Minister acknowledges West Midlands as 'workshop of the world '

In his keynote address, UK International Trade Minister Graham Stuart MP acknowledged the West Midlands as the historic “workshop of the world ”.

He described the region 's thriving businesses and entrepreneurial spirit as well-positioned to make global demand and ensured his departments ' commitment to helping those businesses grow through export.

A key driver in that commitment will be their newest Trade Policy Agenda, which he described as the most ambitious agenda of any major economy in history.

Putting the Midlands at the heart of the UK 's modern network of free trade agreements, opportunities will be available to collaborate with over 68 countries, including the EU, and tap into almost the £900 million worth of bilateral trade generated in 2019.

Having recently reached a free trade agreement in principle with the Australian government, Mr Stuart was confident that the region will benefit largely from the removal of tariffs and the trading of iconic products such as cars and ceramics.

Mr Stuart (pictured) expressed his pride in the region, saying: “I am proud to have seen so many businesses from the West Midlands seize the opportunities presented by our position as a newly independent trading nation. I 'm excited for the moments ahead that will enable us to showcase your businesses to a global audience. ”

As business operations have had to adapt to digitalisation as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, audiences heard from Deb Leary, CEO of Forensic Pathways and vice president of the GBCC and Kat Hill, cyber security lead at Chamber Patron SCC, on the increasing cyber intelligence threat.

The two experts explained how working online and the increasing need for global connectivity has made it easier for hackers to access sensitive information from within our businesses.

With sensitive information at the core of all businesses, big or small, Deb Leary opened businesses ' eyes to how hackers might build up strong profiles on them by using the likes of company 's house or social media profiles.

In 2020, more than 99 per cent of cyber attacks involved some kind of social engineering, an attack where a hacker masquerades as a trusted entity.

IBM predicts that recovery from these kinds of cyber breaches can cost an average of £2.9 million and have average life of 280 days.

Kat said: “Translating cyber threats to the physical world would be like if you imagined opening your front door and seeing criminals everywhere.

“With so many digital touchpoints such as iPhone 's, Alexa, automated car control- it 's hard for us to keep track of the threat landscape.

Deb Leary emphasised that brand protection, while it takes years to build, takes second to lose.

As a CEO herself, she explained that cyber security falls within executive responsibility and it is up to executive staff to discover who they are partnering with, how they are monitoring dark web and investigation alerts and also how they are empowering their staff to be the first line of defence against cyber criminals

Kat added: “It 's important to remember who the users are- your employees. They ultimately hold the fate of a company 's vulnerability to a cyber attack. ”

“Because of this, we need to ensure that we are dedicated to continually strengthening our user awareness, something that only one in five companies are currently adopting.

“It 's easy to enhance user experience with these kinds of things and cover business security with an element of gamification and making things more fun.

“Invest in your best asset- your users! ”

In a session on the recovery of international travel, Gary Kershaw, Qatar Airways ' country manager for the UK and Ireland, said that from the start of the pandemic they decided they would be “the airline who would take people home ”.

Mr Kershaw spelled out the measures Qatar Airways had taken to give confidence to passengers in a Covid-19 world and added: “We intend to emerge much bigger and stronger post Covid.

“We are very much geared up to benefit from pent up demand among the business community and we have a programme designed for SMEs. ”