************************************************************************* Issue 34 [June 2009] OCCI e-Magazine http://www.osaka.cci.or.jp/e/index.html ************************************************************************* [CONTENTS, June 2009] 1. Osaka Business and Investment Center (O-BIC) announced its FY2008 achievements exceeding the average of previous 7 years 2. Re. Overseas Visitors received & Events held at OCCI during FY2008 3. Businesses of 13 Selected Small / Medium Venture Enterprises 4. OCCI International Division report on VIP visitors ========================================================================= 1. Osaka Business and Investment Center (O-BIC) announced its FY2008 achievements exceeding the average of previous 7 years On June 3rd 2009, O-BIC (Secretariat based in OCCI) announced its achievement results of FY2008 (April 2007 - March 2008). With the founding of "Osaka Business Networking Club" as well as with the introduction of incentives based on further closer cooperation with JETRO Osaka, all concerned with this "TEAM Osaka" worked strenuously on inviting investments into Osaka from abroad. As a result, O-BIC succeeded in inviting 28 foreign companies / organizations exceeding the yearly average achieved during the 7 years from FY 2001 - FY2007, making the total of 197 cases for the past 8 years, despite deteriorating economic environments. O-BIC effectively coped with various inquiries during FY2008 such as approx. 45,000 homepage accesses (25% up on FY2007) and 117 cases of e-mail and phone contacts, out of which 52 cases were for investments consisting of 21 from China, 11 from the U.S. and 5 from Korea. From the 52 cases for investments, we succeeded in inviting 28 to Osaka, with 17 from Asia (increases from China and Korea) and 8 from North America. The top 3 country-wise are: China with 12 cases (FY2007: 8) , the U.S. with 6 cases (FY2007: 6) and Korea with 3 cases (FY2007: 1). In the lines of business or purpose, 10 cases of services are at the top followed by 6 cases of bio/IT- related ones and 5 cases of imports / sales / development of markets. Most noticeable in the service industries are those (including individuals) who started business in Osaka mainly in the fields related to medical services / education and tourism / culture. Representatives of two newly Osaka-based companies introduced their achievements or expectations. ANY SHOP Co., Ltd. from Korea is successfully developing sales of clothes / apparel through an online shopping mall of Japan and will now further strengthen development of products better suited to the Japanese market. With the objective of supporting clinical research and development, BBK Worldwide-Osaka from the U.S. expressed hope to serve as the channel between Japan's clinical R/D market and the international markets of clinical trials / practices. * O-BIC http://o-bic.net/ ======================================================================== 2. Re. Overseas Visitors received & Events held at OCCI during FY2008 During FY2008, OCCI received 1846 visitors from 51 countries / regions in 165 groups, with whom 41 seminars and more than 100 meetings were held mainly for promotion of business exchange particularly for investments and also for briefings on business environments. Visitors from Asia stand out accounting for more than 40% of all visitors, followed by those from Europe with about 20%. Visitors from North, Central and South America also largely increased compared with the previous year. Country-wise, China comes first with 27 groups, followed by France (9 groups) and Thailand (6 groups). Although not received directly at OCCI, our Chairman and Vice Chairman or other executives met with Mr. Hu Jintao, President, People's Republic of China or Dr. Abdullah Gul, President, Republic of Turkey on their visit to Osaka. While promotion of investment environments was the main theme at the events for most of emerging economies of Asia, East Europe and the Middle East, most seminars and meetings for West Europe and North America had their themes focused on bio / IT-related high technologies. OCCI and the Clinical Trial Network of Queensland (Australia) signed a memorandum of agreement in October 2008. We look forward to working closely, during FY2009, with Japan-based foreign Embassies, Consulates-General, Consulates and economic organizations to actively promote projects to connect Osaka / Kansai-based companies with those from overseas. ======================================================================== 3. Businesses of 13 Selected Small / Medium Venture Enterprises The Kansai region abounds in excellent small and medium venture enterprises with unique technologies and expertise providing great background support to the economy of Japan 'based on products-making'. In the fields of IT and information appliances particularly, many entrepreneurs keen to open up new markets with cutting-edge technologies and creative ideas play active parts, and great expectations are held for them and their companies as the motive power of the Kansai economy. OCCI together with the Kansai Bureau of Economy, Trade and Industry has recently selected 13 enterprises with such entrepreneurs planning to aggressively develop business overseas. The businesses of the 13 companies are introduced hereunder: -Flow Meter Offering Ultrafast Response and High Cleanliness Made Possible by MEMS Technology -Interactive automatic cleaning robot gLady Birdh -Dynamic Sensing Based on Newtonfs Laws of Motion for Dynamic Phenomena -Touch Panel Sensor Capable of Sensing Pressures@hEW Sensorh -Precision actuator control technology and image processing technology -Revolutionary Man-Machine Interface for Robot Operation gWearable Controller Suitsh -Next-Generation Ultrafast Wireless Communication Technology -High-Accuracy Speech Recognition Even in Noisy Environment -Ubiquitous-network systems including wireless LAN mesh, intelligent processing and embedded systems -Home Energy Management Visualization and Promotion of Energy Saving gHEMS Monitoring Systemh -Environmentally Friendly Web-based Catalogs for Sales Promotion -RCM System Software for Revolutionary R&D -Next-Generation Information Search Concept Formed through Natural Language Processing Technology Those wishing to contact any of the 13 companies can ask the following person; Mr. Isao OBAYASHI, Economy and Industry Division, Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry [obayashi@osaka.cci.or.jp@Tel:06-6944-6403 Fax:06-6944-6249] ======================================================================== 4. OCCI International Division report on VIP visitors * June 4 (Thu) Mr. Gert Johannes GROBLER, Ambassador Embassy of the Republic of South Africa * June 5 (Fri) Dr. Ganesh Yonzan TAMANG, Ambassador Embassy of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal * June 19 (Fri) Mr. HOR Monirath, Ambassador Royal Embassy of Cambodia ========================================================================