U.S. Small Business Administration International Tech Forum Focuses on Commercial World Post-Brexit

A large audience of entrepreneurs crowded the Beach at UCI Beall Applied Innovation @ the Cove to learn about navigating through the international scene for commercialization after the United Kingdom leaves the European Union.

Hosted by the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) @ UCI Beall Applied Innovation, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) seminar, one in a series, focused on global market expansion into the U.K. as well as U.K. companies’ expansion into Orange County.

The forum covered topics ranging from the impact of Brexit on market expansion, regulation processes for medical devices, non-dilutive funding opportunities – including government and nongovernment programs, international clinical trials and case studies and commercialization strategies.

“This is an important pathway that is frequently overlooked, leveraging some of the non-dilutive funding in the U.S.,” said Dave Hood, president and CEO of DH3 & Associates. “Why might you want to consider this? If you’re a company in the U.K. and want to establish a pathway into the U.S., you can leverage non-dilutive funding to help build those relationships with key opinion leaders.”

Hood, who is a senior consultant on non-dilutive funding and has helped hundreds of companies raise millions of dollars in non-dilutive funding, also discussed the benefits of non-dilutive funding as a way for startups in the U.K. to build early adopters of the product and to support the regulatory process.

Since 2016, the Greater Irvine Chamber of Commerce accompanied by life science companies based in Irvine, such as Allergan and Edwards Life Science, have discussed expansion into the U.S. with life science companies based in the U.K. So far, five tech and life sciences companies from the U.K. have expanded their operations into Orange County, according to Linda DiMario, executive vice president of Economic Development and Tourism at Greater Irvine Chamber.

“California is the fifth largest economy in the world,” said DiMario. “Southern California, if it were a country, would be the thirteenth largest economy in the world. And Orange County, with its $298 billion GDP, is larger than that of 28 states in our country. So when you have that economic strength behind you, that’s a really strong platform to start with.”

Learn more about SBDC @ UCI Beall Applied Innovation.

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*All photos: Amy Vong, UCI Beall Applied Innovation