Stoke-on-Trent’s newly announced Enterprise Zone, which could create over 7,000 new jobs for the city, will be promoted to dozens of companies at an international trade show in the United States this coming April.

For the second year running a group of businesses from the Potteries, supported by Stoke-on-Trent City Council through the Make It Stoke-on-Trent & Staffordshire Inward Investment Service, will take part in the Ceramics Expo in Cleveland, Ohio.

The city will be marketed as the ‘World Capital of Ceramics’ at the event, which will be attended by up to 200 companies and is the largest technical ceramics trade show in the world.

Up to five companies from Stoke-on-Trent are expected to take part at the three-day show in April, which the council says offers a unique opportunity for companies to meet some of the world’s most important players in the advanced ceramics sector.

The Ceramic Valley, a series of six employment sites along the A500, was recently named as one of 26 new and extended Enterprise Zones (EZs) in Chancellor George Osborne’s Spending Review. Businesses in the Enterprise Zone will be able to access a range of benefits including business rate discounts and enhanced tax allowances.

Spanning 140 hectares of mostly brownfield employment land, it will be the country’s first zone to focus on high-technology ceramics.

Councillor Janine Bridges, cabinet member for education and economy at the city council, said:

“The awarding of the Enterprise Zone will have so many positive benefits for the area, from the jobs and growth it will create to raising the profile of the city far and wide. In addition, the proposal to set up a ceramics-based ‘research and development to commercialisation’ facility will truly make Stoke-on-Trent the world innovator in ceramics once more.

“The six sites in the Enterprise Zone have all the ingredients to host a truly unique development. Looking for overseas investment in the zone will form a crucial part of our strategy, which is why we will be showcasing it at places like the Ceramics Expo and making sure everyone knows about our extraordinary potential.”

Ohio is home to the American Ceramic Society and along with its surrounding states has become the central hub for innovative ceramic manufacturers and supply chain companies in the USA.

The event is a commercial trade show for all raw materials, equipment, machinery and technology used within the ceramic manufacturing supply chain.

It is attended by technical leaders, production directors, engineers, project leaders, buyers and senior executives interested in exploring the latest ceramic manufacturing innovations from industries including transportation, electronics, military and aerospace.

Three Stoke-on-Trent firms attended the event in 2015, which was described by the investment service as the most successful they have ever been to.

Two of the three companies secured promising sales leads. One enterprise is in the process of moving its US world headquarters and its Czech manufacturing plant to Stoke-on-Trent, while negotiations are still under way with another two companies (one US, one Canadian) about a possible investment into Stoke-on-Trent.

Fenton-based James Kent Group, which attended the Expo this year, will be making its second appearance in 2016.

John Longmore, technical sales manager, said:

“Following a successful Cleveland Expo in 2015 for the James Kent Group, we are a more than willing participant for the 2016 event.

“We are hoping to meet up with the contacts we made last year and hopefully establish new ones in 2016. It is a unique event that caters for the niche markets our company operates in, namely technical glasses and ceramics for aerospace and automotive applications.”