Mentor lauded for its global view on trade

Promoting economic development often requires the willingness to look for opportunities beyond the borders of a city, county or state. Or for that matter, even searching outside of one’s own country.

Mentor certainly has demonstrated its desire to explore economic opportunities on a global scale through the city’s International Trade Initiative.

The mission of the Mentor International Trade Initiative is to assist Mentor-based companies that seek to expand or develop new export markets, as well as foster trade relationships with international partners.

We were pleased to hear about Mentor successfully carrying out part of this mission by forming a partnership with a business entity in the United Kingdom.

City Manager Ken Filipiak recently announced plans to enter into a strategic collaboration with Medilink Midlands to promote bilateral trade and investment between the Midlands region of the UK and Northeast Ohio.

Medilink Midlands is a life sciences industry association whose aim is to help companies establish, develop and grow, he said in a report to City Council.

Clearly, Mentor has chosen an impressive organization with which to partner. Medilink Midlands has a network of more than 8,000 contacts, and supports and promotes 1,700plus organizations in the Midlands region.

In addition, the marketplace targeted by Mentor in this initiative is formidable. The UK has the third-largest medical technology sector in Europe, and the Midlands has the largest regional cluster in this sector, including nearly 800 such companies, Filipiak said.

“Links between Northeast Ohio and the UK are set to become more important following a substantial investment by the Cleveland Clinic in what is currently the largest hospital development in the UK,” he said. “The city of Mentor looks forward to becoming a focal point for stimulating trade and investment between Northeast Ohio and the UK life sciences sector.”

Medilink Midlands also must have liked the potential it saw in Northeast Ohio, and we can’t blame them for feeling upbeat. Consider, for example, that more than 700 medical and bioscience companies are located in the Mentor region, including STERIS, General Electric, Siemens, Philips, Toshiba and Hitachi.

“Northeast Ohio is an attractive strategic location for Midlands companies looking to establish a low-cost foothold in the largest medical and life sciences market in the world,” said Medilink Director Darren Clark in a prepared statement.

The collaboration between Mentor and Medilink Midlands is the first international relationship announced by the association since it was launched earlier this month, Clark added.

It’s also great to see that both parties are wasting no time in getting down to business. The first initiative between Mentor and the association is planned for October. Details will be forthcoming.

“Northeast Ohio and the Midlands region in the UK are very similar economically,” Mentor Community Relations Administrator Ante Logarusic said. “This is a part of the Mentor International Trade Initiative’s ongoing mission to explore opportunities and promote our companies’ capabilities overseas.”

Give Mentor credit for playing a proactive role in prospecting for international trade partners. The partnership with Medilink Midlands was borne out of the city’s annual spring trade mission to the UK and Germany.

This is the second UK trade partner for the city. A “sister city” relationship was developed in 2016 with the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, a town outside of Birmingham, England.

In January of 2016, Mentor became a member of the BritishAmerican Business Council to help foster additional foreign trade opportunities for Mentor-based companies.

Mentor representatives met with those of Solihull in April 2016 prior to heading to Hannover Messe, the world’s largest international trade show.

“Our relationship with Solihull, as well as the Midlands region as a whole, continues to strengthen since we have identified potential opportunities and synergies,” said Mentor International Trade Administrator Mercedes Sanchez-Moore. “This new (memorandum of understanding) with Medilink can be partially attributed to connections which have been built over the past five years.”

We believe that the city of Mentor made a smart decision in launching its International Trade Initiative, and commend everyone involved with this program for taking a thoughtful and energetic approach to seeking worldwide opportunities to bolster the city’s business environment.