The ITRI Forum made quite an impression with their event, which was held on Friday, June 20, at the Santa Clara Convention Center. The networking was good, but it would be best if you know Mandarin. But it is always good to get an idea of how research is proceeding in other area, both in other areas of technology and the world.
Politics, which is always a touchy subject when talk of Taiwan and China come up, was gently touched upon. There is really surprising little business done between China and Taiwan. The general feeling seemed to be that many in the room thought Taiwan’s new change in leadership would mean greater business ties to China.
But you still need to be careful. Some of the panelist in the IP and Venture discussion brought up real-world stories that they could confirm with their own experience in doing business with China. The stories sounded more like the problems that you might run into with organized crime. For example, a US manufacturing firm would not ship their products to a Chinese company until their CEO confirmed that the money for the goods was first wired into the US firm’s bank account in China. It was, and the product was shipped. Almost immediately, the money was wired OUT of the US firm’s account. Sure enough, the business rules of China allowed the Chinese business to wire the money out after it was wired in. The US firm tried to stop the shipment, but it was too late. The US firm also tried to sue the Chinese company for theft. As the head of the Chinese business explained in a face-to-face meeting with the CEO of the US firm, the three judges that would determine if a crime had been committed were all consultants to this Chinese business. The head of the Chinese business offered to write a check right then and there for half of what the shipment was supposed to be if the US firm would call it even.
