Home ›
Inward Investment
Visit www.thamesvalley.co.uk the new guide to doing business in the Thames Valley
Business in the Thames Valley is a success story; one of the most vibrant communities in the UK and home to some of the world’s most successful global brands and innovative small businesses. The Thames Valley showcases businesses at the cutting edge of science and technology.
London Heathrow Airport services the needs of a truly international business location which is the first choice outside of London for overseas businesses establishing a UK office.
Each Thames Valley town has something unique to offer people living, working or visiting the region, while the supporting road and rail infrastructure provides access to London and other UK and European destinations.
The region excels across a number of business sectors, with a particularly strong base of expertise in technologies and science. It is often referred to as the ‘Silicon Valley of Europe’. A number of successful industry partnerships have put the region at the forefront of some of the world’s leading edge technologies opening up tremendous opportunities for entrepreneurs.
Selected as the favourite location for North American corporate European HQ’s, the region provides a familiar business culture with no language barriers. The ability to work with a networked business community that can help grow your organisation in an established marketplace is critical.
Getting off the ground
Thames Valley Chamber of Commerce Group works in partnership with the UK Trade & Investment network of global representatives to ensure support is on hand to help company start-ups from all global regions to set up in the UK for the first time. Newcomers to the region can benefit from meeting potential partners, suppliers and customers at variety of our regular forums, networking events and conferences.
LaunchPad Testimonials
Talend is a French owned market leader in open source data integration software which, in 2009, achieved record revenue, more than doubling from 2008. The fourth quarter of 2009 was Talend’s tenth consecutive quarter of growth.
“Our ambitions for the UK in 2010 are to double the size of the company and establish the Maidenhead office as the focal point for Talend’s business in the UK, Nordics and Middle East.”
“The Thames Valley LaunchPad team has helped us to spend more time on our business and less time on the indirect, but still important issues of establishing our office infrastructure and local presence. For example, they introduced us to experienced, local legal and property services in order to facilitate our forthcoming office move.”
“We would recommend the LaunchPad initiative to any technology company considering setting up in the UK that needs to focus on building their business and needs a helping hand with all of the other operational issues arising that can be a significant distraction.”
Martin James, UK Sales Director, Talend
Systancia is a French owned leading software provider of application and desktop
virtualisation solutions.
“Building on the successful position achieved in our domestic market, we have decided to expand to the UK and introduce an alternative solution to the virtualisation market.”
“The Thames Valley LaunchPad team helped us in all steps leading to the successful start of our business in the UK. They introduced us to specialists in marketing services, translation/localisation and legal matters. Members of the Launchpad initiative such as Robertson Languages contributed significantly to the establishment of Systancia in the UK. We would recommend the LaunchPad to any technology business considering setting up in the UK.
Arnaud Caupin, International Business Development Manager, Systancia
“The LaunchPad team provided invaluable help to Panda Security in the decision on where to locate its UK HQ. The team provided information to support the reputation of the Thames Valley as a business location, and how relocation to Bracknell would deliver significant benefit to the operations of our business in respect to attracting talent to drive forward the ambitions and growth of our technology business. An overview of the property market was supplemented by a comprehensive office search by an experienced member of the LaunchPad team. Working to a tight timescale we were able to identify a suitable high quality property in Bracknell and believe that the LaunchPad initiative has expedited this process and saved us time and money.
“Working with LaunchPad we are now exploring opportunities in linking with the region’s research institutions and Universities to create further employment opportunities in the Thames Valley.”
Petter Lautin, Managing Director UK, Ireland, Sweden & Finland, Panda Security
