GUEST EDITORIAL

 Intel Walk

John A. McKean, Asia Region Public Affairs, Intel

Ihad one day in late August, 10 employees of Intel, the world¡¯s largest maker of semiconductor devices, showed up at a Shanghai neighborhood to help take out the garbage.

No, Intel is not getting into the garbage collection business.  It was part of program called Intel Walk into the Community.   The employees were working with local residents to develop a community garbage segregation bin in order to help with recycling.

Working with 12 Shanghai community groups and local governments, Intel volunteers are participating in a variety of community improvement and environmental protection projects this summer and fall.

¡°It¡¯s an extension of the Intel Involved volunteer program we offer around the world,¡± said CB Soon, general manager of Intel Products Shanghai Ltd..  ¡°In Shanghai, because of the size of the city, we wanted to focus the program a little more directly on the needs of the communities near where our operations are located and near where our employees live.¡±

So far this year, more than a third of Intel¡¯s employees in Shanghai have participated in a volunteer program.   As they have done in the past, Intel employees continue to take part in local tree plantings, help with the annual Intel Shanghai Adolescent Science and Technology Innovation Contest, join in the annual Terry Fox run for cancer research, and assist with the Special Olympics. Now, with Intel Walk into the Community, there is an opportunity for even more employees to get involved, often in their own neighborhoods.

Since the program was announced July 19, Intel environmental health and safety experts, accompanied by 62 volunteers, have attended seven community discussions on subjects such as ¡°healthy food,¡± and ¡°how to create an accident and incident free safety environment.¡± 

Now Intel Walk into the Community has moved to some specific projects,. In addition to garbage segregation, Intel employees with computer skills are working with community organizations to help them publish community newsletters on personal computers, complete with photos. ¡°In order to make sure our projects are meeting actual community needs, we conduct audits with community leaders,¡± said Joanna Chen, Intel¡¯s Shanghai community relations manager.  ¡°We have some ideas, so do the community and government organizations.  But we also want to know what individual citizens and community leaders think.¡±

Intel¡¯s 2600 employees in Shanghai are distributed among three different campuses. The largest is in Pudong¡¯s Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone, where Intel has three factories for assembly and testing of semiconductor devices.  At Shanghai Mart in Changning District, Intel has laboratories for research and development, marketing offices and administration.  A new campus is under construction at Zizhu Science Based Industrial Park in Minhang District where software and hardware research will be concentrated.

The variety of Intel¡¯s operations in Shanghai means employee volunteers are available with a wide range of skills.  Particularly useful to the surrounding communities are Intel¡¯s experts in occupational health and safety, resource management, and environmental protection.

¡°Statistically, practically anywhere in the world, one of the safest places you can be is around an Intel facility,¡± said Intel Shanghai Environmental Health and Safety Manager Dr. Susan Zhu.  ¡°Our employees and contractors very seldom suffer a serious injury. What we¡¯d like to do is help the communities around our facilities be just as safe.¡±

Dr. Zhu said the company also actively works to reuse and recycle as much material as possible and to conserve water and energy. ¡°All those things have applications in the nearby communities as well,¡± she noted.

Intel developed Intel Walk into the Community with the help of the Pudong Social Development Bureau and the Pudong Association of Science and Technology.  Other community organizations associated with the project are Pudong District Gao Qiao Town, Gao Dong Town, Gao Hang Town, Shang Gang Xin Village, Wei Fang, Zhang Jiang Town, Zhou Jia Du, and Hu Dong, all of Pudong District; Hong Qiao, and Cheng Qiao of Changning District; Tian Ping  of Xu Hui District; and  Zhi Jiang Xi Road of Zha Bei District.

The program will continue through the remainder of this year.  After an annual reassessment, it will continue next year, perhaps with the same focus, perhaps with something different.   A similar program will begin next year in Chengdu in Sichuan Province, where Intel is building another factory for assembly and testing.

¡±We want to bring some of the world¡¯s most advanced information technology to China,¡± said Soon. ¡°But we also want to bring something else ¨C the commitment of our company and our employees to being good neighbors.