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Revised
Tech Fund criteria promote long-term U.S.-Asia partnerships.
The National Association of State Development Agencies (NASDA),
administrator of US-AEP�s Environmental Technology Fund, promotes technology
transfer to Asia through $20,000 grants to U.S. environmental companies. In
light of the financial crisis and US-AEP�s commitment to ensure Asia�s
access to U.S. environmental technologies, NASDA announced the following
changes to grant application criteria:
- previous Tech Fund recipients may now apply for
a second grant to a different market;
- companies with annual revenues of up to $50
million may now apply for grants;
- applicants are now recommended to have in-Asia
contacts and support, and may have some in-country sales experience
(previously, only "new to market" firms could apply);
- previous recipients of US-AEP funds may apply to
the Tech Fund, although the previous US-AEP grant award should not have
exceeded $5,000;
- a limited number of grants may now be awarded in
the energy sector; and
- company contributions have been lowered in some
countries.
For more information, please contact NASDA at 202-898-1302 or visit the
website at: www.nasda.com.
Internship
helps build Philippines technology verification program.
Four science research specialists from the Philippine Industrial
Technology Development Institute (ITDI) participated in a month-long,
US-AEP-sponsored internship designed to help establish an environmental
technology verification program in the Philippines. This program will ensure
that technologies proposed for use in the Philippines meet specified
environmental performance requirements. Once in place, the verification
process will streamline the deployment of technologies and, ultimately,
improve environmental conditions. US-AEP�s Cleaner Technology and
Environmental Management (CTEM) program arranged the internship with the
Environmental Technology Evaluation Center (EvTEC) of the Civil Engineering
Research Foundation (CERF), a nonprofit organization created by the American
Society of Civil Engineers. EvTEC helped the interns develop business plans
and establish contacts with other technology verification organizations.
ITDI will conduct a workshop on March 17-19, 1999, to further develop the
Philippine program�s framework and build collaboration among various
stakeholders. It is expected that the program will be in place by December
1999.
ECOWATCH
identifies polluting companies.
The World Bank�s New Ideas in Pollution Regulation (NIPR) website
includes a report on the Philippines Department of Environment and Natural
Resources (DENR) program, ECOWATCH, which rates manufacturers� environmental
performance and discloses those ratings to the public. Included in the NIPR
report is the second round of ratings by DENR, including 19 companies with
ratings of subpar performance or noncompliance. The report can be accessed
at the address: http://www.worldbank.org/nipr/comrole.htm#ecowatch.
New on US-AEP's
website.
Now not only can you find UPDATE on the US-AEP website, but you can
search by keyword through past issues from 1997-1999 by going to
https://www.usaep.org/update/update.htm. And be sure to peruse the
new policy papers by George R. Heaton, Jr. and Riva Krut in response to
Michael T. Rock�s paper on clean technology policy in Asia at
https://www.usaep.org/policy/policy.htm.
HVAC
conference in Singapore looking for U.S. firms to participate.
A conference on heating, ventilation, and air conditioning, HVAC Asia
�99, will be held in Singapore, July 20-23, 1999. The conference, organized
by Singaporean firm HQ Link, is expected to be a good launch pad for
American HVAC instrumentation and air pollution control equipment sales.
U.S. companies interested in exhibiting or making a presentation at the
conference should contact US-AEP Technology Representative Chan Yiu Kei at
US-AEP/Singapore: 65-476-9026 (telephone) or
usaep@singnet.com.sg (e-mail).
uIndian roundtables tackle environmental concerns.
A roundtable conference, held December 17 in Mumbai by the Indo American
Chamber of Commerce (IACC) and US-AEP, focused on how the United States and
India can work together to resolve India�s environmental issues,
particularly in Mumbai. Participants included Ms. Kathleen McGinty, former
chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, and Dr. Karl
Hausker, former head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency�s Policy
and Planning Department, both currently Fellows at the Tata Energy Research
Institute (TERI). Other participants were Mr. Suneel Parasnis and Ms. Nutan
Zarapkar, US-AEP technology representatives in Mumbai; Mr. F.D. Neterwalla,
managing director of Universal Ferro & Allied Chemicals; Mr. Ramesh Dalal,
managing director of Dalal Consultants and Engineers Pvt. Ltd.; and Mr.
Katila, general manager of Neter Chromatographs.
A second roundtable was held December 21 in Pune, organized by US-AEP,
the Mahratta Chamber of Commerce Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA), and the
Pune chapter of the Indian Environmental Association (IEA). Participants
included Mr. Pratap Pawar, president of MCCIA; Ms. Therese Leasburg, US-AEP
country director in India; Mr. Parasnis; Mr. Vishwas Kale, secretary of IEA;
Ms. Anu Aga, chairperson of Thermax Ltd.; Dr. Banoo Coyaji, director of KEM
Hospital; and Dr. A.M. Patwardhan, head of the Environment Science
Department at the University of Pune. One of the outcomes of the roundtable
was the creation of an action committee to tackle various environmental
issues and a monitoring committee to ensure that Indian industries become
more environmentally aware. The meeting also led to the formation of a group
that will focus on working with the local government to make Pune an
environmentally friendly city. MCCIA, the University of Pune, and
nongovernmental organization Econet are among the members of this team.
Welcome
US-AEP/Malaysia has added two new staff members to its office:
Steve Knode joins US-AEP/Malaysia as deputy director after having
spent the last year as a full-time contractor with the Commercial Service
(CS) in Kuala Lumpur. At CS, Steve was responsible for counseling American
exporters on the Malaysian market and coordinating many of the Department of
Commerce activities surrounding APEC. He earned a B.A. in International
Relations from Dension University. Faizah Othman joins
US-AEP/Malaysia as an administrative assistant after having received a B.A.
in Education with honors from the University of Malaya. To both Steve and
Faizah, welcome to the US-AEP family! |
