Automation Alley Expansion Raises Troy’s Global Trade Role

Automation Alley’s zip code is 48083, but nearly 30 small flags on display and 20 languages on a “Welcome” wall speak of its expanding international focus.

The technology business association recently dedicated a 3,200-square-foot International Business Center at its Troy headquarters. Noel Nevshehir, director of the center, has lined up users already and will head to Israel later this year for six days of meetings with prospective suppliers, customers and investors.

"I have the best job in the world," said Nevshehir, who joined the staff in 2006 after working for the Mexican consulate-general in Detroit. With 15 years of international trade experience under his belt, Nevshehir said it’s very rewarding to help southeast Michigan expand global business connections.

That focus, a keystone of the mission since Automation Alley's birth in 1999, gains momentum with this spring's opening of an elaborately equipped "welcome center" for use by overseas visitors and the organization's more than 1,000 members.

"It's a soft-landing zone for companies," Nevshehir said. "Now, executives don't have to work in isolation from a hotel."

The airy center – a separate-entry addition to the Alley's headquarters just south of Big Beaver and east of Rochester Road – was financed by $679,800 in federal grants. Four meeting areas include a 36-seat conference room and a collaboration suite with eight pop-up ports that let laptop users display information on two 60-inch wall screens.

A Global Meeting Room

Eight wireless workstations and a video conference theater equipped with gallery seats, flat-screen monitors and recording equipment allow for multiple video connections around the world.

"It's great technology that streamlines communications," Nevshehir said.

Office services are available, as is concierge-style help arranging site visits, receptions, translators, other professional contacts, relocation support, cultural orientations and other administrative support.

For local members,  Automation Alley's staff of 17 employees provide business incubation and export assistance, including seminars, workshops and foreign market information from university researchers.

Kelly Kozlowski, spokeswoman for Automation Alley, said six companies from Canada, Italy, Germany and China have reserved space at the center as they pursue business relationships.

Regionwide Mission

“We're here to provide a 'soft landing' for companies exploring opportunities in Southeast Michigan, not just in Oakland,” Nevshehir said, noting that Automation Alley represents seven counties. “We serve as an honest broker and take a regional approach to economic development. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”

The new international center serves mainly to assist investors and small start-ups explore markets in the region. Some, Nevshehir said, may be seeking partners, while others are drawn to the area’s design and manufacturing skills.

The new center and the association’s travels abroad, such as the upcoming trip to Tel Aviv and Haifa, Israel in October, are the latest efforts to make Troy and the region a more significant crossroads for global business. Prior trade missions to Brazil, China, Germany India, Israel, Mexico and other countries have helped generate more than $151 million in new contracts and 730 jobs in the region.

'My Automation Alley'

Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson has been a strong booster from the start. He helped create the consortium – still headed by a former assistant, Ken Rogers – as a way for the region to offset manufacturing shrinkage by competing more vibrantly with technology corridors such as Silicon Valley in California, Research Park Triangle in North Carolina and Route 128 near Boston. Patterson, a believer since the launch with 43 members 12 years ago, continues to call it “my Automation Alley.”

Its mission statement says “Automation Alley exists to grow the innovation cluster of Southeast Michigan” and describes an economic strategy “driven by exporting.” That led to past trade missions to Brazil, China, Germany, India, Israel, Mexico and Europe, which Rogers says helped generate more than $151 million in contracts and 730 new jobs regionally.

Alley allies include U.S. Sens. Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow, as well as local Congressman Gary Peters. They pushed through 2009-10 funding for International Business Center planning, design and interior construction to support the goal of making Troy a more significant crossroads for global business.

And in his first State of the State message, Gov. Rick Snyder cited the Alley as an example of “economic gardening” for job creation.