San Ramón Explores Sister City Relationship With Austin, Texas

San Ramón recently took the first step toward establishing a Sister City relationship with Austin, Texas.  A delegation of four representatives from San Ramón, Costa Rica recently visited Austin to promote collaboration around environmental initiatives.

During their visit the group met with the City of Austin, the Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies, the UT Energy Institute, the UT IC2 Institute, the Texas Climate & Carbon Exchange, the Catellus Group (Mueller Project), Pecan Street Inc., Firefly LED Lighting, Treehouse and other environmental-focused institutions and organizations.



The meetings focused on opportunities for collaboration including: San Ramón Carbon Neutral; Renewable Energy Generation; University Exchange Programs; Infrastructure Improvements; Green Building Supply Exports; Scientific Industrial Park Anchors; Manufacturers, Assembly, Testing; and Central and Latin American operations.

The group included Dr. José Zaglul, President EARTH University who was born in San Ramón; Jorge Araya, President San Ramón Chamber of Commerce; Glen Nickerson, Renewable Energy Executive and 22-year resident of Austin; and Mike Styles, President and Co-Founder of the Community Action Alliance of Costa Rica. Dr. Zaglul was an invited guest of Whole Foods which sells EARTH University sustainable bananas and other sustainable food products and is headquartered in Austin. Dr. Zaglul also participated in a taped television interview on Austin Business Journal’s Face-2-Face with ABJ Editor Colin Pope.

The San Ramón delegation targeted Austin as a potential Sister City based on shared values and vision: Austin is a leader in sustainability, carbon neutrality, renewable energy, technology incubation, project commercialization, alliance formation and cultural exchange/technology transfer. Community Action Alliance representative Mike Styles said “We have been focusing on Austin because of its reputation as a world class innovator in green initiatives.

The development model used in Austin which relies on collaboration between government, education and business has produced tangible results which we believe can be modeled in San Ramón. We also believe that San Ramón has much to offer Austin as witnessed by the overwhelming openness and willingness to collaborate shown during every meeting we took: they want to help. We believe there is much to be accomplished based on these shared values and many bridges that can be created”.

One of the relationships being explored is with Firefly LED Lighting which is interested in testing the Costa Rican market with their innovative, energy-efficient lighting products. Tom Mollenkamp, Vice President of Sales was quoted as saying “Firefly LED looks forward to the prospect of partnering with the esteemed business and environmental leaders of San Ramón, and supporting their efforts in making Costa Rica the first carbon neutral country on the planet. The vision of the Costa Rican delegation is one that we share deeply at Firefly LED, in our mission to make everyone’s lives and our collective environment a greener place to live for future generations. The opportunity to participate in a business venture that aligns Firefly LED’s core mission with a potential future sister city partnership between San Ramón, Costa Rica and Austin, Texas is a great honor for our company”.

The San Ramón Sister City Committee is composed of local leaders representing business, government, education, and community interests. The committee is pursuing a Sister City relationship with Austin as a strategy to acquire the expertise and resources required to execute “green initiatives” and in the process help establish San Ramón as the “Environmental Capital of Costa Rica”. The market visit was the result of months of meetings and research and networking.

The committee is currently planning a return visit to Austin in early October around the SXSW Eco Showcase. They are also planning a Costa Rican Carbon Neutral Tour in January 2013 to highlight Costa Rican carbon neutral projects, opportunities and initiatives. For more information please contact Mike Styles at mike@styles.com  or visit www.actionalliancecr.com.