State Commerce Department wins President’s ‘E’ Award for supporting Alabama exports
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross today presented the Alabama Department of Commerce with the President’s “E” Award for Export Service, the highest recognition an organization can receive for contributing to the expansion of U.S. exports. At a ceremony in the nation’s capital, Ross said the Alabama Department of Commerce has demonstrated a sustained commitment to increasing exports. “The ‘E’ Awards Committee was very impressed with the department’s formation of the Export Alabama Alliance,” he noted. “The department’s contributions to the export growth of Alabama companies through international trade missions were also particularly notable. “The Alabama Department of Commerce’s achievements have undoubtedly contributed to national export efforts that support the U.S. economy and create American jobs,” he added. Alabama companies exported a record $21.7 billion in goods and services during 2017, led by shipments of motor vehicles, chemicals, primary metals, minerals, aircraft components and paper products to 189 foreign countries. Alabama’s exports have surged 21 percent since 2011 and 50 percent over a decade, reflecting a long-term growth trend. “We are extremely honored to receive the President’s ‘E’ Award,” Alabama Commerce Secretary Greg Canfield said. “Alabama companies are creating good-paying jobs as a result of exporting their products throughout the world, and exports of goods and services continue to be an economic engine that spurs job creation and economic investment.” Finding markets The Alabama Department of Commerce’s Office of International Trade helps businesses across the state identify and penetrate foreign markets for their homegrown products. Over many years, the office has staged a series of trade and business development missions to countries around the globe, most recently to Argentina and Ecuador in April. “The Alabama International Trade program has proven to be a tremendous resource for the state’s small and medium-sized companies,” said Hilda Lockhart, director of Commerce’s Office of International Trade. “Assisting them in finding international markets for Alabama-made products is the key to growing exports and jobs at home. “Receiving this prestigious award validates the hard work that all members of the Export Alabama Alliance have accomplished since it was formed in 2004,” she added. The Export Alabama Alliance is a seamless network of international trade agencies with the fundamental objective of helping Alabama companies expand their business internationally. Lockhart and Beau Lore, an international trade specialist in the Office of International Trade, were on hand at the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Herbert C. Hoover building on Constitution Avenue to receive the award. Supporting jobs In total, Ross honored 43 U.S. companies and organizations from across the country with the President’s “E” Award for their role in strengthening the U.S. economy by sharing American ingenuity in foreign markets. U.S. companies are nominated for the “E” Awards through the U.S. Commercial Service, part of the department’s International Trade Administration (ITA). With offices across the United States and in embassies and consulates around the world, the ITA lends its expertise at every stage of the exporting process. U.S. exports totaled $2.33 trillion in 2017, accounting for 12 percent of U.S. gross domestic product. Exports supported an estimated 10.7 million jobs nationwide in 2016, according to the most recent ITA statistics. Republished with the permission of the Alabama Newscenter.
Alabama team seeks new life sciences markets in Europe
Alabama business and community leaders are in Europe this week, seeking new market opportunities for the state’s growing bioscience industry in Germany and Denmark. The 22-member delegation also is promoting the cutting-edge developments happening at research centers from Huntsville to Birmingham to Mobile and beyond, an effort to encourage new investment in the state as a gateway to the broader U.S. life sciences sector. Alabama Secretary of Commerce Greg Canfield is leading the trade mission, which kicked off Monday in Berlin with meetings at the U.S. Embassy and continues today with tours of biotech sites, including a research incubator. Later in the week, more seminars are planned in Copenhagen, along with a tour of a bioscience park. “Alabama is an emerging force in the bioscience industry, with more than 800 establishments, 14,000 jobs and a job growth rate that is increasing twice as fast as the overall private sector,” Canfield said. “The state is also home to top institutions that routinely land lucrative federal research grants to conduct ground-breaking work in the areas of drug discovery, genomic medicine, medical devices and more.” Life sciences centers The University of Alabama at Birmingham is a major player in U.S. medical research, having secured more than $1 billion in National Institutes of Health funding over the past five years. Other key hubs of the industry in the state are Huntsville’s HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, a leader in genomic medicine that fosters entrepreneurship and business growth, and Birmingham’s Southern Research, which has developed seven FDA-approved anti-cancer drugs, as well as key breakthroughs in the treatment of HIV/AIDS and the Zika virus. There’s also the Mitchell Cancer Institute at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, which is focused on cancer prevention and biology, drug discovery and DNA damage and repair. And the Birmingham business incubator Innovation Depot, which offers key benefits for biotech startups. All of these industry assets form the basis for a rich network of businesses with a wide range of specialties. Precision medicine One such company is Huntsville’s Envision Genomics, which aims to improve health care through the power of genomic medicine, said Jill Tapper, founder and chief operating officer of the company, which is based at HudsonAlpha. “Our specific focus is on patients with rare or undiagnosed disease … all patients … not just those located in the U.S.,” she said. “Even though the U.S. health care system differs in many ways from that of other countries, the application and integration of genomics into patient care can positively impact quality, economics and outcomes, and those things are universally meaningful.” Tapper, who is part of the trade mission delegation, said her plan is to promote the company’s expertise in precision genomic medicine. “We are hoping this trip will give Envision Genomics the opportunity to introduce our technological capabilities and clinical know-how to key stakeholders in Germany and Denmark with the goal of stimulating deeper conversations on how we can leverage one another’s strengths to the betterment of our health care markets,” she said. Trade mission goals Both Germany and Denmark represent a large footprint in the life sciences sector, said Hilda Lockhart, director of the Commerce Department’s International Trade Division. The trade mission’s goal is twofold, she said. “First is to link the participating companies with partnering opportunities with a number of leading life sciences and health care organizations and industry centers,” she said. “The companies will also meet one-on-one with companies in Germany and Denmark to develop collaboration in future projects.” The second goal is to promote the life sciences sector in Alabama. “Several seminars have been developed inviting German and Danish companies to hear about the business opportunities in Alabama’s growing biotech sector. Secretary Canfield and several of our companies will present on the life sciences ecosystem in our state and the cutting-edge precision medicine research that is being conducted. They will also talk about how the life sciences hub in Alabama can be used as a gateway to the rest of the U.S.,” she said. The company representatives participating in the trip are excited about the potential for their business in Europe, Lockhart added. “The Export Alabama Alliance has recruited a strong delegation that showcases some of the best our state has to offer in expertise, advanced products and solutions that are in high demand in the life science sector,” she said. In addition to Envision Genomics, the delegation includes representatives from Birmingham’s Southern Research and Blondin Bioscience; Huntsville’s Conversant Biologics, GeneCapture and Serina Therapeutics; and SpectraCyte of Mobile. They are joined by government leaders and business recruiters from Huntsville, Madison County, Opelika, Mobile and Tuscaloosa County, along with other representatives from HudsonAlpha, the University of Alabama and the University of South Alabama. “Participating in Alabama’s European bio-focused trade mission provides Southern Research with an opportunity to showcase our organization’s extensive capabilities in life sciences while also sharing valuable information about the scope and vitality of the state’s biosciences sector,” said Art Tipton, president and CEO of Southern Research. “As a group, the Alabama trade mission delegation can make connections and build relationships with counterparts in Germany and Denmark that can lead to productive research partnerships and strategic collaborations,” Tipton added. Tim Sellati, an infectious disease researcher at Southern Research, is in the trade mission delegation. ___ This story originally appeared on the Alabama Department of Commerce’s Made in Alabama website. Republished with permission of Alabama NewsCenter.
