A U of A success story

I only have a couple of minutes but I want to tell you about a company we visited yesterday here in Beijing. Deya Tech was started by two University of Alberta graduates, Yanning Li and her brother, early in the 2000's. Now they are a highly successful enterprise software company focusing on document managment and sharing solutions including regultory compliance components. Our visit with them was really great; we all gathered in the loft of their Beijing offices, a vibrant, creative, and productive space... you could feel the entreprenurial energy there in the room. We had a great question and answer session, where the climate for start-ups in Canada and China was discussed, as well as their success factors, and strategies for operating in Asia. What a great visit!

Because of another company visit cancellation (flu strikes again!), we got the opportunity to go visit the Olympic park and have tours of the Birdsnest Staduim and Watercube facilities. They were incredible! I particularly liked the Watercube.

So here's a few general observaions I've made on Beijing so far: The buildings are not particularly tall, but they are massive. HUGE! With the exception of the air, just about everything is spotless. There always seems to be troops of people cleaning things. There are beautiful gardens everywhere. The food is great (Ok, maybe not the bugs on sticks!), and the beer is cheap. The convergence of Eastern and Western clutures is evedent, as are the generational differences.

Time to go! We are doing sightseeing this weekend so I'll update when I can!