Florida and the U.K. have been essential trade partners for generations, but a new agreement is opening the door to deeper engagement.

The United Kingdom long has been one of Florida’s most important global partners when it comes to trade, research and academic engagement. Now this friendship is getting a refresh. 
 
Last year, Florida and British officials signed a Memorandum of Understanding  (MOU) that put new focus on trade and development in the innovation economy, as well as the role of universities in forging the opportunities of the future. The agreement prioritizes business, research and development in the space industry; fintech; life sciences; supply chains and logistics; transportation; infrastructure; legal services and law tech; ag tech and emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, semiconductors, simulations and photonics. 
 
The MOU is the catalyst for what will be a series of trade missions and the launch of new engagement efforts, such as the recent weeklong tour of more than 20 life sciences companies from Great Britain and Northern Ireland who explored Orlando, Tampa and South Florida as locations for their U.S. operations as well as research and development collaborations.  
 

The delegation spent two days in Tampa, touring the USF Research Park, downtown’s Morsani College of Medicine and Taneja College of Pharmacy, and the Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation (CAMLS). (Meet the U.K. companies on the tour.) 
 
USF has had strong research linkages to the U.K. for decades, including designating the University of Exeter as one of its five strategic research partners in 2009 and establishing a student exchange program. In 2014, the USF in London summer study abroad program was launched, and it will celebrate its ten-year anniversary next summer. This milestone event will welcome USF leadership, students, and dozens of alumni, promising to surpass the success of the 2023 gathering. USF's engagement in the U.K. is reflected in the USF Network U.K. which includes over 730 U.K.-based alumni and 40 current students from the U.K. studying at USF. 
 
“We are collaborating more than any other foreign direct investor,” said United Kingdom HM Trade Commissioner Niall Mackenzie, who joined the delegation in Tampa, in a statement. “By working with local officials to support initiatives like these, we aim to bring even more jobs and growth to both sides of the Atlantic.” 
 
There’s more engagement soon to come. 

 On Oct. 16, Justine Assal, His Britannic Majesty’s Honorary Consul, will return to USF for a reception with USF President Rhea Law and the university community to build upon the connections made in the recent visit. Assal is a veteran entrepreneur and business consultant based in Orlando who was recognized with the prestigious honor of Member of the Order of the British Empire for her work in international economic development. The reception is open for the USF community to attend, but an RSVP is required. 

The U.K., which is the top international investor in Florida both in terms of the total amount invested in Florida (some $6.4 billion) and number of Floridians working for U.K. firms (approximately 67,500 jobs). According to Uniworld Online’s database of foreign-owned affiliates in Florida, there are more than 150 British-owned companies operating more than 700 locations throughout Florida. 
 
Life sciences research and development is thriving in Florida (as they are in the U.K. as well), especially across the Florida High Tech Corridor where the USF, University of Florida and University of Central Florida pursue billions of dollars in life sciences research each year while Florida’s hospitals, practitioners, medical device manufacturers and tech-enabled health solutions companies are innovating to keep up with population growth and working to keep the population healthier and address longstanding health care disparities.  
 
“There is a huge opportunity to participate in innovation that will propel the next generation,” said USF Provost Prasant Mohapatra as he shared with the delegation the university’s plans for a new college of artificial intelligence and computer science which will, like the Department of Medical Engineering, integrate partnerships with industry into the research portfolio. 
 

In the life sciences delegation visit to Tampa (Sept 10-11), the delegation toured the USF Research Park and visited with USF Vice President for Research Sylvia Wilson Thomas, Florida High Tech Corridor CEO Paul Sohl, USF Engineering Professor Stephanie Carey, who directs the Center for Assistive, Rehabilitation and Robotics Technologies. CARRT develops and tests new technologies to assist people with disabilities, including technologies invented by researchers in USF’s departments of mechanical and medical engineering. The group then gathered at the Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation, the USF Health center in downtown Tampa that is a global draw for advanced practitioner training.  
 
There, they heard from Tampa General Hospital CEO John Couris about the public-private partnership around research, education and patient care between USF and TGH and the emerging medical research district that has taken shape since the Morsani College of Medicine opened in downtown Tampa in 2020. 
 
“We are really defining how medicine is going to be practiced in the next five, 10 or 20 years,” Couris said of the partnership that is advancing new treatments and practices to patients, from gene therapy to home-based hospital care.