As a company committed to closing the collaboration gap between organisations to create opportunities, we’ve been reflecting on the power of international ties, having operated with overseas partners since 2018.
The conclusion of the NATO Summit 2024 in Washington DC triggered this moment for contemplation, as the event marked the 75th anniversary since the defensive transatlantic alliance – now 32 countries strong – was formed.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg’s closing speech spoke of aims to enhance:
- “Cooperation on innovation”
- “Unity and resolve”
- “Intelligence sharing”
- “Shared values”
And while these details are aligned to NATO’s defensive focus, we in the private sector and those across other areas of government can take inspiration from this border-crossing collaborative mindset.
Elsewhere, the UK continually seeks to affirm our position as a country that’s secure, prosperous and innovative. This is reinforced by the newly appointed Foreign Secretary, David Lammy MP, calling for “coordinated global action” for issues such as climate action, economic growth and also culture.
With our focus on solving society’s challenges through science and technology, applying a shared mission, Plexal has long understood international bonds between organisations are essential.
Our Director of Clusters, Russell Gundry, recently spoke of how a cluster can develop UK tech communities and “creates something that is greater than the sum of its parts”. The same rules apply to overseas collaboration – but on another plane, where we’re able to promote business, trade, technological advancement and other mutual economic benefits across nations.
Discussing this, Plexal’s CCO and Head of Innovation Saj Huq, explains: “We face big challenges as a society. Take cyber security, for example, threats in this space are location-agnostic and global in nature. Therefore, we as organisations should look not just nationwide but internationally for the best approaches, insight and capabilities to address those problems and secure cyber space.”
UK economic growth has historically been dependent on trade partnerships and maintaining this approach with the thriving technology landscape, whereby we take digital products to new fast-growing economies, is an exciting opportunity for scale.
“By adopting an international outlook, this opens the aperture for potential solutions to challenges,” Saj continues. “Together, we’re able to import and export the best practice, knowledge and skills to effectively make the resource pool bigger through partnerships and generate business growth.”
