York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority is strengthening connections with China, as it looks to drive investment across the region.
Thanks to North Yorkshire’s strong heritage in farming, fishing and food production, representatives of Invest in York and North Yorkshire were able to show how agriculture in the future can be shaped in the region. This comes after York and North Yorkshire was selected as the best place to lead the agri-tech sector by the Department for Business and Trade.
Invest in York and North Yorkshire’s development relationship manager for the Agri-Tech and Industrial Biotechnology sector, Tracey Taylor-Preston, said:
“Our expertise in this area has led DBT to identify our region as the place for controlled-environment agriculture and horticulture.
“We earned this recognition with our extensive research and development capabilities, access to over 30 distribution centres, and supply chain connectivity.
“These existing strengths, along with our potential for high growth attracts investment from across the UK and the globe.”
As York and North Yorkshire welcomed Meilin Yei, Head of Agri-Tech and Sustainability at the Department for Business and Trade in Shanghai, work is already progressing to achieve Mayor David Skaith’s priority of driving growth across six key areas:
- Industrial biotechnology
- Agri-tech
- Manufacturing
- Creative and Digital
- Rail
- Healthy ageing
This visit was also the second international visit in the space of just a few days, as last week saw a delegation of Polish biotech companies welcomed by the Mayor as they looked to expand their businesses into the UK. Commenting on the Polish visit, the Mayor said:
“I have seen the innovation taking place across York and North Yorkshire, with so many organisations already driving excellence to combat the UK and worlds health challenges.
“Our region leads the way in this sector, and we are home to a wealth of research and development assets, support organisations and networks.
“Now is the time to be confident, ambitious and champion our region’s businesses and organisations so we can reach our full potential and drive more investment from overseas markets into York and North Yorkshire.”
Image credit: iStock
