January 12, 2015

Meeting with the Mayor of Bandung

January 12, 2015/ Guest User

On August 10th Margot met with the Mayor of Bandung, along with her teacher & mentor, Bu Irawati Durban Ardjo, discussing the preservation and enhancement of traditional Sundanese culture, accompanied by the five volumes of original books on the topic written by Bu Irawati. The discussion continued on the topic of creating a regional sister city relationship between Bandung and Oakland/ Berkeley and the East Bay, allowing the exchange of the Creative City and Second City approach to enhancing creative entrepreneurism, as well as design oriented problem solving in regard to critical infrastructure.

Global Markets: Sustainable Solutions Conference Silicon Valley Feb 2015

Kerja Sama attended the US Department of Commerce “Discover Global Markets: Sustainable Solutions” Conference held in Silicon Valley, CA Feb 9-11, 2015. Some of the interesting topics included a “Sustainable Manufacturing” presentation by Sudeep Rao, PhD of Slow Tech Labs-Sonoma County, CA ; and a discussion on “ Water & Land Use”, moderated by Jeremy Potash of the California Asia Business Council.. A highlight for Kerja Sama was an opportunity to speak with Mr. Arun Kumar, Deputy Director for Global Markets, U.S. Department of Commerce. Mr. Kumar expressed curiosity and encouragement at the concept of the Bay Area to Indonesia partnership, and suggested looking at the Smart Global Cities of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) as a way for Kerja Sama USA to participate, as a team, in a private public sector partnership towards solving urban challenges faced by Indonesian cities today.

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