The Urban Development of Kalamazoo

Innovation Center Helps Re-employment Kalamazoo is a small city with a small population, with only over 200,000 people around. The main local industries are pharmaceuticals, paper making, medical devices, automobiles and accessories. In recent years, they have also been affected by the adjustment of manufacturing industry: there used to be a large general motors factory there, but it was later closed; Pfizer, the largest pharmaceutical company in the United States, also has a large production plant and drug research institutions, and then laid off 2000 people at once; The paper industry, once a local pillar industry, declined as a whole. These have a great impact on the local economy. However, the locals did not leave. They mobilized all their forces and tried their best to turn unfavorable factors into favorable ones. Pfizer, for example, has laid off a large number of staff, many of whom are researchers with doctoral and master's degrees. They have knowledge, but they have no place to use it. In April 2003, Kalamazoo established an innovation center in southwest Michigan by seeking state loans and community fund-raising. This center is almost tailor-made for Pfizer researchers. All the companies in the center are high-tech companies in biology and medicine, and 70% of the employees are from Pfizer. It charges a low rent, but it provides research equipment and other services, such as law and finance, so that these people at Pfizer can start small biotechnology companies. The reporter saw that although the innovation center is not big, it is clean and tidy with complete facilities, which is no different from the conditions of research institutions of large companies. These small companies have patents and are very innovative. After several years of support from the Innovation Center, you can "graduate" and start a business. The Innovation Center provides various services for these small technology companies. For example, acting as an intermediary between venture capitalists and technology companies; Strive to cooperate with western michigan university in the city and let these companies use the scientific research equipment of the university; They don't even have to worry about buying experimental equipment and raw materials. In this environment, the small technology companies in the center have developed rapidly. Simon Mann, CEO of a pharmaceutical company named Karekson, told reporters that they started with two people and now have grown to 24 people, with an annual turnover of more than 3 million US dollars, and may soon be able to operate independently.

Science and education center trains new talents.

There is also a Michigan Science and Technology Education Center in Kalamazoo, which was established in 200 1, with the state government contributing 5 million dollars and the local community contributing 6 million dollars. Its purpose is to cultivate talents for local manufacturing industry and catalyze emerging industries. In recent years, the economy of Kalamazoo is in a transitional stage, many workers need to learn new skills to find new jobs, and even employees in on-the-job enterprises need continuous training. This center is meeting the needs of this change. In addition, the center also provides pre-screening work for many small companies, helping them to establish contact with relevant government departments and institutions, so that their new products can become productive as soon as possible. The Science and Technology Education Center trains 4,000 people every year by Pfizer alone, and also helps some small enterprises that can't afford the training fees to train their employees, which has played a great role in the local economic development.

A business park that turns waste into treasure

A Midland Business Park also left a deep impression on reporters. It was built around the former general motors factory. After GM closed its factory, the huge factory lay idle and abandoned. Midland has a good eye for pearls, took a fancy to the treasure land and factory facilities next to this expressway, bought it and transformed it into a leased business park, and applied to become a state-owned "economic recovery zone" with tax incentives. Some warehousing and logistics companies have entered, using tall factories and lifting equipment, as well as convenient traffic conditions, and become promising new industries. Midlink also plans to build a retail business center in the site around the factory building, making this abandoned land a source of wealth creation.

Make a living by tapping potential and innovation

Kalamazoo is not without traditional manufacturing. There is a Hanshumore company that produces plastic products such as automobile water tanks and filters. It seems that the technical content of the product is not high and the equipment is not very advanced. The reporter asked why this factory can still survive. The answer is very practical: the wage cost of the product is not high, and the users of the product are nearby, which can reduce a lot of transportation costs, so you can remain competitive without moving out. Of course, product quality comes first, but what is more important is their pragmatic concept. There were several robots working automatically on the original production line, but the cost was not cost-effective, so they were not used. There are also large-scale advanced multinational manufacturing enterprises in the local area, such as Stryker Medical Equipment Company, with17,000 employees and annual sales of $5 billion. Headquartered in Kalamazoo, it has thousands of local employees. Relying on continuous innovation, the company has maintained a world-leading position in orthopedic medical equipment and sickbed equipment, and applied for hundreds of patents every year.

Cooperate with China to find opportunities.

Although Kalamazoo is an inland city in the United States, the enterprises in this area are export-oriented. To the reporter's surprise, many companies have established contact with China. Needless to say, multinational companies like Stryker, even the Michigan Science and Technology Education Center, which was established only a few years ago, had activities related to China. This year, the center held two forums on how to do business with China. The center also has a special adviser on China, who can provide advice to local companies at any time. Some companies do business with China through these activities. Brand, vice president of First Southwest Michigan Company, who arranged local interviews, visited China many times to explain how to do business in the United States for China companies and encourage China enterprises to invest in Kalamazoo. With so many enterprising companies, it is not surprising that Kalamazoo's economy can remain prosperous.

The community experiment caused a sensation throughout the country. Unlike Detroit, the largest city in Michigan, Kalamazoo is full of vigor and vitality everywhere. Experts believe that the main problem in Detroit is that industry is too concentrated in the automobile industry. Once there is a problem in this industry, the economy of the whole region will be hurt. Kalamazoo's industry is more diversified, and although it also faces the downturn of the American automobile industry, Kalamazoo is much less affected. From the perspective of industrial structure, Karamazu has not only traditional automobile manufacturing and paper making industries, but also emerging biopharmaceutical and logistics industries. In terms of enterprise scale, Kalamazoo has both small and medium-sized enterprises and fortune 500 enterprises like Stryker. After more than 70 years of development, Stryker has grown from a humble small workshop to a Fortune 500 company, and is the largest manufacturer of medical beds and orthopedic instruments in the world. Paret Anderson, vice president of the company, said that Kalamazoo can be said to be a blessed place for the company, where the excellent community atmosphere, university resources and investment environment are very attractive to enterprises. As a community experiment that caused a sensation in the United States, the "Kalamazoo Commitment" movement, in order to improve the local economic competitiveness, some anonymous people donated a lot of money to provide up to 100% scholarships for each Kalamazoo public school graduate to receive preparatory education. Since the start of the project, applications for admission and transfer of freshmen here have flown into local public schools like snowflakes. After encouraging students to take root, Southwest Michigan First Company cooperated with the Monroe-Brown Foundation to further Kalamazoo's commitment. It is announced that Monroe-Brown Internship Project and Southwest Michigan Talent Network Project will be implemented from next year to provide scholarships, internships, job opportunities and exchange and interactive activities for outstanding college students who have just graduated in this field. Bob brown, chairman of the Monroe-Brown Foundation and director of the First Company in Southwest Michigan, said that the purpose of these projects is to encourage students to take root and grow in Kalamazoo. The significance of this project goes beyond money. Students can gain rare work experience and professional contacts, which can help them to show their hands and feet in Kalamazoo in the future. Ronald Ketchens, CEO of Southwest Michigan First Company, said that Kalamazoo's most powerful resource is its large number of highly educated young people. Over the years, most college graduates from small and medium-sized cities in the United States have flowed to big cities. "We strive to promote local education reform and redefine the economy and future of Kalamazoo through this innovative model."