Greg Brown, Co-CEO, Motorola Inc.

Introduction

In late 2009, the Beijing Municipal Government presented a blueprint to make China’s capital a “global city”. Beijing’s leaders define “global city” as a metropolis with global social, economic, political, and cultural influence; that serves as the headquarters of multinational corporations; is a nexus of global industry; and is a hub of international finance, information, and transportation networks. In the eyes of the leaders of our leadership, a global city is characterized by:

    Worldwide appeal and reputation;
    Active participation and influence in international affairs;
    A large population;
    An advanced transportation system, including major international airports, well-developed expressways and/or a massive public transport network, and diversified transportation choices (subway, light rail, ferry or bus);
    Home to headquarters of celebrated financial institutions, law firms, multinational corporations, stock exchanges, and through these a critical role in the global economy; 
    State-of-the-art telecommunications and information infrastructure ; and
    World-renowned cultural institutions and a vibrant cultural environment.

As a multinational corporation that has been a part of the economic development of Beijing and China for the past 23 years, Motorola, enthusiastically endorses Beijing’s ambitions to ride the momentum of not only three decades of reforming and opening, but also after the incredibly successful preparations for and hosting of the 2008 Olympic Games to its rightful place among the world’s most respected and admired municipalities. As a company, Motorola is ready and willing to lend our strengths and resources to contribute to Beijing’s “global city” development plan.

As a company with global reach, we have discovered that the importance of Beijing’s success as host of the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, as well as the influence that event has had on the city’s reputation and standing with peoples around the world, must not be underestimated. Beijing’s Olympic success has impressed governments, enterprises, and individuals people in almost every nation across the planet, not only improving Beijing’s competitiveness, calling attention to the city’s soft strengths, its lifestyle, its people, its environmental leadership, and its role as the heart of Asia’s science and technology-based industries. As such, the Olympics serve as a platform Beijing can use to elevate itself to a global city status as it embarks on a new chapter of post-Olympics development.

In the unprecedented global recession triggered by the financial crisis of 2008, China sustained its economic momentum, putting China in the positive and essential role as the locomotive of the global recovery. Against such a backdrop, and in light of both national and global trends, Beijing’s goal to attain global city status is both inspiring and entirely appropriate.

In response to this blueprint, and in keeping with our role as a member of this community, I wish to offer with deepest humility what I hope are helpful suggestions in support of our city’s aspirations: 

I. Demonstrating that Beijing is an “Open and Innovative” City

When you mention the phrase “world city”, people tend to think of New York, London, Paris and Tokyo. These cities all share many of the traits listed above, combined with distinctive locations, histories, cultures, and economies. In our experience however, all “global cities” they have one thing in common: all of them are open and innovative. In financial services, technology, commerce, and in arts and entertainment, these cities have all fostered a degree of openness that serves as a catalyst for innovation that builds to their other strengths. For each of these cities, this has formed the quiet core of global influence.

What we understand at Motorola is that Beijing is already far more open and innovative than most people appreciate. As China’s political and cultural center, Beijing is the gathering place of the nation’s greatest thinkers and to the nation’s blooming creative class. As the home to many renowned universities and research institutes (the largest such concentration in China, and perhaps anywhere in the world) and an immense pool of local and international talent, Beijing is already well positioned to become an innovative city.

This is a superb beginning, and there is no doubt Beijing should do more to demonstrate its strengths to the world. But when measured against the world’s global cities, we can see that more is needed. Amid the overwhelming trends of globalization and economic integration, Beijing needs to take more aggressive steps to lure and keep innovative companies and individuals to the city. There is more to this than monetary incentives: this means studying and understanding the “soft factors” that go into making a city attractive to innovative individuals and companies, and making Beijing even more comfortable and attractive for these companies than their own home towns. This is not only an intrinsic requirement but also a must-do for Beijing to shape a global city.

This is something we can help with, because we have been at the heart of the effort to make Beijing a global capital of innovation nearly two decades. As a company with an 83 year history of innovation, Motorola was the first multinational to set up a R&D center in Beijing in 1993. In 1999, we opened the Motorola China Research and Development Institute in Beijing, also the first of its kind among multinational corporations operating in China. In 2007, Motorola’s 100,000 sq.m innovation complex was inaugurated at Wangjing, Beijing. At present, Motorola has about 3,000 R&D staff in China. A majority of its USD1.5 billion R&D investment in China has been channeled to Beijing, which has led to more than 3,500 patents so far. The Institute is an important part of Motorola’s global R&D network, playing an instrumental role in supporting the company’s markets and customers worldwide. Innovation and R&D are the foundation of Motorola’s sustained success and momentum.

I mention all of this not to boast, but to underscore that we know what is attractive about Beijing as a center of innovation, and we have a clear idea of what needs to be added in order to attract more innovative people and enterprises. By introducing a compelling spectrum of policies that support open innovations, Beijing could attract innovative talent, encourage businesses to be more innovative, create an open and efficient environment for commercializing innovations, and better integrate Beijing into what we like to call the “global innovation ecosystem”, thus laying a solid foundation for remaking itself into an innovative global city.

