The biggest event in the business calendar for 60 years launched yesterday at UK Trade & Investment British Business Embassy, with prime minister David Cameron calling it a “shop window” for British business.

Opening the show, Mr Cameron said: “The Festival is the biggest showcase of British industry since 1951, and will act as a shop window for enterprise, for innovation and for creativity.

“We are on our way back as a country from the great recession. The strong British revival is not an accident – economies don’t snap back after a recession. We had a strong plan that we have stuck to, and will continue through to its conclusion.

“Getting SMEs to export is absolutely crucial. Currently one in five companies export, and if one in every four started exporting we would fix our trade deficit.”

The International Festival for Business will stage more than 300 events across the North West of England over 50 days in June and July.

The event is expected to attract 250,000 people from 80 countries to the UK.

The British Business Embassy hosted a number of showcased innovations, including a new version of the iconic Triumph Bonneville motorbike, the SOKOL space suit warn by Sandra Bullock in the film Gravity and Pavegen: an innovative flooring tile that converts kinetic energy from footsteps into renewable electricity.