DETROIT ? Michigan government leaders will attempt to capture the attention of the thousands of journalist in Detroit early next week for the North American International Auto Show with a morning long program aimed at analyzing how technology will transform tomorrow cars and trucks ? and the auto industry, the state?s No. 1 industry.
The 21st Century Customer will be offered Jan. 11 at the Cobo Center. The half day program is sponsored by the Michigan Economic Development Corp. Auto show press preview days run from Sunday Jan. 8 to Tuesday Jan. 10. More than 6,000 journalists from around the world are expected to write about the dozens of press conferences introducing the latest new cars, trucks and the bevy of electronic gadgets packing them.
Speakers include Gov. Jennifer Granholm, Dean Kamen (FIRST/DEKA), Peter van Stolk (Jones Soda), Sean McAlinden (CAR), Bob Schumacher (Delphi Electronics), John Waraniak (TATA), Fred Keller (Cascade Engineering) and Chris Kersting (SEMA).
Michigan is the global center for automotive research and development, with $10 billion dollars per year in R&D spending, spending which employs 65,000 statewide. The state also has attracted more than 215 global automotive R&D facilities, including DaimlerChrysler, Ford, General Motors, Hyundai, Nissan and Toyota.
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