County Delegation Visited India and Taiwan To Boost County Businesses

Montgomery County officials along with local business leaders visited India on a 12-day mission in November with the goal to broaden Montgomery County’s reach in biotech, other high-tech areas, and to address culture, education, and economic development.

PHOTO: Montgomery County Government

According to a press release, county officials and business leaders visited seven cities resulting in more than 100 meetings to create business and education development for both places.

“To use a baseball analogy, you want to put runners on base in order to score. There are already tangible results from the trip including agreements to bring additional jobs and investment to Montgomery County. India represents tremendous opportunity for the county, allowing us to leverage our large Indian American community and establish strong ties to one of the fastest growing economies in the world,” said Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett.

The delegation included Indian-American Maryland State Delegate Aruna Miller, Montgomery College President Dr. DeRionne P. Pollard, Montgomery County Councilmember Nancy Floreen, and several County business leaders.

The press release also stated that participating companies paid up to $7,500 for transportation, food, lodging and meeting coordination and logistic services provided by India-US World Affairs Institute. The U.S. Department of Commerce also provided support in scheduling individual business meetings for participants.

The delegation visited New Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad. According to the press release, at the invitation of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Exchange Office in D.C., Leggett also visited Taiwan for talks on partnerships in growing tech-based industries.

While in India, Floreen sent daily updates via email to MyMCMedia. Upon her return, Floreen said the trip was “very successful.”

“I think we’ve made improvements … [and] economic relationships. … That was my primary objective on going on this trip” she said.

The last update from Floreen came on Friday, Nov. 21, where the councilmember said the delegation was “wrapping our development trip in Bangelore.”

According to the press release, here are some of the trip’s highlights:

• A visit to the state-of-the-art laboratories and testing facilities of Rockville-based U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) in Hyderabad. USP-India is located in the IKP Knowledge Park, a leading center for pharmaceutical and bio-tech research and manufacturing. In addition to touring the facility, the delegation was introduced to other business leaders located in the IKP Park through meetings hosted by USP-India.

• Attendance at the India-US Technology Summit in New Delhi which attracted more than 1,700 participants, including hundreds of Indian companies and government agencies involved in life sciences, cybersecurity, information technology and renewable energy.

• Visits to the Indian operations of Rockville-based Emmes Corporation, a Contract Research Organization with 370 employees; the Indian headquarters of Infosys, India’s third largest IT services company; and Strand Life Sciences, a genomics research company all located in Bangalore. Both Infosys and Strand Life Sciences launched their operations in Montgomery County in 2013.

• A “Sister City” pact with the Indian city of Hyderabad that was inked by Leggett to deepen economic, cultural and civic ties under the nonprofit Montgomery Sister Cities program established in 2008. Previous Sister City partners include Morazán, El Salvador; Gondar, Ethiopia; and Xi’an, China.

• The signing of a MOU between Montgomery College officials and O.P. Jindal Global University located in Raipur that will allow 15 faculty members to study and teach in India.

• Throughout the trip, Montgomery College promoted its newly constructed Hercules Pinkney Life Sciences Park, located on the Germantown Campus, to more than 30 prospective Indian companies interested in establishing a U.S. presence. In addition to providing job creation and experiential learning opportunities, the Hercules Pinkney Life Sciences Park resident partner tenant, Holy Cross Germantown Hospital, is the only hospital located on the campus of a community college and offers hands-on, practical learning in the most advanced medical technology to the College’s Health Sciences students.

To find out about the delegation business mission, click here.

About Aline Barros

Aline Barros is a multimedia reporter and community engagement specialist with Montgomery Community Media. She can be reached at Abarros@mymcmedia.org and on Twitter at @AlineBarros2.

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