How savvy entrepreneurs are using the UK to scoop up talent and clients

The UK is one of the hottest landing spots for overseas companies that want to make an entrance into the European Union. Why? It has an unparalleled combination of talent — and easy access to customers and clients.

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Let’s start with talent — and that starts with education. According a recent ranking by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, UK universities took six of the top 10 spots among European universities for engineering and technology. Worldwide, in the same ranking, UK institutions took two of the top 10 worldwide spots.

The UK also attracts top tech talent from all over the European Union, as it’s one of the best places to start a new business. According to Doingbusiness.org — a site powered by data from the World Bank — the UK ranks seventh worldwide for the overall ease of doing business.

In addition, Tech City — a cluster of startups in East London — is a fast-growing hub for startups and the tech talent that comes along with them. Google has set up a campus in Tech City to engage with the start-up community, and U.S. venture-backed, high-potential companies like Airbnb and Yammer are based there.

But it’s not just talent: Companies come to the UK because of the ease of finding customers and clients here. As one of the world’s major financial capitals, London is where the world comes to do business.

And London is well-situated as a location for a company’s European headquarters, given its proximity to the Continent. London has many more European HQs for companies outside the EU than any other city in Europe, according to theEuropean Investment Monitor.

UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) works with UK-based businesses to ensure their success in international markets, and to encourage the best overseas companies to look to the UK as their global partner of choice.

UKTI has professional advisers both within the UK and across more than 100 international markets. It’s got a variety of services to help startups and investors interested in the UK market:

1. Value Chain access
2. Roadshows for talent for corporations who need to recruit the best
3. Cluster knowledge: Where to find talent across the tech and design fields
4. University introductions: Who is producing the best grads and doing the most relevant research in UK?

We’re working with UKTI at SXSW to showcase the United Kingdom’s thriving start-up and investment scene via a series of quick hit video interviews with cool UK-based entrepreneurs and investors. If you couldn’t make it down to Austin this year, you can follow all of our SXSW coverage here. And make sure to join the Twitter conversation.

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Photo credit: Anirudh Koul via photopin cc