Susan Crawford is a Communications Specialist for the Pacific North Region at the International Trade Administration
Do you know which Asia-Pacific nation has experienced 25 consecutive years of growth? Or which one has the world’s highest R&D investment per capita? Can you name the Asian powerhouse that recently liberalized its energy sector?
If you are an exporter from Northern California, and met a few of our senior commercial officers at one of several events last month, chances are you know the answers to these questions. Australia. Korea. Japan.
Asia is a such an important export market that the U.S. Commercial Service (CS) offices in Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay area jumped on the chance to host six of the CS’s Asia-based senior commercial officers for two days in Northern California.
The visiting officers were Doug Wallace from Sydney, Australia; Rosemary Gallant from Jakarta, Indonesia; Andrew Wylegala from Tokyo, Japan; David Gossack from Seoul, Korea; Catherine Spillman from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; and Gregory Wong from Bangkok, Thailand. Each officer manages CS operations in their respective location. They were joined by Commercial Officer and Executive Director, Asia, James Golsen, based in Washington, D.C.
The CS’s network of more than 100 domestic and 75 international offices work closely together to provide U.S. companies with a full range of export-related services including trade counseling, market intelligence and business matchmaking.
Through a series of presentations and networking events, the visiting officers educated local companies on the latest market trends and opportunities for U.S. products and services in their markets. The officers also toured Silicon Valley-based firms and witnessed the latest advances in U.S. manufacturing, biotech and artificial intelligence.
The CS Silicon Valley, San Rafael, San Francisco and Oakland offices organized a jam-packed agenda for the officers that included:
- Presentations at an Asian Business Forum at Dominican University’s Barowsky School of Business in San Rafael, followed by networking with 15 North Bay firms, graduate students and faculty.
- A reception with the Northern California District Export Council (DEC) and networking with 90 local companies (click here to learn more about the DEC’s mission to support the CS and promote exports).
- A tour of Foster City-based Gilead Sciences, a biopharmaceutical firm; and presentations and discussions on Asian market trends with Gilead, the California Life Sciences Association and five life science start-ups.
- Facility tours and export presentations at San Jose-based Jabil Blue Sky Center, a contract manufacturing firm; Santa Clara-based NVIDIA, an artificial intelligence computing company; and Sunnyvale-based Plug and Play Tech Center, a global innovation incubator.
Australia, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia and Thailand are just a handful of potential export markets to consider. For information on opportunities in Asia and the rest of the world, please view our County Commercial Guides.
Click here to find the nearest CS domestic office to obtain assistance in developing a strategy to help turn your export goals into reality.