II. Ride the Next Wave of Technical Evolution to Build a “Digital Beijing”

As we read through the global press, barely a week goes by when we do not hear about another city wanting to make itself a “wireless city” or a “smart city”, looking to integrate themselves into a “smarter planet” made up of an “Internet of things”. Behind these buzzwords is a recognition that the global city of the future must be, at its core, a digital city.

As the world goes broadband – and now mobile broadband – Beijing must recognize that in order to be a “world city” digital technology must lie at the core of every effort. Today, easy, inexpensive, and pervasive access to powerful information networks is essential to any city’s future, both as an enabler for Beijing to accelerate urban and economic development and as a potent symbol of the city’s integration into the global business and innovation environment. The “Triple Play” roadmap developed by Chinese central government holds great potential. It holds forth the opportunity for Beijing to demonstrate to the rest of China – and the world – that the global city of the 21st century sits at the point of convergence of convergence of telecom, Internet and broadcast infrastructures, devices, and services, certainly to improve resource utilization and productivity, but also to enhance the quality of life of its citizens and to stimulate the next stage of China’s development. 

After thirty years of development based on freeing the productive forces of the nation to serve an export-driven economy, China now faces the challenge of harnessing the unutilized power hidden in the nation’s own consumers to drive development in the coming decades. China’s leaders still seek the answers on how to make that happen. Beijing’s 17 million residents possess a staggering spending power, making them the ideal testing ground for convergence-driven consumption growth. In addition, Beijing is home to the head offices of the three leading telecom operators – China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom – as well as the regional headquarters, R&D and operation centers of a host of well-known mobile device/infrastructure suppliers, IT/software vendors and service providers. Combined with an untold number of small, innovative digital companies growing out of Zhongguancun and Haidian, these assets are an untapped foundation for Beijing’s effort to establish itself as a global digital city. 

As such, it is highly advisable for Beijing to include the steps required to turn the capital into a “digital city” into the strategic development plan, introducing and implementing a consistent program to harness these varied resources and strengths to turn the northern capital into “smart city” with global influence. With our cutting-edge wireless broadband technologies and solutions, plus ideas we still have on the drawing board, Motorola is willing to share our expertise and our vision to help foster a high-tech, digital Beijing.

III. Make Beijing a Better Place to Live with Smart Mobility Infrastructure

We mentioned lifestyle above, and given our experience in global cities (and cities that have tried but failed to gain this status), we cannot emphasize enough the importance of this factor. So much of what makes a metropolis into a global city is the experience of touring, visiting, and living there.

Undoubtedly, as it is becoming more and more influential worldwide, Beijing will become the preferred destination for major events, for global corporations, and for a growing number local enterprises and institutions. This, together with population growth and economic development, will pose a immense mobility challenge for the capital city that threatens to become a damaging quality-of-life issue.

It is not enough to simply have buses, trains, and expressways anymore. Each of us in this room can think of cities that have these things, and yet fall far short of what we think of as a global city. A truly global city should have a smarter transportation infrastructure. In this regard, state-of-the-art IT technologies and solutions should be leveraged to reduce unnecessary traffic and improve transport efficiency by helping enterprises and governments plan transport routes. IT enables the access to real-time and accurate traffic information, provides a basis for sound command and dispatch for better traffic control. With smarter mobility, enterprises can better plan their logistics, increase productivity and reduce emissions, all of which also contribute to the ongoing effort to build an environmentally-friendly city.

Ensuring the personal and property safety of residents and visitors and smooth communications and effective command and control during major events represents another major challenge Beijing Municipal Government has to address. The Olympics proved this was possible, but if Beijing is to host more regular major events, the systems Beijing created for the Olympics must be effectively – and economically – integrated into the fabric of the city’s infrastructure.

Throughout the world, Motorola Enterprise Mobility solutions have helped customers and governments effectively address this challenge. Already there is a big installed base of such systems in Beijing: Motorola’s solutions are used at Beijing subway, light rail, stadiums, manufacturing, logistics and trading industries to improve their efficiency and productivity. With technology evolving and Beijing developing, we will expand and enhance our cooperation with the city to contribute to Beijing’s ongoing efforts to make itself a better place to live with smart and efficient mobility.

Conclusions:

Being the capital of an emerging global power, as well as the political and cultural center of the nation, Beijing is already riding on the strong momentum of the Chinese economy and its expanding influence around the world. The city has a growing international reputation and is well positioned to become a global city as envisioned by the government. However, building a global city is an effort of constant and continued improvements that seek to leap beyond the ordinary and the expected, creating a city that is both delightful and impressive.

To reach that goal, open innovation, digitalization, and a better quality of life through pervasive communications all need to be at the core of the city’s efforts. This strategy will not only help realize the goal of “global city”, but also give an impetus to Beijing’s economic and industrial restructuring and the beginnings of an new era of growth and prosperity for Beijing and the nation it leads. Motorola stands ready to support Beijing on its journey to becoming a global city with our resources, our expertise, our vision, and, most important, a deep and abiding affection for this remarkable metropolis.