State Dept Image/Oct 03, 2014/New York, NY

October 1 - 11, 2014; New York, NY; Las Vegas, Nevada; and San Francisco.
Contact: Washington Foreign Press Center Media Relations Officer Michael Chadwick
Telephone: 202-504-6370; email: chadwickmj12@state.gov

The Foreign Press Center brought 24 foreign tech, business and political journalists representing print, broadcast and online media from major industrial powers including Germany and Canada, important growth centers such as China and Brazil and emerging economies like South Sudan and Venezuela to  learn about and experience the economic transformation of the “sharing economy.”  The strength, innovativeness and entrepreneurial spirit of America’s economy were on full display. The tour included over 30 briefings and events with entrepreneurs, journalists, policy-makers, analysts, venture capitalists and more, the participants saw how the sharing economy is shaking up a wide swathe of industries including transportation, financial services, tourism, education, retailing and even scientific research, experienced the unique work environments and cultures of start-ups, and discussed how the disruptive power of collaborative tech is bringing both greater efficiencies to consumers and new challenges for workers, communities and existing companies. Highlights included back-to-back meetings at competing rideshare companies Uber and Lyft, visits to East and West Coast startup incubators, a briefing from the City of San Francisco’s Chief Innovation Officer, gourmet dinners reserved over the internet and served in private residences, discussions with TechCrunch and New York Times reporters about the changing business environment, and tours of an entrepreneurial experiment striving to transform a blighted area of Las Vegas.