It is early Sunday morning in Beijing, early Saturday evening back home in Ottawa, and I am having one of those goose bump moments that are rare in the world of economic development. In my business, it is seldom that you are able to see immediate cause and effect to your actions. Our job is to develop strategies and tactics that often take years to pay off and particularly in today’s world of global supply chains and global competitiveness. But as I sit here this Sunday morning, watching Phil Mickelson make his charge for the lead in the third round of the 2010 Masters (remember the 12 hour time difference), I am feeling that years of hard work are paying off.

In September of 2006, OCRI launched its China program with a trip to Shenzhen, Xiamen, Shanghai and Beijing. OCRI had focussed programs in the United States and Europe. It was increasingly evident that the world was changing and any true global strategy would have to address the increasing influence of the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) economies. Our analysis showed clearly that China was likely to be our strategic third option (after our domestic and the US markets) but that Ottawa was like a grain of sand on the beach of China’s economic awakening.

How do you start? We had been warned that it would be a long journey. We were looking at a country with well over a billion people. It was half way around the world and 12 time zones away. Few of our companies had been successful there. Many of our companies looked at the challenges of culture and IP enforcement and said that it wasn’t worth the battle. This wasn’t the United States - an excellent product with a solid value proposition would not get you in the game. This was a land of relationships.

And the journey did prove long, we are now 3 ½ years later and I am making my eighth visit. Relationship building takes commitment and time. It is the first visit for our new CEO Claude Haw. The staff that we dealt with at the Canadian Embassy in Beijing have completely turned over. One of our earliest friends at the Z-Park in Beijing, Dr. Xia, retired this winter and it is our first meeting with his replacement Zhou Yunfan.  Three years ago, Mayor Larry O’Brien, accompanying us on this trip, was still a businessman in a seemingly impossible campaign for Mayor. China was a place on the map, for the companies with us, not yet considered a strategic market. Accredited Destination Status looked like a distant dream putting our tourism sector at a distinct disadvantage. My China Project Manager, Sophie Chen was just getting married, never mind preparing to return after maternity leave. Joan Sun, doing a tremendous job of replacing Sophie during her maternity leave, was still busy raising her daughter with only vague ideas of setting up her Canada China consulting company.

So why the goose bumps this morning? Our early research proved that we needed a competitive advantage and an entry point. Consequently, our emphasis on ICT and Ottawa’s emerging cleantech sector. Ottawa had a Sister City agreement signed in 1999 with Beijing making Beijing our obvious city of concentration.

What has been achieved in the last three days? Our Mayors have recommitted to the agreement signed in 1999, moving our cities to a new level of cooperation. Our Mayor met with members of the team of artisans that will travel to Ottawa next week to begin construction of the Chinese Arch that will be placed at the entrance to Ottawa’s Chinatown. It has been presented to Ottawa and Canada by Beijing and China to celebrate the 40^th anniversary of the modern Canada China diplomatic relationship. Our tourism organization signed an agreement with their sister organization here linking the UNESCO World Heritage sites of the Great Wall and the Rideau Canal. OCRI signed an MOU with the Beijing Investment and Promotion Bureau to increase cooperation in investment between the two cities.

Our Mayor loves to show off Ottawa, a global example of a sustainable city. My count is that we have commitments of at least five organizations from Beijing to visit Ottawa this year to continue our discussions on building green cities, cross investment between our companies and encouraging science and technology cooperation. Not that I needed more work, but in a virtual world, it is still person to person contact that cements a relationship and moves it forward.

Mayor O’Brien is also a successful technology entrepreneur and that agenda was moved forward. Two of our cleantech companies significantly moved their Beijing agendas forward, Plasco and Clearford. Wesley Clover, a company owned by Ottawa’s most successful ICT entrepreneur, Terry Matthews, used the opportunity to build its network in Beijing and move forward its investment plans in China. Ottawa companies are being successful in China.

As a bonus, I received an invitation to the official opening of Huawei’s Ottawa R&D Centre on the same day that Huawei was presenting to a seminar in Beijing on the advantages of doing R&D in Ottawa and Canada. Chinese companies are discovering Ottawa.

I had a premonition that this trip would bring it all together for our China strategy when I was able to upgrade to Business Class on my entire Air Canada flight from Ottawa to Beijing, a rare event as any frequent flier knows. But I never dreamed that I would see a three and a half year journey, involving so many people, working against incredible odds, come together to produce the results of the last few days. It is a great feeling, even if I am half way around the world from home. Now Claude and Mayor O’Brien will probably expect an encore!

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The agreement outlines the intent of both parties to work together to promote economic exchange and cooperation between Ottawa and Beijing.

“By signing this agreement, we confirm our intention to develop long term and beneficial working relationships with the city of Beijing,” says Claude Haw, President and CEO, OCRI. “We look forward to working with the Beijing Investment Promotion Bureau to promote trade, investment and cooperation between our great cities.”

