European Group Visits Southern Miss as Part of Clean Technology Forum
Tue, 04/30/2013 - 09:58am | By: Van Arnold
Representatives from six different European countries spent three days touring the Mississippi Polymer Institute and related facilities at The University of Southern Mississippi earlier this month as part of a clean technology project.
The visit was coordinated through the European Commission's Worldwide Intercluster Initiative for New Materials and Processes Focused on Clean Technology (WIINTECH). The WIINTECH network links eight European world-class clusters representing more than 2,500 companies and research center working in materials and processes applied to clean technologies.
Caroline Pin, international manager for Plastipolis in Oyannax, France, said her first visit to South Mississippi yielded an assortment of networking/partnership possibilities.
“The European Commission has encouraged all of our clusters to collaborate with overseas companies in forming technology partnerships,” she said. “I am very impressed with the work being done at the Mississippi Polymer Institute. We are matchmakers of sorts, trying to connect the right cluster with the right partner in an effort to create clean technology that will be beneficial to all parties.”
Countries represented during the Southern Miss visit included Germany, France, Italy, Portugal, Austria and the United Kingdom. The Mississippi Polymer Institute was one of two sites in North America chosen by the commission to participate in the project.
“The WIINTECH delegates from Europe have given us tremendous feedback on the quality of the MPI Clean-Tech Forum, and their overwhelmingly positive impression of Mississippi,” said MPI Director Bryan Brister. “MPI's mission is to grow high-tech industry in the state, and the MPI Clean-Tech Forum identified several opportunities for these businesses.”
For more information about the Mississippi Polymer Institute, call 601.266.4607 or visit: http://www.thepolymerinstitute.com
