Fashion Comes Full Circle: Redesigning a Sustainable Future Through International Collaboration

To help UK businesses become truly global enterprises through strategic collaboration, Innovate UK launched its Global Expert Missions (GEMs) in October 2017. Delivered by KTN Global Alliance, the missions provide an expert-led evidence base to strengthen Innovate UK’s global investment strategy: how and where it should invest to create UK business opportunities in partnerships with key economies.

Find the slides here.

Each mission has representatives from UK business, policy and research community. Our mission objectives are:

Informing UK businesses and government

The findings and opinions of experts on the topic of the GEMs are made available to UK businesses and government departments. These inform UK businesses about potential opportunities for innovation in the country and the UK government on how it can help UK businesses make the most of those opportunities.

Building International Collaborations

The expert insights will help inform how Innovate UK can best help UK businesses find and exploit the opportunities for innovation partnerships. The GEM creates connections with key organisations and people that will deepen and widen the collaboration with the partner country to the benefit of UK business.

Sharing UK Capabilities

During the Mission, the delegation of experts will use the opportunity to promote and share the UK’s innovation strengths.

This event will present the findings of the US and France Expert Missions and give delegates the opportunity to talk directly with representatives who went on the Missions. In October 2019, an Expert Mission travelled to the US visiting New York City and Providence, Rhode Island to inform the UK’s international strategy for Sustainable Innovation in Fashion by exploring the landscape and examining opportunities to collaborate with US organisations.

During the mission, delegates engaged with New York City-based stakeholders, as the city is one of the global fashion industry’s major hubs. A delegation of experts also travelled to Paris in February 2020. An outcomes report from the Expert Missions was published and you can view it here.

We look forward to seeing you online!

• 14:00 – Welcome & Introduction | Sandeep Sandhu, KTN
• 14:05 – Overview of Innovate UK’s International programmes | Brendan Vickers, Innovate UK
• 14:15 – Sustainable Innovation in Fashion Landscape | Thushara Sabreen, Innovate UK
• 14:25 – Panel session; Key findings, next steps and support for collaboration

Panellists: Prof Dilys Williams (University of the Arts, London), Stephen Russell (Future Fashion Factory), Catherine Botterill (Tech writer), Ryan Mario Yasin (Petit Pli)

Chair: Sandeep Sandhu, KTN

• 14.50 – International Collaboration in Sustainable Fashion | Caroline Rush, British Fashion Council 
• 15:10 – UK Department for International Trade: Sustainable Fashion in the US | Ashley Bell, DIT
• 15:15 – Q&A | Veronica Sanchez-Romaguera, KTN
• 15:30 – Wrap-up & Close | Sandeep Sandhu, KTN