This Wednesday, British High Commissioner Vicki Treadell hosts a business networking event at the University of Otago's Centre for Innovation.
Thirty Otago businesses and organisations have been invited, and up to 60 people will represent them.
On September 10, the day England plays Argentina at the new Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin, Mrs Treadell is expecting a "large UK delegation" to be visiting, including a UK government minister.
On September 22, just after England plays Georgia and before the Romanian match, a larger networking event hosted by the commission is planned in Dunedin to connect individual UK and Otago business people.
Mrs Treadell said yesterday that during the Rugby World Cup she wants to get visiting British business people together with their counterparts in Dunedin.
"We're asking Dunedin people, that if they know English business people who are visiting as rugby fans, to get in contact with us" through the Dunedin City Council's economic development unit, she said.
While trade links have traditionally been through primary sector exports, Mrs Treadell said the meetings before and during the Rugby World Cup would target high-tech and innovative industries, including life sciences, software and the information, communication and technology sector.
"We want to make a reconnection between Dunedin and the United Kingdom, including those with Scottish roots, and re-energise those relationships," she said in an interview yesterday.
By establishing links with British counterparts, Mrs Treadell said the UK could be seen as a gateway to wider trading opportunities in Europe, highlighting that 60% of investment into Europe goes through the UK already, and of that figure 60% goes into the information, communication and technology sector alone.
Since being appointed high commissioner about a year ago, Mrs Treadell has aimed to build up Asian trade links, upon which she believes New Zealand businesses could capitalise.
The UK is the world's sixth largest manufacturer, and second only to the United States in annual research and development spending. The high commission "wants to project a modern proposition" to expanding New Zealand companies, Mrs Treadell said.
The UK is already a top five investor in both China and India, and New Zealand companies could use its relationship with the UK as a gateway to those large, and growing, markets, she said.
