The International Festival for Business, the marathon 50-day showcase for British trade and enterprise hosted in Liverpool this year, benefited thousands of companies and could lead to the creation of 10,000 jobs over the next three years, according to research.

An interim evaluation report, conducted by Liverpool Vision, which ran the event on behalf of the Department for Business, estimates that 3,000 companies secured or expect to secure new domestic sales, while 1,400 firms secured, or expect to secure, export deals worth £100m.

Additionally, 350 businesses are predicted to sign investment deals worth £200m.

The report was launched at a meeting of business leaders held at the BT Tower, London.

IFB also generated £15m for the local economy as it attracted 68,600 business attendees from 92 countries to 415 events.

Trade minister Lord Livingston said:

“The International Festival for Business results demonstrate the global demand for ‘Brand Britain’ which is creating jobs and growth across the UK. Liverpool and the North West did a tremendous job in 2014 on behalf of all UK, and we’re now starting to see that hard work paying off in real export business for companies that took part. I’m looking forward to even greater success in 2016.”

Mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson, said:

“The figures we have revealed speak for themselves and clearly demonstrate the nuts and bolts of success and the boost it has given to businesses. It is now anticipated that the Festival will help to create and sustain around 10,000 jobs and that is something of which we are incredibly proud.”

“The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive and that gives us the same vigour, tenacity and drive to make IFB 2016 even better.”

Sir Michael Rake, chairman of BT Group added

“BT was delighted to be a pioneering partner in IFB. It’s important to celebrate why business, entrepreneurship and innovation matter. IFB gave us the opportunity to do just that and I am delighted that the Festival was such a resounding success.”

Max Steinberg, chairman of IFB 2014, said:

“By any measure IFB 2014 was a resounding success but we are very pleased with the numbers the festival has helped achieve. These statistics are drawn straight from the feedback of those parties the festival was established for: businesses operating in the real economy.”

“With so many reporting so many positive outcomes, this is a ringing endorsement of the many hours of work that was put in by the whole team. The job now is to learn from the inaugural festival and really build on its success for 2016.”

Among other key findings from the report are: 9% of UK participants are now exploring export opportunities for the first time; 13% of companies expect to create new jobs and 10% of UK participants are looking to expand into new markets.

The full report will be published in autumn 2015.

Source: The Business Desk
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