At a unique, inaugural showcase event, technology companies from the UK’s Motorsport Valley® business cluster will meet with financiers from the City of London, aiming to generate investment for their innovative R&D-based companies.
The Motorsport Industry Association (MIA) and the UK’s Innovation Agency, the Technology Strategy Board will host this ‘High Performance Low Carbon, Technology and Engineering Investment Showcase’ at the iconic Honourable Artillery Company in London on Wednesday 3rd September.
For the first time, a group of innovative, fast-growing SMEs from the UK’s booming £9 billion global motorsport industry will meet relevant investors looking to expand their low carbon and technology portfolios and help deliver the next phase of low carbon motorsport development.
Chris Aylett, chief executive of the MIA, said: “This inaugural investment showcase will generate new, vital relationships with the financial community to support our fast-track developments. The UK is the global centre of this fascinating, diverse industry, with potential for exceptional growth.”
Aylett continued: “Successful companies from the UK’s Motorsport Valley® cluster collectively invest more than £1billion every year in R&D, more than 30% of their annual sales, a figure which is ten times the UK’s engineering average.
“Much of this R&D investment centres on energy efficient technologies to deliver low carbon high performance. These have led to Motorsport Valley® companies increasingly delivering innovations to the booming automotive and defence sectors.”
Low carbon motorsport technologies have recently attracted multi-million pound investments into the sector; examples include Torotrak’s acquisition of Flybrid which developed mechanical F1 hybrid technology; and the acquisition of Williams Hybrid Power by GKN Land Systems.
Aylett concludes: “The UK is home to incredibly talented engineers, pioneers and innovators of proven world-class technology in the motorsport industry, whose research and development provides tangible, relevant benefits for a much wider automotive, marine and defence marketplace. This is the right time for investors to learn more about this little-known ‘jewel in the crown’ of UK engineering.”
Many of the showcase companies were successful at securing funding from the recent Technology Strategy Board Motorsport Valley® Launchpad competition.
