I hope everyone has been able to get out for a little bit during April and enjoy the pleasant spring weather. April has been a very busy month for us with several unique events taking place. Strategic Biomass Solutions participated in the MS Clean-Tech Exploration Forum in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, April 24-26, which attracted partners from the Worldwide Intercluster Initiative for New Materials and Processes Focused on Clean Technologies (Wiintech)  Network. The Mississippi Polymer Institute/University of Southern Mississippi was one of only two sites in the entire United States of America that won a competitive bid to host the Wiintech Network members. The Wiintech Network connects eight world-class European clusters such as Plastival, Chemie Cluster Bayem, Proplast and Vento Nanotech that represent more than 2,500 companies and research centers working in the materials and clean technologies sector. The seven-country European delegation got a taste of not only good old fashion southern cooking and hospitality, but also were exposed to Mississippi's clean-tech companies that are making a wide variety of products, including thin film solar photovoltaic panels, composite aircraft engine components, nanomaterials, torrefied wood and biogas from poultry waste. To learn more about this initiative, please read this month's in-depth interview with Dr. Bryan Brister, director of the Mississippi Polymer Institute. Also in April, we had a visit from the Vice Consul for Trade and Investment for the British Consulate-General in Atlanta.

Strategic Biomass Solutions is aggressively pursuing opportunities that will help increase trade in the clean-tech sector between clean-tech companies in the southern United States and other parts of the world. Last month, we spent time with the Canadian Trade Commissioner and some of the companies he met will be traveling to the 6th Annual South Eastern United States - Canadian Provinces Alliance (SEUS-CP) Conference in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in July 2013. We are also actively assisting a Mississippi-based company which has developed a patented anaerobic digester technology to discuss the potential use of this technology with interested parties in Turkey, India and China.

Strategic Biomass Solutions also participated in the Project Green Challenge Conscious College Road Tour that came through the University of Southern Mississippi (USM) April 26. Thanks to the initiative taken entirely by the "Sustainability Advocates" student-led group at USM with support from the university's sustainability office, USM was among a list of 12 distinguished schools such as Harvard, Rice and Johns Hopkins that hosted this tour. The attached picture shows students from my technology-based entrepreneurship class checking out the exhibits that were a part of this tour. New for me this month is the honor to teach this graduate level class as an adjunct faculty at USM in the Department of Economic and Workforce Development.

Finally, please note these upcoming events: Innovate Mississippi's 6th Annual Mississippi New Venture Challenge Business Plan Competition May 21,and save the date for the 12th Annual Southern Bio-Products and Renewable Conference (September 17-18) in Tunica, Mississippi as well as RETECH 2013 in Washington, D.C. (September 9-11). We will conduct our Renewable Energy Venture Development Academy workshop at RETECH again this year and hope to see you there.

We are always interested in your feedback and want to know how we may serve you better. Please contact me at sarora@innovate.ms or 601-960-3659 if I can be of any assistance.