us grow our business in China.
Media
Tim Davie, CEO, BBC Worldwide, said: “This festival has brought together creative people and business people from the UK, China and beyond, and I have been impressed by the level of enthusiasm to engage in future partnerships and projects. It has been a fantastic showcase for the best Britain has to offer.”
