Thermo Fisher Scientific, a major technology provider in the global life sciences industry, has recently opened a technology center in Shanghai, China, in a bid to strengthen its presence in the Asia Pacific region. In an exclusive interview to BioSpectrum, Mr Michael D Shafer, vice president and general manager of Thermo Fisher Scientific, China, shares the main purpose of the new technology center in Shanghai. Mr Shafer is responsible for the company’s commercial and manufacturing operations in China. Excerpts from the interview: What will be the major activities of the new technology center in Shanghai, China? Engineers and support staff at Thermo Fisher Scientific’s Technology Center in Shanghai will develop and manufacture laboratory products and scientific instruments necessary to serve China-based customers across a range of industries, including life sciences, environmental monitoring and consumer product safety. The center will utilize Thermo Fisher’s engineering and development capabilities in order to meet the specific needs of customers, mainly from the life sciences industry, in China. What are the benefits of establishing this new center in China? Thermo Fisher is committed to expanding its operations in China. We entered the China market 30 years ago and began to establish an extensive manufacturing footprint shortly thereafter. In 2005, we accelerated our activities in China by opening a demonstration laboratory in Shanghai. Soon after, we introduced a Chinese version of our industry leading Fisher Scientific catalog, and established the headquarters for our Environmental Instruments business in China. By opening the China Technology Center, we aim to leverage the depth of our capabilities to develop and manufacture products in China. How are you planning to leverage your business in the Asia Pacific region with this new center in China? The Technology Center allows us to strengthen our local manufacturing platform that will benefit many customers across the region. We can align ourselves to the local customer requirements, be it in China or other regions in Asia Pacific region, through this new center. We have significant focus across the region, and will continue to increase our investments in the coming years. How competitive is the Asian market and what are the plans for tackling the challenges? Asian market continues to develop. Increasing our investments in the Asian market gives us the opportunity to improve our capabilities, gain global excellence, and allow us to change according to local requirements. As the Asian market matures, we can see increasing investment in higher technology areas; and Thermo Fisher has plans to continue its investment in those promising areas, to position ourselves better, to the evolving needs of the customers.