"Massachusetts: It's All Here" is more than just a slogan to attract foreign investment to the state. It's the mantra of the Massachusetts Office of International Trade and Investment (MOITI), the state agency responsible for promoting foreign investment in Massachusetts.
     Working closely with its sister agency, the Massachusetts Export Center and its Mexico City, Berlin, and China offices, MOITI has generated millions of dollars in foreign investment and helped to bring thousands of jobs to Massachusetts.
     "Our investment mission is to identify foreign companies that have an interest in Massachusetts and to work with them to establish operations here," said Robert Ward, MOITI's executive director. "Massachusetts has just about everything a foreign company needs: port access, tax benefits, a skilled workforce, transportation routes, research institutions, and a welcoming business climate."
     Swiss-owned Straumann AG, a leading manufacturer of dental implants and instruments, is a case in point. In April 2003, Frank Mengis, the company's head of quality management, contacted MOITI Europe through the U.S. embassy in Berne, Switzerland to indicate Straumann's interest in opening a North American manufacturing facility. All states on the east coast of the U.S. were being considered as a possible location for the Swiss company.
     Working in close coordination with MOITI's Boston office, Bruce Greenwood, MOITI's European director, arranged a visit by Straumann officials to Massachusetts. It was the first opportunity for MOITI to implement the new "TEAM Massachusetts/It's All Here" concept, which included the active participation of Gov. Mitt Romney, Thomas Sommer of Massachusetts Medical Device Industry Council, the Boston University Dental School and officials from the Massachusetts Office of Business Development and MassDevelopment.
     By June, Straumann had put Massachusetts on its "short list" of preferred locations, and in September the company announced its decision to locate its facility in Massachusetts. The initial Straumann investment will total approximately $50 million, and is expected to create 187 new jobs by 2009. In a note to Gov. Romney, Mengis said, "the effort that was put forth by your team was instrumental in helping us make this decision."
     This kind of matchmaking isn't new to Robert Ward, who brings nearly 50 years of experience in global trade activities to his role as executive director. A graduate of Hamilton College and Johns Hopkins University, he served in Africa, the Middle East, and South America with Citicorp and Arthur D. Little. He joined BayBank in 1993 and later served as senior partner at Boston Global Partners, a financial and management consulting firm specializing in emerging markets.
     Thanks largely to the combined efforts of MOITI and the Massachusetts Export Center, new foreign investment in Massachusetts in 2004 will total approximately $80 million and create as many as 650 new jobs. Foreign companies in Massachusetts employ nearly 200,000 workers, or 7% of the state's workforce. The Organization for International Investment, a Washington, D.C.-based trade association, reported in October 2004 that Massachusetts ranks 7th in the nation in the percentage of private sector employment supported by foreign investment and 11th in the total number of jobs provided by foreign companies.
     While FDI is MOITI's top priority, the office also helps to boost the state's exports. Export promotion, the flip side of foreign investment, is the joint responsibility of MOITI and the Massachusetts Export Center. "The Export Center is the first point of contact for companies that need export assistance," said Ward. "MOITI's role is to identify opportunities in foreign markets for Massachusetts companies, and to facilitate contacts made through the Export Center."
     Foreign trade shows provide Massachusetts companies with important export opportunities. Each year, MOITI recruits companies to exhibit in five or six major shows, which earns them considerable discounts and provides them with valuable exposure in overseas markets. MOITI's foreign offices also customize their efforts for specific companies that need help entering or expanding in Germany, Mexico, Japan and China.
     For example, early in 2004, the Export Center involved MOITI in its consultation with Motion Technology Inc. in Marlboro. Motion Technology was interested in expanding its sales in Germany. Within a few weeks, MOITI Europe had compiled a comprehensive list of 70 potential German business partners and had sent a concise marketing proposal in German to each. In August, Motion Technology signed a distribution agreement with one of the Massachusetts companies identified through MOITI's European office as its distributor for Germany.
     The state's exports are growing at a record pace. Exports for the first half of 2004 totaled $11.1 billion, an increase of 23.4 percent over the same period in 2003. Massachusetts ranked tenth in the nation in exports, and had the second-best percentage gain among the top ten exporting states.
     "It really is all here," said Ward about the climate for investment in Massachusetts. "Our job at MOITI is to make sure foreign companies know Massachusetts is a great place to establish or expand their U.S. operations and to assure that the state's exporters are well promoted in foreign markets."

More information about MOITI is available online at www.mass.gov/MOITI. Information on specific incentives for FDI is available at www.mass.gov/bizteam.