On April 6, Ottawa Mayor Larry O’Brien, along with nine local companies and representatives from Ottawa Tourism and OCRI, embarked on the trade mission to encourage cooperation between Ottawa and China in a number of sectors including ICT and clean technologies, and to encourage increased Chinese investment in Ottawa-based companies. The mission, coordinated by OCRI, the city’s lead economic development agency, will strengthen existing relationships and further establish Ottawa as a valuable strategic partner.

On the same day, Ottawa Mayor Larry O’Brien signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Mayor of Beijing marking the start of a very successful mission. 

Monday, the delegation will travel to Chongqing to meet with senior municipal officials, trade commissioners and companies followed by two days of meetings in Shenzhen. The mission wraps up in Hong Kong on April 16th.

For regular updates on the Mission to China please visit http://ocriblogs.com/ .

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About OCRI:

Leading the way for Ottawa, OCRI is the city’s economic development agency. OCRI is the rallying point to bring business, education, research and talent together to create the winning economic conditions that allow Ottawa’s knowledge-based companies to thrive locally and compete globally. At OCRI we promote sustainable economic development to maintain our high quality of life. For more information on OCRI visit our website at www.ocri.ca and for more information on the Ottawa Region please visit www.ottawaregion.com. In 2010, Ottawa was named one of the world’s top seven intelligent communities by the Intelligent Community Forum (ICF).

For information contact:

Kim Cunningham
Manager, External Communications
OCRI
Office: (613) 828-6274 ext. 256
Cell: (613) 851-0768
kcunningham@ocri.ca

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It’s early morning and the delegation gathers in the hotel lobby ready to start the real work. I would say bright eyed and bushy tailed, but the long flight and the 12 hour time difference has most of us moving a bit slowly. We start the day with the team split into two groups. The Mayor will go to the Urban Planning Exhibition Hall to learn about the history of Beijing and to prepare him for meetings with various Beijing city organizations and his visit with Mayor Guo, while the companies travelling with the Mayor head to the Canadian Embassy in Beijing.

Mayor of Ottawa, Larry O'Brien presents gift to Mayor Guo of Beijing

At the Embassy, we are met by Majid Dellah who has been the Embassy lead for the planning of our mission. Inside the Embassy, we are met by several Trade Commissioners (TC) at the Embassy. They represent ICT, cleantech, tourism and investment across China, essentially the entire Beijing TC team is there.

We are fortunate to be visiting literally weeks after the latest Party Congress. China has re-affirmed its commitment, and budget allocation, to our key sectors of ICT and the green economy. Prime Minister Harper’s recent visit not only confirmed Canada’s support to the growing Sino Canadian trade and investment relationship, but also moved Canada closer to Approved Destination Status, a key element to Ottawa’s tourism strategy. Our Mayor’s visit to Beijing adds weight to the growing relationships being developed between Ottawa and Beijing under the Ottawa-Beijing sister city relationship, signed in 1999.

It was planned that each company would give a short outline of their company, their objectives from this visit and their long term strategy in China. The TC’s would then explain individual sector opportunities. But the discussions begin almost immediately. So much for a planned and orderly introduction process!  The companies are anxious to get talking and the Trade Commissioners have been pumped by Majid that OCRI has prepared them well and they are here to succeed. About an hour and a half was allocated to this process, but the talk just seems to have started when we are joined by the Mayor’s group and our Ambassador to China, David Mulroney.

Noel Buckley, Ottawa Tourism, Mayor of Ottawa Larry O'Brien and Ambassador to China David Mulroney in discussion at Canadian Embassy in Beijing

Ambassador Mulroney confirms the enthusiasm of his staff about the future of the Canada China trade investment, tourism and science and technology relationships. The city-to-city relationship established between Ottawa and Beijing, and the backing of that relationship evident by this visit by Mayor O’Brien, are the tactics needed to implement a strong China strategy.

We get an extra treat from the Ambassador. The Embassy has been working on a new program to promote China opportunities to be launched next week in a cross-Canada speaking tour. We are the beta audience and some of the stats seem incredible. China today consumes 70% of the world’s iron ore production. Of the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) countries, China is the clear winner as we emerge from the global financial crisis. With our abundant natural resources, good governance and a sound financial system, Canada is one of the three countries topping China’s areas of interest. The Ottawa China strategy fits well into Ambassador Mulroney’s eight rules for success with its emphasis on high level commitment, partnership, an understanding of China, while coming at the relationship with a Canadian perspective. This builds on the support of his staff in pushing our mission, promoting cross investment in our companies and leveraging our technology leadership and innovation.

A casual lunch with the Ambassador and our Trade Commissioner hosts helps our companies better understand the opportunity and how they can be successful. We are a bit jet lagged, but pumped as we begin our meetings with Chinese organizations and companies.

Rod Bryden, President of Plasco presents Sens Jersey to Mayor Guo of Beijing

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Ottawa Hello from 36,000 feet over the Canadian Rockies!

