Frankfort, KY. - A Japanese company with ties to the automotive industry will soon announce plans to locate in Central Kentucky, according to Gov. Steve Beshear. And a relationship has been established with researchers in Taiwan, looking into advanced battery and clean coal technologies.
“We had a very productive visit in Japan,” Beshear said of his just completed Asian economic development mission. “I was able to close a deal with a new company who will be coming to Kentucky and establishing a facility in the very near future. It will be locating in Central Kentucky.” Beshear would not reveal the company but said an announcement is expected within a few weeks. The company, he noted, supplies not only the automotive industry, but other manufacturing sectors, as well.
The governor said he also met with representatives of JBACK – Japanese Business Council to Kentucky, an informal group of Japanese-owned operations with multiple locations throughout Kentucky that was formed in the 90’s. “We had some good discussions about their future plans. We used them as a sounding board about how we can improve our business climate - what we can do to help them make more investment and hire more Kentuckians in the future.”
In his first meeting with this group if 2008, Beshear said, the Japanese were suggesting more flexibility in Kentucky’s program of economic development incentives. At the time, he noted, the state could work to attract a new company to the state, “but we really didn’t have many tools to work with existing Kentucky businesses to help them expand and grow.”
An outcome of those 2008 discussions was legislation passed by the Kentucky General Assembly in 2009 amending the Kentucky Jobs Retention Act (KJRA) that previously had limited state tax incentives to automotive manufacturers employing a minimum of 1,000 in a first class city (Ford in Louisville.) House Bill 400, sponsored by Louisville Rep. Larry Clark, redefined “eligible company” to include the vital automotive supply chain industry and removed the “city of the first class” limitation to expand the program statewide. The legislation extended KJRA credits for companies that were currently enrolled, but not expecting to use their entire awarded amount before expiration. For a company to receive the extension, the bill required that they invest in a supplemental project in excess of $75 million.
Beshear also led a delegation representing the Kentucky Bourbon industry to Taiwan, a scotch-based society that has expressed interest in Kentucky’s premium bourbon brands.
And while in Taipei, he visited the Industrial Technology Research Institute, Taiwan’s non-profit technology incubator. “They do aggressive research and development of emerging technologies and in particular, they are doing research into advanced battery technology, as well as clean coal technology. We’re going to explore how we can build relationships with those researchers.”
The governor noted that similar research into both technologies is underway in Kentucky.