Mexican delegates talk the future of mobility and auto manufacturing during Michigan visit - MLive.com

Mexican and Michigan innovators were able to come together in a big way during this year’s Hispanic Heritage Month.

Fifteen leaders in business, technology, academia and government from the state of Chihuahua, Mexico were hosted by the William Davidson Institute (WDI) at the University of Michigan for a week long visit Oct. 4-8 in Ann Arbor and Detroit that centered around automotive and workforce innovation.

Diana Páez, senior director for Grants and Partnerships at WDI, said as a Mexican U.S. citizen, she was happy for her communities to come together and share knowledge in this way.

“It’s such an honor to bring some of my people to experience the richness of Michigan,” Páez said.

Juárez, Chihuahua’s largest city, is home to more than 330,000 manufacturing workers, with about half employed by over 100 auto-related companies operating there.

Fernando Alba, executive director of economic development for the city of Juárez who led the delegation, noted the similarities Juárez and Detroit share.

Both cities border other countries— Juárez sits on the U.S. border in Texas and Detroit borders Canada— and the economies of both cities rely on the automotive industry.

With the automotive industry’s focus shifting to autonomous and electric vehicles, Alba said the goal of the delegates was to diminish the impact the new technology will have on the city by finding out how this shift will affect their manufacturing facilities and workers.

“I was seeing this new wave of electromobility will hit us hard in the very near future,” Alba said. “We wanted to understand how hard and we wanted to understand what were the issues that we need to take care of.”

Alba was accompanied by leaders from the Economic Development of Juárez, the city and state of Chihuahua and the Southwest Manufacturers Industry Association. The delegation also included representatives from companies including Dell, Microsoft, the Artificial Intelligence Center, National Polytechnic Institute, Technology Hub, Technology Development Institute and the Technical Institute of Juárez.

The delegation met with faculty and other experts representing the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, Transportation Research Institute, College of Engineering, Technology Transfer and Mcity, U-M’s public-private mobility research partnership.

Together, the group also traveled to Detroit, meeting with representatives from TechTown, NextEnergy, the Office of Future Mobility and Electrification, Detroit Economic Growth Corporation and Automation Alley.

The group participated in a weeklong learning and exchange program that included stops and meetings in Ann Arbor at the American Center for Mobility, Washtenaw Community College, the Center for Automotive Research, the University Research Corridor, the Michigan Economic Center and SPARK, as well as connecting with mobility experts at the Ann Arbor Mobility Summit.

In collaboration with Economic Development of Ciudad Juárez and the US-Mexico Foundation (USMF), the visit was part of the WDI’s mission to bring together those working in business, nonprofits and government to find solutions that lead to opportunities for people in low- and middle-income countries.

Páez said engaged discussions during the visit were beneficial to understanding “trickle down economics” and how the mobility transformation in the automotive industry affects not only the U.S. and Mexico, but different markets around the world.

“There’s also the same, or many of the same, implications are true for other low and middle income countries,” Páez said. “We are interested and well positioned to be able to help businesses in this market.”

The electrification push by federal, state and local governments is intended to bolster economic development and employment while also decreasing the use of fossil fuels that contribute to global climate change.

In August, Biden announced that his administration wants half of all new vehicles sold by 2030 to be electric. Automakers have called for billions in government assistance to meet that goal. Presently, electric vehicles make up only about 2 percent of U.S. auto sales, which is well behind Europe and China.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed an agreement along with four other Great Lakes states to build the Regional Electric Vehicle for the Midwest (REV Midwest) network in September, a regional network of electric vehicle charging stations aims to accelerate adoption of electric vehicles by reducing the distance drivers must travel in between stations that can recharge their battery.

Whitmer also announced a new initiative at the recent Motor Bella auto show to develop the nation’s first wireless charging infrastructure on a public road. An electrified roadway will allow electric buses, shuttles and vehicles to charge as they drive.

Alba said the delegates are returning to Mexico after the visit to retool manufacturers and retrain workers to adapt to the new automotive landscape. He hopes that they can come together with the state and federal government to embrace a clear path to mobility.

“Our main goal is to improve the quality of life of our citizens,” Alba said. “We do that basically either by promoting better, better jobs with better payments and with improved direct investments in our city and our state.

“During this week, we realized that it’s not important but it’s essential really to move in a very decisive way.”

Building on this effort, on Nov. 5, WDI and Michigan Ross, in collaboration with USMF, will host a virtual roundtable to discuss further integration within the auto industry in the U.S. and Mexico. The event, A Vision for a Stronger U.S.-Mexico Partnership: Emerging Opportunities in the Automotive Industry, will bring together diplomats, executives, analysts and academic leaders to share their perspectives on trends and opportunities for players in both countries.

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