SUCCESSFUL TRADE MISSION TO USA

Minister for Economic Development, Mr Andrew Barr led a Trade Mission of eight Canberra based companies to Washington DC where they focused on winning business into the US public sector market which is estimated to be worth more than a trillion dollars a year. The mission was held from Monday 31 October to Thursday 3 November.

The mission was the culmination of the ACT Exporting Solutions to Government Pilot Program, which aims to capture commercial innovation in the public sector and channel it to new markets. It was a great opportunity for the participating companies to put into action the planning and strategies that have been developed throughout this joint ACT Government-Austrade initiative.

Since mid-August, the companies have been participating in a think Australian, operate American program that has had them looking at their businesses from an American public sector client point of view.

The companies have been looking at every aspect of their businesses to see if it meets the requirements for selling into the US public sector. They have been adapting their websites, preparing white papers with Australian references, developing partner strategies and looking at options for representation in the US market.

The companies that participated in the pilot program and trade mission were:

  • Intelledox;
  • Seveno;
  • Isidore;
  • Quintessence Labs;
  • NICTA AutoMap;
  • Random Computers;
  • Aspen Medical; and
  • ThinkPlace.

Washington has been a very successful market with local companies including Tower Software, Noetic Group, CEA Technologies and EOS all building strong US business with the support of previous ACT Government Trade Missions. This was the fourth ACT Trade Mission to Washington since 2003.

Each company had its own business matching program and there were also be a number of networking events scheduled to provide the companies with access to business leaders and US public sector decision makers.

Feedback from the participating companies has been extremely positive, with some tangible outcomes already evident:

Jed Johnson from Random Computers reported:

"The quality of the meetings was much higher than I had expected. The mix of ACT Government, Austrade and industry help seemed to be the key. Random Computing’s meeting with the Assistant Sergeant at Arms & CIO of the United States Senate has opened a real opportunity for the use of our mobileX for Government software in all 534 Congressional Offices."

Paul Stapleton from NICTA Automap reported:

"The mission delivered the industry insight Automap was looking for. We had the opportunity to gain a clearer understanding of the potential for our technology in the US through targeted discussions with Government stakeholders and industry associations in the transport sector. A highlight was an invitation to submit an article for publication in the American Surveyor magazine."

As well as supporting the participating companies in their business matching programs, Minister Barr met with business leaders and government officials to discuss other economic development opportunities.

Return to the list of November eNews articles.