The UK security sector is to be promoted around the world as the “hallmark of excellence.”
UK Trade & Investment launched a strategy to help British security companies win business abroad.
The strategy was launched with His Royal Highness, Prince Michael of Kent, patron of the British Security Industry Association’s Export Council at the Cabinet War Rooms in central London, in front of an audience of 150 business people from the sector.
The UK security sector employs more than 335,000 people and exports last year were valued at US$2.08 billion, an increase of more than 14 percent on the previous year.
The security sector includes homeland security, counterterrorism, police, fire, and emergency services and also commercial security and safety. It includes the public and private sector.
The strategy, which includes branding and marketing tools for companies, particularly for small and medium-sized businesses, will help them stand out across the world.
The UK’s experience of countering terrorism and organized crime has led to an industry that is among the most technologically advanced in the world with particular skills in biometrics, CBRN detection, surveillance and transport security.
"The UK security sector is unique. It has long experience of thinking about and tackling security challenges. We have learned to guard against tomorrow’s threats today,” said Richard Paniguian, Head of UK Trade & Investment Defence and Security Organization
"Our story is one founded in experience and required expertise,” Paniguian said. “We have had to react to events, respond to impending adversity and overcome imposing threats. It is about more than just understanding the issues. We deliver the products, technologies and systems that ensure the security of companies, markets, countries and people throughout the world."
Stephen Phipson, President of Smiths Detection and Chairman of the UKTI Security Sector Advisory Board said: "I believe that the UK security industry is a global leader serving the security needs of a global marketplace. We have been forged by events, experience and a constant demand for innovation and efficiency. The result is that we are the standard bearer and benchmark for quality, innovation and knowledge in security — a nexus for change and transformation in how issues of security are delivered and implemented."