Companies including Tesla and Boeing are in Adelaide this week seeking investment opportunities
ENERGY and medical sciences are high on the agenda for a US business delegation visiting Adelaide this week, featuring companies such as GE, Tesla and Boeing.
ENERGY and medical sciences are high on the agenda for a US business delegation visiting Adelaide this week, featuring companies such as GE, Tesla and Boeing.
The United States’ acting ambassador to Australia, James Caruoso, said he saw parallels between the revitalisation of Pittsburgh’s economy in the 1990s with the State Government’s efforts to transition South Australia from a traditional manufacturing base to high technology and advanced manufacturing.
Mr Caruoso is joined in Adelaide by 12 US companies, as well as the American Chamber of Commerce, represented nationally by chief executive Niels Marquardt, on a visit co-ordinated by Investment Attraction South Australia.
The companies will be touring the Tonsley innovation district, the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) and the Adelaide Smart City Studio, looking for investment and collaboration opportunities.
Mr Caruoso said shortly after he arrived in Australia mid-last year he came to Adelaide and met with Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis.
“I was really impressed with the parallels between Adelaide as a manufacturing city that’s trying to reform itself through technology and health and the parallels with Pittsburgh,’’ Mr Caruoso said.
“And the fact that Carnegie Mellon has its university here ... and the hunger of South Australia to move on and find ways to do that.
“So you have all that in the Australian context which is a country which has had 26 years of uninterrupted growth, rule of law, transparency, a free trade agreement with the US.
“And it seemed to me that a lot of US companies may not be fully aware of the potential of doing business here.’’
Mr Caruoso said the US was still the largest investor in Australia, contributing much more than China for example.
Boeing recently announced it would open an office in Adelaide, creating at least 250 high-technology jobs.
“One of the things we tend to do and is important to us is to be close to our customers, and to be part of a healthy ecosystem for the talent of the future,’’ Boeing Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific President Maureen Dougherty said.
“They’re very important drivers for where Boeing does business globally.’’
Mr Marquardt said he believed Adelaide deserved a higher profile in terms of being an investment destination.
“The competitive aspects of it ... it’s been compared to Portland, Oregon, where I’m from.
“The much lower cost of living, there’s a whole lot of information that’s not only not reaching the United States, it’s not reaching Sydney.
“For AmCham this is a perfect time for us, we’ve just hired a full time general manager here, we’ve had a chapter in Adelaide for decades but we’re really looking at this as a point in time when we’re going to grow the presence here.’’
Minister for Investment and Trade Martin Hamilton-Smith said: “The Acting Ambassador has expressed interest in learning more about our university sector during his visit, their commercialisation arms and how they are partnering with the private sector.
“The visit provides a great opportunity to showcase Adelaide as a key innovation hub and delegates will meet with a range of start-ups and entrepreneurs during their visits to Tonsley and Adelaide Smart City Studio.’’
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