Key Personnel

State of Minnesota Mission to China

On November 9th FlowSense participated in the largest trade mission to China in US history spearheaded by our governor, the honorable Tim J. Pawlenty. Over 218 delegates from Minnesota participated in this historic trade mission that took us six days across three major cities to Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong.

Overall, the trade mission exceeded our expectations and more. There are many environmental challenges facing China everywhere including air and water quality as well as solid waste management. This is the price China is presently paying as the result of the breakneck speed in economic growth. However, the common theme we came across was "patience is virtue" and to do business in China, relationship has to be built from the ground up and locally. From our perspective, I see FlowSense expanding into the China market in a slow but deliberate pace from the contacts we've have made in the environmental sector. These contacts include networking with not just local and multinational companies already on the ground, but also with the contacts within our delegation. For a small business like FlowSense lacking unlimited resources, it will take deliberate collaboration and teaming effort on both sides of the pond in order to succeed in penetrating the great China environmental markets. We are approaching China one step at a time and the recent trip was an encouraging first baby step toward expansion. - Paul H. Smallwood. [more] [See Hong Kong 2006 and Vietnam 2004]