Our first stop today was to tour a new medical technology park in the Pudong Science Park in Shanghai. The manager addressed our group and explained how in just a few short years this development has helped create over 100,000 jobs and incubated hundreds of small to mid sized companies. He said that while Bejing represents the great history of China, and Shanghai represents the present explosion of economic growth, the area of Pudong represents the futue of China. Indeed, this former rice paddy and swamp are is now filled with 20 and 30 story buildings which house hundreds of new companies and start ups.
After meeting with the CEO of one of these new companies which has extensive contracts with Eli Lilly, we visited Lilly's research location within this technology park. Lilly has had a presence in China for 80 years but has enjoyed incredible growth in that market over the last 20 years.
Our very gracious hosts from CIMC treated us to a delicious dinner at a fabulous Shanghai restaurant. The fare included, duck tongue, jellyfish, quail eggs and more traditional Chinese cuisine.
Tomorrow we are headed for Hangzhou, a three hour bus ride from Shanghai. The Governor will host a press conference in which he and Cummins will announce the launch of a new electric diesel bus engine manufactured by Cummins. Later that evening we will be guests at a state dinner hosted by the Secretary of Zhejiang Province and his officials.
Jon