Exhibitor Tips

Link to podcast found HERE Transcript to podcast found below: Bill : Hi and welcome to the belly to belly podcast and today our focus is the preparation for select USA 2022 And we’re joined by are with John Bordeaux from advanced CT. Hey, welcome John. John : Thank you so much. I’m glad to be here with you. Bill : Fantastic so, you know AdvanceCT does so, so much amazing work and our audience are all international companies that are there either have already created a presence in the US and are looking to expand that or are companies that are looking to enter the US and obviously that’s a lot of the work you all do to help those companies come into Connecticut. Could you take just a couple minutes and tell us about advanced CT and the service you provide for companies that are looking to enter Connecticut? John : Sure. AdvanceCT is a private organization. We’re a nonprofit we partner with the state of Connecticut to help companies that are interested in investing in the state of Connecticut have an easier job of doing. So we’re facilitating inward investment whether that’s coming from another state or particularly from overseas or foreign direct investment. We help companies in the state of Connecticut as well are looking to expand here. So once companies have come and made an investment, they also are we’re in relationship with them on a continual basis to help them figure out the best way to expand and grow here. And what we like to say is we offer a concierge level service. Every company has a unique need when they’re coming and making an investment here in the state of Connecticut. And we like to see exactly what those are and pair companies up with the resources that they need. Sometimes we have those resources we help with site selection. We help with helping folks navigate the permitting and the state of Connecticut’s different departments. We do all those things. And then we also are trying to help folks figure out even innocuous and small questions like hey, you know, what’s this town like? Or if I’m interested in, you know, building relationship with University of Connecticut or Yale, who should I be talking to? We facilitate all those conversations out of those relationships. And we’re helping those companies come here to do interesting things. Get engaged in our ecosystem. One of the great things about Connecticut is we’re a small state. So we’re about 3.6 million people, and we all know each other. And we want everyone in Connecticut wants everyone else to be successful. And so whereas in some in some jurisdictions at some places you’re sort of 6, 7, 8, 9 steps away from somebody here in Connecticut, you’re maybe one or two jumps away from talking to the person that you need to talk to you in order to get the help you need or the leverage that you need, or the relationship you need for your business to be successful. So our job is to help facilitate those those connections and understand what each business’s unique set of needs are, so that we can, as I said, provide that white glove service, and we’ve done everything from you’ll help people find the right site, to helping companies talk to the Department of Transportation to understand trucking tonnage on our highways and bridges, to helping folks figure out, you know, what the permitting is for a particular area of the state, introducing them to the mayors of towns, you name it, we’re here to do it. We’re here to help. Bill : Sounds like an incredible amount of facilitation. Your team must be really good listeners to sort of diagnose what companies need and help make those connections John : We do and what the one of the great things about our team in advance CT is that we’ve got a lot of subject area experts. So Advanced Manufacturing Technology, life sciences, renewable energy, offshore wind, and more. And so we have people in our organization who have extensive experience in those in those industries. So not only are we good listeners, but we also know the right questions to ask. We also understand what it’s like to be a life sciences company coming from overseas coming from Europe, for example, and setting up a shop here we understand a lot of the questions and can anticipate a lot of them because some of the people on our team have actually done that in their professional careers. So we’re able to provide those services in a way that I think is a uniquely help. Bill : Cool. So let’s talk about Select USA itself for a minute and you know, some have called it the Super Bowl of US market entry or the World Cup of US market entry and you know, I guess why does advanced CTE participate? What is it about the event that’s particularly valuable for you? John : Well, I’m a World Cup guy, as I know, most of the rest of the world is too so I’m gonna go with the World Cup of events. You’re basically what we see. A Select USA is it’s it’s the focal point. It’s a focal point gathering of everybody who cares about making investment and in the US, and that’s the companies. It is the government officials, its partners. It’s the people who care about sustainable economic growth and in Connecticut, we care very deeply about the success of our of our of our companies. And one of the things that we take great pride in is the fact that, you know, the companies that do come here and are working at that apex of the knowledge economy are succeeding in incredible ways. We know a lot of great ideas are happening all over the world. And we know that this sort of entry point this

