State of Maine Trade Mission to France
 October 2010

The Maine International Trade Center is recruiting companies for a Trade Mission to Paris, France from October 2-6, 2010. The focus of the mission will be two-fold: to bring Maine's food and tourism industries to the City of Light and promote Maine's unique culinary products - including lobster, coldwater shrimp, scallops, and other seafood as well as Maine's well-known blueberries, cranberries, specialty foods and beverages.

 

"This falls perfectly into our 'Shop, Dine, and Stay' promotion," explains Pat Eltman, Maine's Director of Tourism. "Maine has made a name for itself as a culinary destination as well as a location to enjoy the beauty and fun that our classic New England villages have to offer. France is our third largest overseas market for attracting visitors."

 

The second focus area of the mission is in the Renewable Energy and Advanced Materials fields. France is home to the largest composites show (JEC) in the world and has a vast network of importers and OEMs for the aeronautics, power generation, automotive, defense and security, and medical products industries. France is also making significant strides in renewable energy and wind power development world-wide with leaders such as Areva, Alstom, GDF Suez, and others that are developing EU, Latin America, and U.S. markets for their products and systems. The U.S. Commercial Service, a division of the U.S. Department of Commerce, indicates that there is a great deal of opportunity for U.S. exports and partnerships in the renewable energy industry in France.

 

The France mission features one-on-one matchmaking meetings with potential buyers for Maine exports and tour operators for the tourism industry, networking receptions, a special food/tourism State of Maine event, and an Executive Session for leaders and investors in the French Renewable Energy/Advanced Materials industries.

 

For more information on the trade mission, please contact Trade Mission Coordinator Jeffrey Bennett at jbennett@mitc.com or (207) 990-3161 or visit MITC's website at www.mitc.com.

 

The Maine Development Foundation's Downtown Center presented the 10th annual Downtown Achievement Awards in a ceremony held June 4th during the Revitalizing Maine Communities conference in downtown Augusta.  The top award for Downtown Visionary was presented to Mike Baran, Director of the Maine Office of Community Development. 

Downtown Visionary Award winner, Mike Baran (center) with Roxanne Eflin, Terry Ann Stevens, Bill King and Laurie Lachance.

Bill King, Maine Downtown Center Senior Advisor and prior recipient of the award, said of Mike, "(he) is a visionary leader and a firm believer in the power of a strong community.  Mike appreciates the role that healthy downtowns play in strengthening community vitality."

On June 14, the Maine Technology Institute (MTI) Board of Directors approved four MTI Development Awards to three Maine information technology companies and one technology transfer project in the area of forest products technology. This round of investment by MTI totaled $1,083,237 and leveraged $1,117,442 in private and other non-state investment.

 

This 26^th round of Development Awards was approved for:

 

University of Maine's Process Development Center in Orono will use its MTI Development Award to conduct initial product certification testing to transfer technology that it has been developing on a cellulose insulation product for use in residential and commercial buildings. The product is made from recycled materials, is flame and mold resistant and satisfies market need for energy efficiency retrofits and new construction. The project brings UMaine's Process Development Center together with two Maine-based companies, Green Comfort Save and Zeomatrix to apply patent-pending technologies and move the technology toward commercialization.

Award: $99,780          Match: $105,280

 

ClaimVantage, Inc., a claims management systemlocated in Portland will use its MTI Development Award to transform four lines of its business, Absence Management, Short Term Disability, Long Term Disability and Life Claims, to a Software as a Service (SaaS) model.

Award: $395,570        Match: $395,570

 

 

CLYNK , a bottle and can redemption service based in Portland with operations at 24 Hannaford locations from Augusta to York, will use its MTI Development Award to complete design, prototyping and equipment purchase in order to allow expansion into 17 new Hannaford locations statewide.

Award: $500,000        Match: $585,725

 

 

CashStar, Inc., based in Portland, is an interactive gifting and incentives company enabling digitally-based branded and personalized gift card management. CashStar will use their MTI Development Award to develop, test and deploy mobile applications for Blackberry, iPhone and Droid users.

Award: $87,887          Match: $87,887

The application deadline for the next round of Development Awards is November 5, 2010.

 MEP Awards Mathew Brothers Manufacturing Excellence Award

 Ocean Energy Board Member Receives Award

On June 9, EnergyOcean International announced the winners of its 2010 Pioneer Awards. The Education Pioneer Award was presented to Matthew Simmons of Ocean Energy Institute in Rockland.

The Education Pioneer Award is given to an organization (government, not-for-profit, etc.) that has made a recent (in the last 5 years) contribution toward promoting and educating the public about Ocean Energy uses, feasibility, benefits and/or suitable locations for implementation of the technologies.