In the morning of October 17th, Bay Area Council Chairman and Chief Executive Jim Wunderman,Global Business Officer Del Christensen and Chinese Affairs Special Assistantto the President Jane Zhao visited the Tsinghua-Berkeley Shenzhen Institute(TBSI) and met with TBSI Vice Co-director Zhang Lin and Office Director SongYan. Both sides subsequently discussed issues related to future cooperation.
Zhang Lin pointedout that TBSI, co-founded by Tsinghua University and the University ofCalifornia at Berkeley and supported by the Municipal Government, has a uniqueadvantage. The long-term friendly cooperative relationship between TsinghuaUniversity and Berkeley will provide a good foundation for future cooperation betweenTBSI and the Bay Area Council. They are willing to work with the Bay Area Councilto explore cooperation mechanisms, gather resources and give full play to theiradvantages in talents, technology and capital.
Jim Wunderman gavea brief overview of the San Francisco Bay Area Council, pointing out that as a non-profitorganization, the Bay Area Council has a strong presence in the NorthernCalifornia region, and has long been committed to regional innovation andeconomic development. Over the past 10 years, the Council has been activelypromoting cooperation and exchange with China, and has established residentoffices in Nanjing, Hangzhou and Shanghai. As one of the most innovativeinternational cities in the world, Shenzhen is very advantageous in attractingexcellent enterprises, talents, science and technology and other resources. TheBay Area Council hopes to explore cooperation opportunities with TBSI andShenzhen to achieve win-win results.
Based on the Tsinghua-BerkeleyShenzhen Institute (TBSI), Nanshan District of Shenzhen has built aninternational open innovation center in San Francisco Bay, and graduallyestablished a sound communication mechanism with the Bay Area. When the leadersof TBSI visited Nanshan, the leaders of the district suggested that to furtherstrengthen communication between the two gulfs, a high-scale internationalconference, the 'Two-Gulfs Forum', could be held to promote and deepen theexchange and cooperation between Shenzhen Bay and San Francisco Bay.
In the afternoonof the same day, Jim Wunderman and his team as well as Zhang Lin and Song Yanwere invited to attend a meeting with Shenzhen Vice Mayor Ai Xuefeng. At the meeting, Ai Xuefeng invited the BayArea Commission to set up offices in Shenzhen, and both sides expressed thatthey are looking forward to cooperating.
The Shenzhen Municipal Government willfully support the organization of the 'Two-Gulfs Forum', and the preparatorywork of the Forum will be mainly conducted by the Shenzhen Nanshan Governmentand TBSI; at the same time, the Municipal Government will seriously assist inthe preparation of the Forum. The Shenzhen Municipal Government and the participantsalso discussed cooperation between the Bay Area Council and the ShenzhenInternational Exchange and Cooperation Foundation.
translator/editor: Feifei Wei
