On Monday, the Greater Birmingham Chamber of Commerce (GBCC) has announced a rebrand of the British-American Business Council Midlands to become the Greater Birmingham Transatlantic Chamber of Commerce, to focus its efforts as a leading network, advisor, active membership organisation and gateway to international trade. The Transatlantic Chamber is the largest transatlantic networking organisation promoting trade and investment between the US, UK and Canada as part of a network of 23 Chapters, working alongside the UK government and specialist advisors.
The University of Birmingham, as an active member of the Transatlantic Chamber takes advantage of the business intelligence, networking events, policy updates, member benefits, and marketing opportunities to collaborate with business and strengthen our transatlantic ties. With this renewed focus from the Chamber on transatlantic trade, particularly in the current uncertain climate, we are excited to pursue even more opportunities for collaboration with North American industry.
The UK and North America enjoy the most productive bilateral higher education relationship in the world. Enhancing dialogue with partners in the UK and North America offers a major opportunity to build meaningful partnerships, promote knowledge exchange, educate new audiences and support global engagement for partner organisations on both sides of the Atlantic.
Some of our current transatlantic collaborations include:
- The Birmingham Centre for Railway Research and Education (BCRRE) has collaborative links with the RailTEC group at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), primarily focused on hydrogen power and energy systems to provide decarbonisation solutions for railways of the future. BCRRE is also in talks with a number of other transatlantic universities on opportunities for joint study and research.
- Entrepreneurship and enterprise projects through a partnership with the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center in San Francisco. This includes student internships, workshops for Birmingham-based entrepreneurs, and a commitment to advancing academic research together that can further the Center’s work with diverse entrepreneurs.