Flying from Texas to Japan, the Brazos Valley Economic Development Corporation recently took city leaders on a delegation trip to discuss possible international business opportunities and pitch what makes the Brazos County worth investing in.

“We already have a relationship with [the Japanese executives] with what’s going around now with chip manufacturing and AI, which are two of the biggest things that we’re doing right now,” Bryan Mayor Bobby Gutierrez said. “What we’re looking at is how we support these efforts that [Texas] A&M has laid in our laps.”

Gutierrez said the agenda for the June 1-8 trip was packed full of meetings with Japanese companies and representatives, leaving almost no time to be a tourist.

“From the day we landed till the day we took off, we had meetings scheduled from sunup to sundown,” he said. “It was all about meeting potential customers that want to come here so we can diversify what we already have here, and with the expansion of RELLIS and the testing facilities at RELLIS, these companies already know us.”

A project worth $10 billion could be coming to the RELLIS campus, located on a 288-acre parcel, according to legal notices that appeared in last Saturday’s edition of The Eagle. With over 2,000 acres available on campus and a steady workforce from graduated students, RELLIS is a large selling point for business development, Gutierrez said.

“With the potential announcement we’re about to do at RELLIS, these companies already know us, and they know what’s in the pipeline that hasn’t been announced yet. So, they’re looking at establishing relationships now,” he said.

Many conversations are happening behind the scenes, but Gutierrez said he considers the trip a success and hopes to continue bringing economic developments to Bryan-College Station through foreign companies.

“It was such a good trip. Once these announcements are made, we’ll be targeting companies that we’ve already talked to and facilitate bringing them over here,” he said. “We always say Bryan works at the speed of business, not at the speed of government. … That was a big takeaway for them. If they decide to come to Texas, we’ll be the first ones they think about.”

College Station Mayor John Nichols said they met with a wide variety of company executives in Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka.

“The Japanese economy is a slow-growing economy. It’s very mature and their demographics are aging, so they need to find markets elsewhere,” he said. “We met with a number of companies to discuss superconductor-related and other biopharma-related businesses, like biodegradable plastics, and the Japanese railroad.”

When pitching Bryan-College Station, Nichols said they focused on the university and the benefit of the cities being in the middle of the “Texas Triangle” — Dallas, Houston and Austin.

“Of course, they hear about semiconductors in Austin or petrochemicals and plastic manufacturing in the Houston area. This was an opportunity for us to talk about our location,” he said. “We have educated young people, 15,000 to 18,000 a year graduating, and the RELLIS campus which has tremendous potential for location business. Between the two cities, we have opportunities.”

One element of the trip that impressed both mayors was a bullet train that Nichols said he’s hopeful Texans will, one day, be able to utilize the same technology and possibly include a stop in the College Station area.

“Now that Amtrak is interested in taking over [the Texas Central Railroad], they’re negotiating with Amtrak to develop a relationship there. If and when this high-speed rail is done between Houston and Dallas, they will be the key players with regard to building the road bed, train sets and operating system to make it all work efficiently,” Nichols said.

Susan Davenport, president and CEO of the Brazos Valley Economic Development Corporation, said they created the itinerary for the trip based on target industry sectors.

“We were strategically looking at our connections there and we knew that this was the first proactive outreach to Japan and we needed to really have a deep relationship or develop a relationship with the U.S. commercial service,” she said.

Davenport said five semiconductor companies were represented at meetings during their trip and many showed great interest in the work that was being conducted on the A&M and RELLIS campus.

“We have the largest research expenditure in the state of Texas, which is the world’s eighth-largest economy. Then, you start building from there, and with many of these numbers you’ve reached over the last few years, you have people’s attention,” she said. “I know one particular executive we met with who didn’t know yet of the Texas A&M Semiconductor Institute and was all ears when we brought it up.”

The trip was considered successful and Davenport said the department is looking forward to furthering partnerships and developments in the Brazos Valley.

“My feeling is that it was well received and I think now it’s just a matter of strong follow-up and making sure every announcement goes to these entities we met with and more,” she said. “Our organization is committed to doing just that. … Every update is important because it piques their interest.”

Other members of the trip included College Station City Manager Bryan Woods, Bryan City Manager Kean Register, Fred McClure, A&M chief community engagement officer Fred McClure, and local business representatives Jeremy Osborne and Spencer Clements.