Tag Archives: aerospace

Professional

Advance Mission to India

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Recently returned from an advance mission to India with colleagues from Greater Seattle Partners and the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce. We navigated the cities of Delhi, Bangalore, and Mumbai to plan for a future international leadership mission with executives and government leaders from the Seattle region.

In addition to notable meetings with entities such as Air India, Amazon, Boeing, Chambers of Commerce, Port of Mumbai, Tech Mahindra, U.S. Embassy in Delhi, U.S. Department of Commerce, and World Trade Center Mumbai, we also attended Aero India, which is India’s largest airshow and aviation exhibition. It was an action-packed trip!

Aero India
Air India
FICC
Hindustan Times featuring Boeing
Tech Mahindra

I was afforded a day to accompany an expert guide throughout Delhi, as well as some time to visit the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, formerly named the Prince of Wales Museum of Western India, in Mumbai. I also stayed at the famous/infamous The Taj Mahal Palace, which is directly across the road from the Gateway of India, and the inspiration for the movie Hotel Mumbai.

Some of these images include:

  • Jama Masjid of Delhi
  • Qutab Minar
  • Old Delhi Sikh Temple
  • Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (formerly named the Prince of Wales Museum of Western India)
  • Gateway to India
  • Port of Mumbai

Greater Seattle’s Country Connections with India

Greater Seattle shares deep cultural and economic ties with India that continue to flourish and expand today. The Emerald City has one of the highest Asian Indian populations in the U.S, and approximately 131,000 Indians now live in the region. Thanks in large part to Amazon, Boeing, and Microsoft, more than 40% of foreign-born IT workers in the Seattle area hail from India.

The momentum continues with Air India recently agreeing to purchase 220 Boeing jets valued at $34 billion. Announced in 2023, this historic deal will undoubtedly create many new opportunities between the world’s two largest democracies.

To further cross-border collaboration and mutual understanding, Seattle opened its first Indian consulate in November 2023, along with its first Indian Visa Application Center that opened in July 2024. In the same year, the Seattle University established the RoundGlass India Center, which is an interdisciplinary center focused on the study of contemporary India. It was founded by Gurpreet “Sunny” Singh, a healthcare entrepreneur and philanthropist whose work is transforming the lives of millions of people in India.

Greater Seattle is the place where champions make their mark, and we are very excited to add our first cricket team. The Seattle Orcas are an American professional Twenty20 cricket team based in the Seattle metropolitan area that competes in Major League Cricket. The franchise was announced in 2023 as one of six inaugural franchises to play in the league. One of its lead investors is Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella.

Other Indian cultural activities in Greater Seattle include:

  • The Urvasi Dance Company based in Seattle and Olympia is renowned for its dedication to the classical Indian dance form Odissi.
  • The Diwali: Lights of India festival in Seattle occurs each year to celebrate India’s arts and culture, including music, dance, martial arts, visual art, and cooking demonstrations.
  • Tasveer, a Seattle-based South Asian social justice arts non-profit aims to inspire social change through thought-provoking South Asian films, art, and storytelling, held its inaugural film festival and market in 2024. 

I feel that I have just started to scratch the surface of India and how it has shaped the globe for more than 4,000 years. But I look forward to the journey. Namaste, for now.

Professional

Farnborough International Airshow

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Great to be back in London and the U.K for the Farnborough International Airshow. We had a great delegation of public and private partners including Lieutenant Governor Heck, representatives of the Washington State Department of Commerce, Head of the UK Government Office in Seattle, Alaska Airlines, Boeing, ZeroAvia, and regional economic development partners.

After a welcoming reception at the The Shard and the National History Museum, our team engaged in one-on-one meetings with 15 international aerospace companies where we actively promoted the Greater Seattle region as a leading hub for aerospace, clean energy, and advanced manufacturing, with a strong emphasis on sustainable solutions.

Following Farnborough, a smaller delegation of Washington State representatives ventured to northwest England and Chester to further co-operation on trade, innovation and clean energy. Founded as a Roman fortress in the 1st century A.D., Chester is a charming city that also serves as a nexus to world-class aerospace innovation.

The first day began at Electroimpact, which is an aerospace automation company with an exceptional concentration of engineers working on a wide range of projects include complete automation assembly systems for commercial aircraft wings, riveting machines and tools for wing panel and fuselage assembly, advanced fiber placement machines, robotic assembly systems, and spacecraft handling equipment.

The group proceeded just up the road to Broughton and the Airbus factory where the majority of its commercia aircraft wings are made. Adjacent to Airbus, the group also had the opportunity to tour the Advance Manufacturing Research Center (AMRC) that specializes in carrying out world-leading research into advanced machining, manufacturing and materials for aerospace and other high-value manufacturing sectors.  

The day concluded with a roundtable discussion at HyNet Northwest where the group learned more about the UK’s ambitious plans for industrial decarbonization and hydrogen production.

