Report to: Development Services Committee Report Date:
June 2, 2009
SUBJECT: TMTA
Markham Business Mission
to China:
Report on Mission Outcomes
PREPARED BY: J.
Livey and C. Kakaflikas
RECOMMENDATION:
That report entitled the TMTA
Markham Business Mission to China:
Report on Mission Outcomes be received for information; and
That Staff be authorized and
directed to do all things necessary to give effect to this resolution.
PURPOSE:
The purpose of this report is to
inform Council on the outcomes of Markham’s
participation in the Trillium Medical Technologies Association’s business
mission to Shenzhen and Hong Kong in April 2009.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
In summary, Markham
staff made approximately 250
contacts during the course of the mission. Staff are sending follow up letters
to 100 contacts and following up on: a private sector expression of interest in
locating in Markham; a Jiaotong University delegation in May; a potential
R&D leads from trade show; inquiries about an NCMDD partnership in Tianjin;
and cross-promotional initiatives with Yangpu, Canada Hong Kong Chamber of
Commerce, Canadian Consulates, Canada China Business Council. There were over
50,000 attendees at the trade show. Promotional materials distributed at the
show included 500 Markham brochures (bilingual) and 500
Markham DVDs (in Mandarin). Markham’s DVD was also played on a large screen monitor
during the entire trade show.
BACKGROUND:
Further to a staff report to
Development Services Committee dated February 3rd, Members of
Council authorized Markham staff to
participate in the TMTA’s business mission to China
April 13-23rd. The purpose of Markham’s
involvement in the TMTA’s mission was to participate in the China International
Medical Equipment Fair, for the purposes of promoting Markham
as a preferred investment location for medical technology and other related
high-tech companies. In addition, Markham’s
main objectives for the mission were as follows:
1. Promote Markham (and NCMDD) as
preferred investment location and strategic partnering opportunities
2. Strengthen business awareness of Markham with Canadian and Chinese medical
technology providers
3. Strengthen business links with Markham’s economic alliance partners in China
4. Further identify opportunities to
increase investment and trade
5. Raise awareness about Markham’s competitive advantages and
investment opportunities
OPTIONS/ DISCUSSION:
Key Business Meetings and Events –
Hong Kong
Canadian Medical Technology Mission
Briefing – Speakers included Ms. Shalini Anand, Vice Consul of Consulate
General of Canada, Mr. Cho Wong, Managing Director, Healthcare-HK, IDS
(HK) Ltd., Mr. Mark Lau, Senior Electronics Engineer of the Medical Device
Control Office, Department of Health, and Mr. Frank Wan, Chairman
of the Hong Kong Biotechnology Association. The presentation topics included: an
overview of doing business in Hong Kong; the Medical
Device Administrative Control System in Hong Kong; and
Intellectual Property, legal and business practices in Hong Kong
and Mainland China.
Hong Kong
Science and Technology Park
Site Visit and Business Partnering Event
Delegates met with officials from
the Hong Kong Science and Technology Park,
a full service centre offering innovative and technology-driven infrastructure
and support including incubation facilities for start-up technology companies.
The Science Park
also recently launched its Biotech Centre, a 200,000-square-foot centre,
incorporating two dedicated life science buildings. Delegates had the
opportunity to tour the new Biotech Centre which provides cutting-edge
equipment and wet laboratory facilities for shared use, technical engineering
support and an SME centre. To date, the Hong Kong
government has invested $1.1 Billion in phase I and II with one more phase to
be completed.
After meeting with Science
Park officials, delegates joined
members of the Hong Kong Medical and Healthcare Devices Industries Association
(HKMHDIA) for a business networking luncheon. Over 20 pre-qualified business
people attended along with representatives of the Science
Park, the Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute
Company Limited (ASTRI), and the Consulate General of Canada.
Hospital
Authority
Delegates met with Ms. May Yip,
Chief Supplies Officer for the Hospital Authority (HA). The HA is responsible
for the management of all public hospitals in HK and is the single buyer of all
medical products for all public hospitals. Ms. Yip provided delegates with an
overview of the purchasing department and its policies and procedures.
Business Partnering Breakfast
Session
Sixty-five pre-qualified business
people from Hong Kong joined the TMTA delegates and the
Canadian Consulate for a business information and partnering session. The
session featured presentations from each of the Canadian delegates including
the Town of Markham. Each delegates
had 5 minutes to present information about their respective products and
services. The presentations were followed by a Q&A session after which the
group separated into smaller one-on-one meetings. The Town of Markham
was matched with four companies who expressed interest in learning more about Markham
and about the National Centre for Medical Device Development.
Meeting with International
Trade Minister Stockwell Day
TMTA delegates attended a private
meeting with Minister Stockwell Day to brief him on the opportunities and
challenges of doing business in Asia and to advise on
how the Ministry can better assist Canadian companies to compete
internationally. TMTA President Mr. Christian Dubé spoke on behalf of the
Canadian medical devices industry and stressed that SMEs need the support of
the federal government to participate at international trade fairs such as the
Canadian Medical Equipment Fair in Shenzhen.
Canada
Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce Business
Luncheon
Minister Stockwell Day was the
keynote speaker at a business luncheon organized by the Canada Hong Kong
Chamber of Commerce. The Canadian Chamber in Hong Kong
is the largest Canadian Chamber outside of Canada.
The event was attended by over 200 business representatives with interests in Canada,
Hong Kong SAR, and China.
The luncheon was a sold out event with attendees from a broad spectrum of
business. The luncheon was an opportunity for Markham
to build on the relationship we started with the Chamber in 2008 to raise
awareness about Markham’s strengths
as an investment location among its members. Economic
Development will continue to work with the Chamber on
cross-promotional opportunities.
