The Business end

Drumming up business and investment will be a key part of all the Olympic Houses. Not to be left out, the UK and London will be capitalising on the Olympic spotlight by staging two high-powered networking fora.

First, the British Business Embassy at Lancaster House has been described as “Davos without the politicians” because of the industry heavyweights it has attracted including Eric Schmidt, the executive chairman of Google, Sir Martin Sorrell, the boss of WPP, Sir Jonathan Ive, the designer of Apple’s most iconic products, Sir Andrew Witty, the chief executive of GlaxoSmithLiKline, and Warren East, the boss of ARM.

The British Business Embassy’s summit themes include China, Creative industries, Education, healthcare and life sciences, ICT, energy, infrastructure, retail food and drink, advanced engineering, Brazil, medical technologies and global sports projects. It will be a platform for UK and international businesses to announce £1 billion worth of deals. The UK aims to generate £1 billion worth of business benefits from the initiative.

In his bid to attract investment to the Capital, Mayor Boris Johnson has renamed City Hall ‘London House’ and will be staging no less than 30 events during the course of the Olympics. This will include four Flagship Global Debates (on technology, cities as crucibles of change, environment and the emerging markets in Asia); exhibitions promoting London’s best investment opportunities; a business lounge where London businesses can network with international businesses; a World Cities Cultural Summit; and a series of outward-looking cultural events.