Title - U.K. firms seek to forge business collaboration with Kerala

In its bid to seek a strategic partnership with India, and Kerala by extension, the U.K. on Wednesday made it clear that it would also want fledgling Indian information and communication technology companies to open shop at the London’s Tech City, the largest in Europe with a conducive ecosystem and incubator services.

The effort at reaching out to Indian companies was made by Jeff Cao, Asia Pacific Head of London and Partners. Rolls Royce Marine managing director Navjit Gill, who made a presentation at the U.K. country session, said that the company aspired to expand its operations in Kerala, especially in the ship repair sector. “Once it comes into being, the proposed LNG terminal will also spur a lot of activity and we are keenly watching the situation,” he said. The company already has a half-a-decade-long partnership with the Cochin Shipyard. “Over 20 Rolls Royce engines have been designed, built and delivered by the yard to shipping majors.”

Holistic urban development was on the radar with Happold Consulting managing director Padraic Kelly trying to sell the company’s track record at providing consultancy in strategic, all-round planning of smart urbanscapes. Hiro Aso, director of John McAslan and Partners, an architectural firm with a reputation for delivering new-build architecture and restoring historical structures with adaptive interventions, wondered if it could play a part in the construction of inter-mode connectivity junctions of Kochi Metro or the High Speed Rail Corridor.

Balfour Beatty, the U.K.’s largest construction and infrastructure company that had a pivotal role in infrastructure building for the London Olympics, claimed its innovations and a predictive maintenance approach could make the Kochi Metro and the proposed Monorails safe and sustainable.

Puneet Puri, Business Development Manager of the company, presented a few innovative technologies tested out in the overground Metro in London that would cut down metro-triggered noise pollution in the urban environment besides drastically bringing down carbon footprints.

Balajee Rangarajan, chief executive officer (India) of the Converging World, a company that harnessed wind energy and channelled its profits to fund charity, exuded hope in the potential of Kerala to embark on wind energy projects.