Jeffrey Chan - Testimonial
My GTI trip to China has been one of the most profound experiences I have had at SJSU. I learned so much from the guides, the companies, the locals, my fellow GTI scholars, and from my professors. Before experiencing China, I had a parochial view of entrepreneurship. I never consideredopportunity outside the U.S. This experience opened my eyes to the potential opportunities in the world and in China. I am grateful to Dean Wei, the program sponsors and the professors involved for allowing me to represent the department of Kinesiology, as one of the GTI scholars of 2011.
Many of the companies we visited expressed that they encouraged and cherished innovation and “encouraged failure”. They were willing to take risks in order to produce new products or to achieve their goals. Similarly, this attitude toward innovation was inspired by the same attitude we have here, in Silicon Valley. For instance, the spokesperson at Zhongguancun Technology Park stated that they were inspired by Silicon Valley and hoped to attract ambitious companies to their area. She also stated that the technology park provided strong support for start-ups and hoped to produce as much, if not more achievements in R&D in the future than Silicon Valley.
We visited five major cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou in China and Taipei and Hshinchu in Taiwan. The cities in China were very modern. For instance, Shanghai had several skyscrapers with amazing architectural design along the Bundt. In Hangzhou, we visited the “New City” where we saw their ten year plan to make Hangzhou the technological capital of China.
The experiences and interactions I had in China were valuable professionally and personally. Furthermore, I plan to implement the lessons I have learned towards achieving my goals. Thank you again to those who have supported the GTI program.