Mike Skelton, director,
Mayor’s Office of International Business, attended the third SelectUSA
Investment Summit in Washington, D.C. June 19-21 sponsored by the US Department
of Commerce in order to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to the U.S. The
event attendance was 2,400 people, half of which were U.S. state and local
economic development agencies and half foreign companies in delegations
sponsored by U.S. Ambassadors from 70 countries. While there he had five face
to face meetings with FDI prospect companies and a meeting with Mr. Nozomu
Takaoka, former Consul General of Japan in Houston, who is now the Japanese
Executive Director of the new Japanese SME (Small and Medium Enterprises)
Support Office, a globalization project which focuses on the U.S. as a
destination market for Japanese SMEs.

The founder and President of
the Small and Medium Business Development Chamber of India visited Richardson
September 15-19. Meetings were set
up with various business leaders and economic development staff to develop a
business relationship between our organizations and help Indian SMB companies
set up their US operation in Richardson. Our Indian guest met with Mayor Paul Voelker
and City management, Bill Sproull, Charlie Chen, George Brody and RCC International
Concierge Committee Tri-Chairs. He also attended the Tech Titans Innovation
Team “Next Big Thing” speaker series meeting on September 15 and networked with
several Tech Titans members. A MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) is being
drafted to formalize the bi-lateral relationship to bring Indian SMB companies
to Richardson and to help Richardson and Tech Titans companies do business in
India.

The RCC International Concierge Committee, the Tech
Titans Programs Committee and Reading UK CIC (Richardson’s UK economic
development partner) collaborated on producing the speaker and panel discussion
entitled “Brexit: End of the World or a Great Business Opportunity” on
September 30. The event was hosted at Cisco’s telepresence room in Richardson
with a live video connection with Cisco’s Reading, England office. The event
featured the following: The Honorable Karen Bell, UK Consul General from
Houston, Mark Wynne, Senior Economist of the Dallas Federal Reserve, Chris
Dodson, CEO of Tortech Group, and Nigel Horton-Baker, Executive Director of the
Reading UK Community Interest Company. After the keynote addresses a panel
discussion was held with Dennis McCuistion, Professor at UT Dallas and host of
the PBS program the McCuistion Show as moderator and panelists Chris McFarland,
CEO of Masergy Communications, Harold Clarke, UT Dallas Professor, and Greg
Webb, Partner at Haynes & Boone law firm. 60 people attended the two-and-a-half-hour
event in Richardson as well as 12 in Reading.

Skelton participated in the TexasOne delegation visit
to Japan October 2-6. The delegation
hosted two receptions and a lunch seminar in Tokyo during the visit, which
attracted over 300 Japanese company executives interested in learning about
Texas as a location to expand their business in the U.S. While in Tokyo, the delegation
also visited the U.S. Embassy to meet with SelectUSA officials, the
headquarters of the Central Japan Railway Company that is working with Texas to
build a high speed rail system from Dallas to Houston.

The DFW contingent of the TexasOne delegation
with Aichi Governor Ohmura. Left to right: Joe Chaparral, Irving Chamber of
Commerce; Sally Bane, Plano Economic Development; Governor Ohmura, Harry
Whalen, Frisco Economic Development; Mike Skelton

The delegation also visited Aichi Prefecture, a one-and-a-half-hour
bullet train ride from Tokyo, to meet with Governor Hideaki
Ohmura, as a follow up to Texas Governor Greg Abbott signing an MOU with
Governor Ohmura in April. Aichi Prefecture is the home of Toyota’s and
Mitsubishi Aircraft Company’s. Japan headquarters, both of whom have
established a presence in North Texas. 

After the TexasOne delegation ended, Skelton stayed in
Japan and made visits to several potential FDI prospects and partners who can
provide FDI leads. Included in the meetings were: the city of Ota, Japan’s
Industrial Promotion Organization that has the highest concentration of SME
manufacturing companies in the Tokyo area; the Japan Chamber of Commerce and
Industry; the General Manager of KDDI Corporation Global ICT Business Division
(Japan’s second largest telecom company next to NTT); Hitachi Water Systems
management team and executives from Fujitsu Network Communications that has a
large Richardson operation. Skelton also met with CEOs of Japanese companies
Miura Corporation and Shikino High Tech that have plans to open offices in U.S.,
and attended the CEATEC ICT conference in Tokyo to meet with Japan SelectUSA
reps and visit the booths of Japanese companies with Richardson offices.

As a follow up to a meeting Skelton had at the
SelectUSA Investment Summit in Washington, D.C. in June, he again met with Mr.
Nozomu Takaoka, Managing Director of the Japanese SME Support Office and former
Japanese Consul General in Houston. Mr. Takaoka and Skelton discussed
establishment of a pilot program between Richardson and the SME Support Office
to assist Japanese SMEs to expand their business into the U.S. through
Richardson.

After the Japan portion of the FDI trip, Skelton flew
to Taipei, Taiwan and attended business meetings October 13-15 arranged and
accompanied by Charlie Chen, 2015 RCC Chairman. 
Charlie arranged meetings with officials of the Taiwanese Overseas
Community Affairs Council, executives of Winstron, an ACER Computer Company
spin-off high tech repair company with operations in DFW, officials at the US
Commercial Service/SelectUSA Taiwan office, and the HsinChu Science Park.