Link to podcast found HERE Transcript to podcast found below: Bill : Hi and welcome to the next episode of belly to belly and today we’re focused on preparation for select USA 2022. And we’re joined by an from a wonderful friend, Jason hunt from the state of Pennsylvania. He’s part of the business attraction team. Welcome, Jason. Jason : Hi, Bill. Thanks for having me. It’s great to be here. Bill : Fantastic. So, you know, the obviously Select USA is a massive event and we have companies coming in from all over the world looking to enter the US, and I know many of them are interested in learning about Pennsylvania and the opportunities there would you mind sharing what your organization does to help companies that are coming into the US and particularly interested in Pennsylvania? Jason : Sure, so I work for the Pennsylvania Office of International Business Development. That’s a part of our state’s department of community and economic developments. We’re a government agency tasked with Investment Attraction. We also help Pennsylvania companies export their goods and services abroad in Pennsylvania has this dedicated office because international business is a big part of our economy. We have over 5100 foreign owned firms here in Pennsylvania, employing over 300,000 people. Pennsylvania’s products and services traveled to 218 markets around the world. It’s just over 5% of our GDP, value and exports. On the Investment Attraction side we have a network of 12 authorized representatives around the world covering 33 markets, who work with my team here in Harrisburg, our state capitol to help international companies who are looking to expand or to set up new locations in our state. We serve as business advocates and liaisons between these potential foreign investors and various layers of government here in the United States in Pennsylvania. We also provide free services including assistance with research about locations across Pennsylvania, identifying help identifying business sites, introductions to some of our regional and local economic development partners and customized financial assistance. We work with international businesses of all sizes, but I’d say the majority of the companies we encounter tend to be small or mid sized companies who are looking for their first location in the US. Bill : Oh, that’s fantastic. You provide such great service and you know and obviously, you said right off the top, it’s so great to be back in person. It’s like USA. We’re all sort of so much craving that. Now, why Select USA? Why is that important for Philadelphia to be present there and why are you looking forward to it? Jason : Sure. So it’s not just Philadelphia, it’s all of Pennsylvania. That’s a common misconception from the outside. Yeah. But yeah, so why do we participate? It’s at the end of the day, it’s to meet people. It’s a great opportunity for us to put Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh all of our communities in front of a large audience of international companies in a wide range of sectors who are looking for opportunity, in addition to those prospective investors. It’s also we also like to use the conference to make connections to consultants and service providers who work with international companies. Because we want them to know that we’re available to assist their clients if they have, you know, clients looking at opportunities in Pennsylvania. And because it’s helpful to pick their brains and see what they’re seeing you they have clients looking at a wide range of states in a wide range of industries and it’s good to get kind of the bigger picture perspective. conversations with them and our counterparts in other US states who are usually all present. Help us to kind of understand how best to position Pennsylvania to attract new investment and see what the neighbors are doing. Bill : So both the idea that you can kind of meet so many companies that are coming into the US and connect with them and be able to help them and facilitate that, that successful entry, but also the connection to the network, the support network, and also a little bit of competitive intelligence. It sounds like Jason : Oh, sure. I mean, all 50 states are there you can’t help but see what the others are doing. But yeah, the networking is really the crux of the conference for us. Sure. Bill : No, that’s great. And, and as you said, You’ve been Pennsylvania’s been participating since the beginning. I think it’s this I believe, the ninth year of Select USA, but then again, thinking of the audience, these are, you know, in some cases, they already have some traction here in the US and they have, you know, experience in the market. As you know, in other cases, this may be their first trip to the US and you know, as you think about, you know, the event itself, and then whether it’s pre events, following events, or even just folks that have time, either pre or post conference. What are some thoughts you have about how companies can get the most out of this, both this visit to select USA and also their visit to the US? Jason : Sure, select USA has in the past done a lot of spin off events where either before or after, there’s opportunities to examine in detail different parts of the US. I think there’s less of that this year, though. Those are interesting if there happens to be one scheduled in a sector or in a location that’s relevant. I think, maybe next year, we’ll see those come back with a bit more strength. But I think focusing on the main conference, I think there’s probably three things I would I would suggest. One is you know if you’re early in exploring opportunities in the United States, be sure to attend the information sessions. The US Commercial Service, the Department of Commerce, does a good job