We were up bright and early before dawn and arrived at the airport just at daybreak, weather looking good for a flight to the other side of the world. It’s very exciting to be going to China, if only we had the Enterprise transporter working by now. Five plus hours to Vancouver, three hour wait and then another 11 hours to Beijing is the pain before the gain on a typical trade and investment mission. This brings back memories of long flights to distant lands to meet important customers back in the heady days of the telecom boom during the 90s.

Waiting at the airport on my just in time arrival (I don’t like to spend extra time at airports), is our mission team including the Mayor of Ottawa and his advisor. At the request of OCRI, Mayor Larry O’Brien has agreed to lead a trade and investment mission to four cities in China over the next 10 days. Travelling to Asia is old-hat for the Mayor, having visited many times in his business persona, but this is his first time to China as the Mayor of the capital city of a G8 country.

So far, we have been treated very well by the Chinese with letters of invitation, visas and itineraries produced efficiently and as requested. Thankfully, we have the tireless Joan Sun as our coordinator for the mission. She not only took care of many of the protocol and logistics items but was willing and able to call Beijing at all times of the day and night to get everything ready for our trip.

The trade and investment mission includes: Mayor Larry O’Brien and Robert Thompson, the mayor’s advisor; OCRI; Ottawa Tourism; and eleven companies from the investment, Cleantech and ICT sectors. Representing OCRI is Mike Darch, Executive Director, Global Marketing, OCRI who is on his fifth mission to China over the past five years; Joan Sun, OCRI China Program Manager; and myself, Claude Haw, President and CEO, OCRI on my first trade mission since joining OCRI last year. Representing Ottawa Tourism is Noel Buckley, President, a frequent traveler to Asia and other areas of the world whose tourism perspective is very valuable.

While in China we hope to secure a number of new agreements and reaffirm others including the Sister City Cooperation agreement between Ottawa and Beijing. We will be meeting with groups of investors looking for bilateral investment opportunities, municipal officials considering alternatives for water, energy and waste infrastructure projects and companies looking for the latest innovation in information and communications technologies.

This is the first of many blogs from the mission to China.  Look for insight from a number of participants on the trip. Everyone will have their own stories to tell!

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It seemed strange to leave Ottawa in sunny early morning, travel almost around the clock in sunlight to arrive in Beijing mid-afternoon of the next day. We were well received in China with the coordinator from the Beijing Foreign Office  coming to the airport to meet us. After traveling nearly 12,000 km, this was a wonderful personal touch.

First impressions of Beijing from a sleep-deprived state of mind was …. well a fog actually, not the crystal clear air of the Rockies at least. The route from the airport downtown was very much that of a modern city with many tall buildings, both commercial office towers and residential, a few older apartment buildings and much more English writing on buildings than I expected. Mid-afternoon traffic from the airport to our hotel in central Beijing was moderate to heavy but moved well. There were bicycles and motorbikes on the road but not a huge number. The block around the hotel holds dealerships for Ferrari, Lamborghini and Aston Martin, shops for Gucci, etc. and even a Starbucks.

People at the airport, on roads, streets and hotel seem courteous and friendly. The Regent Hotel people were very helpful and fast on check-in. There was whole contingent at the door to welcome the Mayor including the hotel manager. Our home for the next five days and four nights looks to be excellent.

Lucky for us the itinerary for our first short day was to get settled in our hotel, get a briefing from the Vice Counsel from the Canadian Embassy in Beijing followed by a light dinner and then off to bed to attempt to synchronize our body clock with the local time. Asking my body to stay awake for more than 24 hours was so much easier a couple of decades ago – oh to be 30 again!

More to come after a very full day tomorrow….

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Tomorrow, Claude Haw, President and CEO of OCRI, will speak about Ottawa’s Innovation Strategy in greater detail at the Mayor’s Breakfast at Ottawa City Hall.  Facts are… Ottawa has changed, we’ve got good news, positive momentum and diversity on our side which positions the city well for success in the new creative economy.

Over the next three months, the plan will be rolled out including objectives, targets and action items. Essentially, the Innovation Strategy will provide a road map to ensure that Ottawa’s creative class continues to build wealth and successful new companies.   

Key action items of the innovation strategy will address talent, cluster and ecosystem development, investment attraction and marketing the entire region to the world.

Check out Claude Haw’s article which appeared in this week’s Ottawa Business Journal.  He clearly outlines why and how well Ottawa is on track to becoming a leader in the creative economy.  Just like the article says – Ottawa has changed – and the new reality here includes new companies, new sectors, new success stories, renewed growth, revitalized energy and enormous potential.
 
So the next time someone asks you, “What’s Ottawa like?”, what will you say?  Tell them the real story – that Ottawa is Canada’s creative economy capital.

UPDATE: Claude Haw’s presentation is now available online http://www.ocri.ca/about/publications.asp

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