Key Business Meetings and Events –
Shenzhen
Site visit and Courtesy call to
Huawei
Markham
officials visited the Huawei campus in Shenzhen as a courtesy call to
demonstrate appreciation for Huawei’s investments in Markham
and to promote Markham as a
competitive location for further investment. Delegates were guided on a site
visit of the Huawei campus and met with Huawei officials. Huawei employs nearly
100,000 people worldwide, approximately 50% of whom are engaged in R&D. The
Shenzhen headquarters – covering nearly 1.3 kilometres - employs approximately
40,000 people, 3,000 of whom live on campus in an employee residence. The
campus also houses a hotel, a large restaurant, an executive training centre
and a university.
Since locating in Markham
in 2008, Huawei has doubled its office space and hired 109 staff, 95 of
whom were hired locally. Huawei plans to continue expanding in Markham
as well as in Ottawa, Calgary,
Vancouver and Edmonton.
Business Partnering Event
organized by TMTA
TMTA commissioned the services of
a local consulting firm to facilitate business matching for delegates.
Delegates were given the opportunity to interact with over 20 qualified
business representatives to explore potential investment and trade
opportunities.
IBM
Meeting
Markham Delegates visited the IBM
operations in Shenzhen Futian Free Trade Zone. Shenzhen,
one of the Special Economic Zones, is the pioneer for China's open door policy. Shenzhen Free Trade Zone (SZFTZ)
comprises three state-level free trade zones, namely Futian, Shatoujiao and
Yantian Port with total planned area of 2.47 km2 FFTZ is located in the southern area of
Shenzhen and has a direct link to Hong Kong via Lok Ma Chau Bridge. FFTZ
remains the only FTZ in China that has direct access to non- Mainland territory. IBM’s Shenzhen operations support IBM’s hardware business and focus on Intel-based servers. IBM has a customer solutions centre and a manufacturing centre in Shenzhen.
IBM employs 2300 people in Shenzhen and 82% are between
the ages of 20-30 years old. The visit was meant to demonstrate support for IBM’s global operations and to learn more about China’s Free Trade Zone model.
China
Medical Equipment Fair - Opening Ceremonies
CMEF has become the largest
exhibition of medical equipment, related products and services in the
Asia-Pacific region. The exhibition covers ten thousands of products such as
medical imaging, in vitro diagnosis, electronics, optics, first aid,
rehabilitation nursing, medical information technology and outsourcing
services, and it provides services to the entire medical industry chain from
the source to the end of the medical equipment industry. Over 50,000 visitors
attended during the course of the four-day show. TMTA delegates were part of a
large Canadian pavilion and were each provided with a booth to display their
products and materials. Markham was
the only municipality in Canada
to participate in the trade show. Other international jurisdictions such as Bavaria,
Baden-Wurttemberg, Scotland,
Italy, Spain,
United Kingdom,
Korea, United
States, and more participated in the Fair. Markham
staff were on-site to answer questions about doing business in the municipality
and distributed bilingual marketing materials to interested visitors. In
addition, the Mandarin version of the Markham’s
latest promotional DVD played on a nearby
screen for the entire event. In total, 500 copies of our brochure were
distributed as well as over 400 DVDs.
During the fair, Markham
staff also met with representatives from Wuhan
(one of Markham’s sister cities)
and Jiaotong University
(Markham delegates visited Jiaotong
University in 2008 while in Shanghai).
In total, staff fielded over 100
inquiries about the Town of Markham
during the course of the mission. Of the 100 inquiries, staff are following up
on five investment leads generated from the fair.
Key Political Meetings and Events
Yangpu
John Livey met with officials from
Yangpu District to advance the Memorandum of Understanding signed by Yangpu and
Markham in 2008. Discussions focused on encouraging more business visits
between Yangpu and Markham and on facilitating medical and educational
exchanges. Staff are following up with the Markham
Stouffville Hospital
and the International Division of the York Region District School Board which
has agreed to take the lead on student and teacher exchanges. Economic
Development staff will work with the Yangpu Foreign Affairs
Office on cross-promotional opportunities.
Jiangmen
Christina Kakaflikas met with
officials from the Jiangmen Bureau of Foreign investment and the Bureau of
Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation. In 2008, K.Y. Ho, Founder of ATI
Technologies (now AMD) introduced Mayor
Scarpitti and Economic Development staff to a
delegation from Jiangmen to discuss ways in which Markham and Jiangment could
work together to facilitate trade and investment between our municipalities.
The visit in 2009 was a reciprocal visit and builds on discussions that took
place in Markham last year.
Next Steps:
Economic Development staff are following up on business opportunities
generated from the mission including:
–
Following-up
on potential investment leads
–
Collaborating
with TMTA delegations on receiving inbound delegations from China. A delegation from Jiaotong University will visit Markham late May
–
Working
with international partners such as the Canadian Consulates and the Canada Hong
Kong Chamber of Commerce to market Markham and its businesses in China and Hong Kong S.A.R.
–
Meeting
with local partners including the International Division of the York Region
District School Board, Markham Stouffville hospital, York University and industry associations to
address business and development opportunities with Yangpu (Shanghai)
–
Incorporating
market-specific information on our web site
ALIGNMENT
WITH STRATEGIC PRIORITIES:
The Medical
Technology Mission to China
is an integral part of the Town’s 10-Year Economic Strategy, “Markham 2020”.
The Mission program focused on one of Markham’s
4 targeted economic sectors, ICT & Life Sciences Convergence, and addressed
the objective of building Global Markham and Branded Markham.
DEPARTMENTS CONSULTED
AND AFFECTED:
Not Applicable.
RECOMMENDED BY:
__________________________ ________________________________
John Livey, F.C.I.P., R.P.P. Jim Baird, M.C.I.P.,
R.P.P.
Chief Administrative Officer Commissioner of
Development Services
