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Mayor says
city can be Asia’s
technology
transfer center

Honolulu seen as a gateway
for knowledge-based services

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By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Star-Bulletin

Mayor Jeremy Harris said Honolulu's "true destiny" is to become a gateway for knowledge-based industries and professional services seeking to do business in Asia.

"We will always be a tourist center, but I think we will much more than that in the century ahead," Harris told members of the Hawaii Economic Association yesterday. He said the city hopes to become "a center for technology transfer with Asia."

Asia's growing population is shifting to urban centers, and its leaders are facing enormous challenges to accommodate that move, he said.

"They are hungry for the technology and the know-how to get it done," the mayor said.

"I want them to be able to look toward Honolulu as the place to hire the engineers, the architects, and the electrical engineers and the environmental scientists they need to meet their technological challenges for the next 25 years."

Harris said that's why he brought to Honolulu the China-America Conference of Mayors and Business Leaders, the Japan-American Conference of Mayors and Chamber of Commerce Presidents, and the Mayors' Asia-Pacific Environmental Summit Conference.

Eventually, Harris said, he wants to establish an urban institute in Honolulu. "The goal is every new leader in Asia, every new mayor and public works director aspires come to Honolulu for several weeks to learn about municipal finance and technology and all the rest."

That way, he said, "we can attract businesses from all over the world who want to do business in Asia and recognize that the way to get the foot in the door is through Honolulu."