To mark Formula 1’s Canadian Grand Prix from 4-8 June in Montreal our Consulate-General held its first ever series of GREAT Britain events. The results were……Formidable (best repeated with a French accent). We organised three separate events to target different groups over three days leading up to the Grand Prix (GP) weekend, working with our UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) colleagues in Toronto to leverage a wider range of business contacts than we would normally connected with.
On Wednesday of the GP week, we organised a Young Entrepreneurs Symposium on the Business of Grand Prix at Concordia University’s John Molson School of Business, Canada’s largest Anglophone business school based in down-town Montreal. We attracted 125 grad students and alumni, many already running their own businesses.
They heard Graeme Lowdon, CEO of UK-based F1 team Marussia, talk about the business challenges of running a $100m company with 190 employees competing against the top teams like Mercedes and McLaren. He spoke about the importance of innovation with limited resources, how he calculated risks and built a core team of experts to develop their technologies.
He was joined by Vincent Fraser, CEO of Montreal-based Processia Solutions, a fast-growing small and medium enterprise (SME) with new offices in the UK that is a specialist on Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) and works with F1 teams like Lotus and Williams. Vincent talked about his lucky break in getting his first contract with Ferrari at the age of 23 and his success at giving F1 teams innovative ideas to tackle long-standing business challenges.
Next, we held a Tech Talk at the Centre des Sciences et Technologies in its very modern and spectacular water-front setting in the Vieux Port of Montreal on Thursday. This attracted 85 invited participants from the Aerospace, Transport and Advanced Engineering sectors to hear how UK-based F1 teams were at the forefront of high-tech R&D which had a wider application to other sectors and businesses.
The talk was kicked-off by Julie Payette, well-known Canadian Astronaut and recently-appointed Chief Operating Officer of the Montréal Science Centre .
Graeme Lowdon joined us again to speak to representatives from the aerospace, rail and automotive business about how F1 competition forced a rapid deployment of new technologies (sometimes a matter of weeks from concept to application).
And Matt Strachan from F1 team Sahara Force India spoke about the importance not just of engineering and design, but the use of complex IT software to monitor their car’s performance and analyse the data from testing and racing.
In a business where tenths of a second meant the difference between victory and defeat, teams were looking for every possible advantage. This was expensive for F1 teams who in turn looked for partnerships and collaboration outside motorsport to share the costs and look for longer-term commercial applications. There was also a talk about social media and how they were using this medium not only to make F1 even more interactive for fans and spectators, but also to monetize the value-add to attract and increase sponsor activity.
Finally on Friday evening, High Commissioner Howard Drake hosted an F1 Gala reception at the glamorous W Hotel on the edge of Vieux Montreal. On an evening with serious alternative competition from some heavy corporate entertainment at other venues, we attracted a crowd of 265 guests including the Mayor of Montreal Denis Coderre, Quebec Minister of Transport Robert Poeti, and President of Montreal International Dominique Anglade.
They all spoke about the importance of F1 for Montreal (a 10-year deal was signed the next day) and the importance of UK investment in Montreal. Our guests from business included CEO’s of leading companies, younger SME’s with an interest in the UK and our favoured multipliers who are crucial to our longer-term business outreach. They enjoyed UK products from Green and Black chocolates to a whisky bar serving 18-year old single malts. And with TV cameras rolling I even found myself being interviewed beside two Beefeaters!
But outside of all the glitz, these events really were about promoting how F1 benefits the UK economy (the UK is home to 8 of its 11 teams) and the strong science, technology, and business connections between the UK and Canada (both in and outside of Quebec).
While the Grand Prix on Sunday at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve was over in a matter of hours, the science and technology behind these amazing machines continues to power innovation and business on both sides of the Atlantic.