Worcester Business Journal

12 Worcester Business Journal • March 16, 2015 www.wbjournal.com FOCUS Technology Plugging in Asia Growing consumption prompts expansions for Central Mass. tech firms on the other side of the globe BY EMILY MICUCCI Worcester Business Journal Staff Writer E xports of all kinds to Asia are on the rise, but it's the technology indus- try that's delivering the products crucial to bringing Asian countries up to par with other developed nations. "The numbers are just so big, and with more and more citizens mov- ing into the middle class, the potential for businesses in all kinds of industries is just enormous," said Kristen Rupert, executive director of the International Business Council at Associated Industries of Massachusetts (AIM). Ernst & Young, a multinational professional services firm, forecasts that as many as 500 million Chinese could enter the global middle class by 2020 if the country continues to experience adequate economic growth. And a 2013 report by research firm McKinsey & Co. supports the notion that expendable income will rise significantly at the same time. According to McKinsey, Chinese urban household income will at least double by 2022. "The middle class's continued expansion will be powered by labor-market and policy initiatives that push wages up, financial reforms that stimulate employ- ment and income growth, and the rising role of private enterprise, which should encourage productivity and help more income accrue to households," the McKinsey report said. And it's not just China where middle-class consumers are multiplying. India, Vietnam and Indonesia are the top emerging economies, according to a 2010 Brookings Institute Report. Central Massachusetts is sprinkled with companies that are scaling up opera- tions in Asian countries to meet the demand from the growing middle-class countries on the continent; China is the clear leader with its middle class of more than 300 million. The maturing economies of these countries are creating an increased need for the basics, such as clothes, as well as more advanced products for industry. But in the end, "it's all about meeting the demand of the people," said Jeff Tarmy, a spokesman for Milford-based Waters Corp. Waters, which makes laboratory testing equipment, is helping meet that demand with a new laboratory it opened in partnership with the Chinese Pharmacopeia Commission in January. The lab will serve as one of China's national technical support centers in the field of traditional Chinese medicine, which has lacked standards for measuring ingredients. The pharmaceutical industry is the biggest market for Waters in Asia and else- >> Continued on Page 16

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