A key priority for the Embassy in Mexico City is encouraging inward investment to the UK. There are various large Mexican companies that have invested in the UK – like Cemex, Monex and Gruma- but we also want to explore opportunities with small and medium companies that might be able to expand their operations to the UK.
The “LondonTech” competition, launched in January this year, helped us to identify innovative digital entrepreneurs in Mexico who have the potential to invest in the UK. More than 50 applications for the competition were received from all around the country, and there were four winners in total from two categories: companies with 1-3 years in business, and those with more than 3 years.
The winners were announced by the Minister of State for Universities and Science, David Willetts, in April. The winners travelled to London in the week of 20 May, where they had the opportunity to visit Tech City in London (Europe’s largest and fastest growing IT cluster), and attend the Digital Shoreditch Festival.
The winners were also able to participate in the "Tech Mex" event, which aimed to explain how entrepreneurialism, technology and innovation are on the rise in Mexico. The Mexican winners of the competition got a chance to talk about the start-up ecosystem in Mexico and present their projects, while other keynote speakers offered a guide to digital and technology opportunities in Mexico.
The Mexican digital sector is very lively – just look at the award winning “Taco Master” video game as an example! “LondonTech” was launched as a pilot exercise, but thanks to its success, we plan to run it again next year, to keep exploring the vast opportunities of this sector in Mexico.