Growing Globally: ANZA Gateway Programs in US and China

This is an exciting year for ANZA Technology Network! We are growing globally – with programs for innovative Australian entrepreneurs and CEOs in both the US and China.

I just returned from a week in Shanghai, where ANZA TechNet worked with five New South Wales cleantech companies in our Gateway to China pilot program. You can see some photos of our trip here.

The Gateway to China was a very full week for the CEOs of these five companies. They were engaged in a series of one-on-one business meetings and workshops with an experienced group of mentors and advisors from the ANZA and Advance networks. Along with our program partner, the NSW government department of Industry and Investment NSW, the Gateway to China companies were able to attend some World Expo 2010 events.

Meanwhile we have been moving ahead with plans for an expanded Gateway to the US program. This year, the Gateway to the US opens with a series of free one-hour webinars in July. We’ve assembled a fine group of panelists with American and Australian business experience. By signing up for our Gateway to the US webinars today, you will get answers to your questions about what it’s really like to do business in the US, what’s involved in exploring the world’s largest consumer market, what are the risks of expanding your business into the US – can you afford to do this? Can you afford not to?

We’ve got special promotional deals for organizations and businesses who want to work with us to sign up qualified companies and a great opportunity for Gateway alumni companies to come back to Silicon Valley for a chance to pitch again to potential partners and investors. For many of you, a lot has changed since the last time you were in Silicon Valley. And for those of you who have never been here before as part of our Gateway program we welcome you to find out more about your US market opportunities in our Gateway to the US webinars and grow globally along with us in 2010.

Photo: ANZA Gateway to China Participants at Expo 2010, Shanghai

ANZA CEO Viki Forrest is currently in Shanghai with five New South Wales companies as part of the Gateway to China pilot program. The companies are engaged in a unique combination of doing-business-in-China workshops and one-on-one meetings with China business mentors. Part of the program included a visit to the Australia Pavilion at World Expo in Shanghai on 15 June. In this photo, from Left to right: Jerry Argyriou, CEO PowerSense; Rob Scott, ANZA program manager Shanghai; Chris Bosse, CEO LAVA; Gordon Fraser-Quick, CEO EcoRiders.

Read more about our Gateway to China program here. Australian companies interested in taking part in future programs in China should contact Viki Forrest at viki@anzatechnet.com

Australia’s Key Role in US / China Relations

Peter Beattie, former premier of Queensland and former state commissioner for the Americas, proposes how Australia can play a key role with the world’s two largest economies – the US and China, in the 12 June edition of The Australian.

In “Here’s Our Chance to Share the Spoils with the Emerging Gang of Two,” Beattie explains:

…The dominant players in the global economy, the US and China, form a Group of Two, giving the world a leadership team of Hu Jintao and Obama. The days of world economic dominance by the US are coming to an end; it will now have to share the power.

The US is by far the world’s biggest economy. Next year China will be No 2 instead of Japan…. Both countries are critical players in global security and nuclear non-proliferation issues. For all the wisdom of the creation of the G20 group of countries to replace the G8, the reality is that there will be in effect a G2…. [and] fortunately for Australia we are strategically located in the Asia-Pacific region, with unsurpassed historical links to both the US and China…. we are a clever country supported by a culture of innovation…we are well placed to be a key partner of the Sino-American generation of the immediate future.

…It’s in everybody’s interest that [the US and China] co-operate and bring new technologies on line, at industrial scale, as quickly as possible. With the prospect of world domination in clean energy, it’s also in their economic interests.

For America’s part, it wants clever international partners who can bring innovative technologies and processes to the US economy, then sell them to the world.

This is Australia’s opportunity…. The formula is simple: partner with the US to help it co-operate with China and Australia cements a meaningful place in the US-China-dominated economy of 2030 and beyond. (Read more)

ANZA Announces Gateway to China Companies for Shanghai Pilot Program, June 12-18

We’ve selected five New South Wales cleantech companies to take part in the ANZA TechNet Gateway to China pilot program in Shanghai, June 12-18. The five companies are:

• Battery Energy Power Solutions
• EcoRiders

• GreenCollar Climate Solutions
• LAVA: Laboratory for Visionary Architects
• PowerSense

ANZA’s Gateway to China program is modeled on our Gateway to the US program. More than 15 New South Wales companies took part in a full-day workshop in Sydney earlier this year and completed a rigorous assessment of their potential in the China market – from both investment and partnerships perspectives. While in Shanghai, the CEOs of these five companies will be immersed in a week of China business practices and one-on-one meetings with potential customers, partners and investors. The Gateway to China program is taking place during Expo 2010, when more than 70 million people are expected to visit Shanghai. It will be a great opportunity for these companies to raise their profiles and emphasize the important Australia-China connection.

The Gateway to China program is being run in in partnership with the New South Wales Government Department of Industry and Investment and Advance. Click here to find out more about this exciting new program.

ANZA TechNet’s Gateway to China Program Featured on CleanTech TV

ANZA CEO Viki Forrest talks with Giles Parkinson from CleanTech TV about our upcoming Gateway to China pilot program. In partnership with the New South Wales Government Department of Industry and Investment and Advance, the Gateway to China program will take five NSW companies to Shanghai next month. The majority of the companies are focused in the cleantech space, which offers great potential for strategic partnerships between Australia and China.

Watch this space for exciting announcements about the program and the 5 companies that will be formally announced next week.

If you are an Australian entrepreneur in the cleantech space and would like to be featured on CleanTech TV, click here for more info.