Teesside businesses can see digital tools for importing and exporting in action at a free demonstration at Teesside International Airport on Wednesday 21 October. The two-hour session runs from 9.30am to 11.30am and is open to the public.
Teesside University is directing the event towards businesses already trading internationally, as well as firms considering exporting for the first time. Visitors are due to see examples covering trade documents, logistics and finance, with time to speak to specialists and other businesses about the practical obstacles they face.
A working demonstration of everyday trade
The focus is on the less visible work behind moving goods across borders. Businesses can be asked to enter the same information into several systems, assemble document packs and correct errors that hold up a shipment. The university says the demonstrations will show ways to reduce repeated data entry, improve the reliability of documents and make different systems work together.
The Digital Trade Testbed gives companies and technology partners a place to try those approaches before changing their normal operations. That matters for smaller firms which may not have the time, staff or budget for a large digital project. The organisers describe the session as practical and aimed at helping businesses understand where time is lost now, what a better process might look like and what first steps are realistic.
What is being tested at the airport
Teesside University describes the testbed as the UK's first real-world environment dedicated to testing and deploying digital trade systems. It is based at the airport and backed by £3.5 million from Freeport Seed Capital. Its work includes secure digital documents, shared data standards, trusted identities and registers, supply-chain information and analytics.
The university is delivering the programme with and Teesside Freeport, with support from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and the International Centre for Digital Trade and Innovation. The longer-term aim is to let businesses, government bodies and technology providers test systems in an operating trade environment, then use from those trials to shape future services and standards.
Previous work at the testbed has included an export workflow pilot for small and medium-sized businesses trading with Japan, digital trade-finance trials and into tracking the physical location and condition of goods. The 21 October event is not presented as the launch of a finished product. It is a chance to inspect current demonstrations and ask how the developing capability might apply to a particular business.
Time, place and booking
The event takes place at Teesside International Airport, Darlington DL2 1LU, from 9.30am to 11.30am on Wednesday 21 October 2026. Teesside University's event page says it is public and no booking is required. A separate Eventbrite listing offers free tickets, so anyone planning to attend may wish to check the latest organiser instructions before travelling. The named university contact is David Hughes at d.j.hughes@tees.ac.uk.
The expected benefits described by the organisers, including fewer errors and less administration, are aims for the technology rather than guaranteed savings for every firm. Businesses attending should be able to see the processes first-hand, question the people developing them and find out whether future pilots or support programmes are relevant to their own trade.