We landed in Shanghai about 3 hours ago, following a 17+ hour travel day. As the old joke goes, no wonder my arms are tired. We took the "Great Circle" route, which meant we flew over Alaska for part of the trip; and even though the weather was clear, I was disappointed that I couldn't see Sarah Palin's house from the plane.
I read The Time Traveler's Wife on the flight from Detroit to Shanghai (and watched a couple of movies, and listened to my IPod, and slept for awhile, and walked around. . . I told you, it's a long flight). The book somehow seemed appropriate when I saw the title in the bookstore last week; I've been teasing my daughters that I was "traveling to the future," since Shanghai is 12 hours ahead of Indianapolis.
But I think the notion is true in another sense. China is well ahead of us on certain technologies and applications. Take the maglev train, for example -- oh, how I hope we get to take the maglev train. It's a 20-mile line that connects the Shanghai airport and downtown; hitting top speeds of 265 mph, the trip takes 7 minutes. We took a bus -- no doubt more convenient in some ways, especially with all our luggage -- but in light traffic, the trip took about 45 minutes. I don't think we have anything close to this train in the States; I think America's only "high speed train," Amtrak's Acela line on the northeast corridor, tops out in the low 120 mph range at top speed. That's about the speed of the high speed rail lines that folks are talking about in the Midwest.
The size and scope of Shanghai is mind-boggling. 20 million people live here; I bet more people live in housing units along the highway we took from the airport to our hotel than in all 10 counties in the Indianapolis region combined.
To trot out the tired cliche, the future is now in China in some of these areas. In other places and sectors, not so much. That means we have much to learn from each other, and the pursuit of opportunities in areas such as clean-tech technologies is just one of the things on our agenda this week. If we build the right relationships and engage the right sectors, we really are traveling to our future on this trip.
Our mission officially kicks off in less than 10 hours -- Monday morning at 8:00 a.m., with a briefing from the U.S. consulate. From 9:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., we will be hearing presentations from Cummins and its suppliers in China, many of whom are considering U.S. investment options. After that, we'll meet with the Zhejiang Chamber of Commerce in the afternoon, followed by an evening reception with members of the Hoosier Club of Shanghai -- alumni of Indiana colleges and universities. We have good representation from two of our premier research universities: IU President Michael McRobbie is with us, as is Purdue's Vice Provost for Engagement, Vic Lechtenberg. In between all of those sessions, I have a couple one-on-one meetings scheduled for the day; one with a Chinese business consultant who has worked other U.S. states on business development strategies here, and one with a Purdue alum who now runs a venture capital firm here.
A good, full day lies ahead tomorrow, and I can't wait to see what the future has in store for us!
I read The Time Traveler's Wife on the flight from Detroit to Shanghai (and watched a couple of movies, and listened to my IPod, and slept for awhile, and walked around. . . I told you, it's a long flight). The book somehow seemed appropriate when I saw the title in the bookstore last week; I've been teasing my daughters that I was "traveling to the future," since Shanghai is 12 hours ahead of Indianapolis.
But I think the notion is true in another sense. China is well ahead of us on certain technologies and applications. Take the maglev train, for example -- oh, how I hope we get to take the maglev train. It's a 20-mile line that connects the Shanghai airport and downtown; hitting top speeds of 265 mph, the trip takes 7 minutes. We took a bus -- no doubt more convenient in some ways, especially with all our luggage -- but in light traffic, the trip took about 45 minutes. I don't think we have anything close to this train in the States; I think America's only "high speed train," Amtrak's Acela line on the northeast corridor, tops out in the low 120 mph range at top speed. That's about the speed of the high speed rail lines that folks are talking about in the Midwest.
The size and scope of Shanghai is mind-boggling. 20 million people live here; I bet more people live in housing units along the highway we took from the airport to our hotel than in all 10 counties in the Indianapolis region combined.
To trot out the tired cliche, the future is now in China in some of these areas. In other places and sectors, not so much. That means we have much to learn from each other, and the pursuit of opportunities in areas such as clean-tech technologies is just one of the things on our agenda this week. If we build the right relationships and engage the right sectors, we really are traveling to our future on this trip.
Our mission officially kicks off in less than 10 hours -- Monday morning at 8:00 a.m., with a briefing from the U.S. consulate. From 9:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., we will be hearing presentations from Cummins and its suppliers in China, many of whom are considering U.S. investment options. After that, we'll meet with the Zhejiang Chamber of Commerce in the afternoon, followed by an evening reception with members of the Hoosier Club of Shanghai -- alumni of Indiana colleges and universities. We have good representation from two of our premier research universities: IU President Michael McRobbie is with us, as is Purdue's Vice Provost for Engagement, Vic Lechtenberg. In between all of those sessions, I have a couple one-on-one meetings scheduled for the day; one with a Chinese business consultant who has worked other U.S. states on business development strategies here, and one with a Purdue alum who now runs a venture capital firm here.
A good, full day lies ahead tomorrow, and I can't wait to see what the future has in store for us!
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