A special thanks to the head of the UK Government Office in Seattle, Robin Twyman, Lord Mayor Razia Daniels, Cheshire West and Chester Council, and so many others for hosting the delegation. Everyone was exceedingly warm and welcoming. 

Professional

Paris Air Show

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Great to be back in Paris to hear the roar of the F-35 and watch Boeing push the Gs on the 777x at Le Bourget. Lots of great meetings and was thrilled to win Best-in-Show for the sustainable design focus and indigenous artwork of our pavilion which was just an idea back at Farnborough.

“This pavillion grew from an inspiration by Greater Seattle Partners’ Robert Payne. Robert envisioned a green Choose Washington exhibit modelled after the Alaska Airlines’ holistic approach to sustainability, which includes not only ongoing advances in sustainable aviation such as those we were pleased to announce this week with ZeroAvia and Twelve, but also their gorgeous green headquarters building near Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.”

Other great highlights included a wonderful reception at Cercle National des Armées, boat ride down the Seine, the energy of the streets during Summer Solstice, and, well, just being in Paris. Also enjoyed a nice side trip to Nantes to tour Airbus and the adjacent innovation labs, as well as a boat excursion off the coast of Pornichet to learn more about their new wind farm.

Professional

Uncommon Thinkers Welcome

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Anyone who has gone through the process of developing a brand position that encapsulates the unique values and spirit of a company or themselves knows it’s not easy, especially in a crowded and competitive marketplace. Even more so for a region that does not like to be defined or put in a box. That is why I like to think of Uncommon Thinkers Welcome, my latest brand development project, as more of an invitation than a label.

It has definitely been a journey moving through the various phases of stakeholder engagement – regional, domestic and international research – brand development and trademark – and final production. GeekWire does a great job of laying it out in this article, and I really appreciate their partnership in helping me launch the brand out in the world.

There are a lot of  fun but smart elements to the campaign.

I worked with each of these partners to provide social guidance and assets to amplify the launch. Of course, there were multiple channels involved to launch the campaign:

It has been an honor to work with so many amazing companies and partners to breathe life into this. I worked with more than 22 companies and partners to pull this off, including a 4-day video and photo shoot across Snohomish, King and Pierce County.

Paid media and much more to come!

Professional

Farnborough Airshow

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This year’s Farnborough International Airshow was a huge success for Greater Seattle and Washington-based aerospace companies. As our research illustrates, the UK is an invaluable trade and investment partner for our region, and to be there for the return of Farnborough after a 4-year hiatus marked the revival of the aerospace industry after the prolonged negative impacts of Covid-19.

Boeing inked a number of high profile deals, including Delta Air Lines’ purchase of 100 of its 737 MAX 10 jetliners, a $13.5B deal that is in addition to another $12B for the 737 Max 8, 737 Max 10 and 777x.

“We saw a little bit of that trickle of optimism in Dubai and it’s just so strong here in Farnborough,” Robert Payne, vice president of marketing and communications for economic development group Greater Seattle Partners, told the Business Journal in a call from the event, referencing the Dubai Airshow in November.

The activity, Payne said, is “proof that we’re getting back to pre-Covid times with better planes, better technology and better processes in place to ensure that the aerospace industry is safe and innovative.”

While Boeing’s 777x delighted spectators with incredible aerial displays and informative on-the-ground tours if its new, more fuel efficient technologies out on the tarmac, a host of Washington aerospace companies were inside the tradeshow showcasing their products and solutions from cybersecurity and artificial intelligence to advanced manufacturing and new forms of electric and hydrogen propulsion.

In another article detailing Boeing’s plans to expand its supply of sustainable aviation fuel, we gave readers a sense of what other local companies were there to evolve the aerospace industry.

The event has also provided a platform for Washington state to showcase its role in the development of sustainable technologies, said Robert Payne, marketing and communications lead for economic development group Greater Seattle Partners. He pointed to exhibits by companies like Everett-based electric propulsion startup MagniX and ZeroAvia, which has a research division for its hydrogen retrofit technology at Snohomish County’s Paine Field airport.

In addition to connecting with our friends in commercial aircraft and defense, we met with a number of companies in the eVTOL and space sectors, as well as other local hometown brands such as Blue Origin and Microsoft.

Boeing Site Tour in Sheffield

Towards the latter end of the show, a number of us took a side trip to Sheffield where we had a very interesting visit to Boeing’s advanced manufacturing facility to see how rock star engineers are achieving greater efficiency in production through new technologies and innovative processes for producing wing flap actuators. They’ve also reimagined their supply chain to be more resilient and sustainable.

We also toured the adjacent Advanced Manufacturing Research Center (AMRC) to learn how it is supporting talent development with novel approaches for workforce training. The place is filled with robots, researchers and methods for capturing and analyzing data that will blow your mind. They’re really setting the bar for empowering top talent to produce the next innovation in aerospace.